Post-Award Grant Management: What To Do After Giving Awards

There’s nothing more exciting than the end of a grant life cycle. You’ve put in all the hard work of creating the application, announcing the grant, receiving the applications, evaluating them, and ultimately choosing your recipient(s). Now what? You kick back and take it easy for a while, right? Wrong! Now it’s time to work on your post- award grant management to-do list. Below is everything you should be doing after your recipients have been announced.

Post-Award Grant Management Best Practices

1. Gather Feedback

Survey the applicants, evaluators, donors, and pretty much everyone who had anything to do with your grant management process for feedback. This is critical because it lets a grantmaker know how they did during the grant management process. Learning what went right and what went wrong can help you make adjustments to your next application cycle. Information gathered in this process might help you have a smoother program the next time around.

Asking for feedback also lets everyone involved know that you truly care about how your institution is perceived and that you want everyone to have an enjoyable experience. Feedback not only shows your commitment to excellence, but it could help you generate new ideas, and help you build relationships with the community as well.

2. Dot Your i’s and Cross Your t’s With Grant Reports

Make sure all of your paperwork is filled out and filed correctly. Any tax incentives/deductions you might qualify for will require that your grant reporting was well-documented and accurate. It will also help you send out required documentation come tax season if you take the time to organize it now while it’s fresh in your mind.

3. Start Creating Your Grant Calendar for the Next Cycle

If you want to give away another grant, the sooner you start planning for the next grant management cycle, the easier it will be once you’re ready to launch your program. Now is a great time to think about things like who will be on your grant committee - can you rely on the same people to join you for another round or will you need to secure new staff and volunteers?

Based on the feedback received, do you need to extend how much time candidates have to fill out applications? Or perhaps the amount of time should be shorter so that you have more time for evaluations. Consider each step of the grant cycle and how it went last time as you make your plans for the next one.

4. Start Building Your New Application and Preparing for the Next Program Launch

It might feel strange thinking about a new program while you’re hot on the heels of post award grant management, but for grantmakers that give away quarterly or annual awards, there’s no time to waste. Of course, you will want to add breaks into your calendar to enjoy the satisfaction of completing a cycle, but then you must get back to work to keep things moving along.

If you didn’t use grant management software during your last cycle, this is the perfect time to start using it. SmarterSelect makes the job of running a grant program much easier and significantly more efficient. Automate your messaging to applicants and team members, enjoy an application creation process that is as easy as copy and paste, and a strong community forum that puts you in touch with other grantmakers just like you. 

Our software can help you scale your operation so you can get more done in less time. Learn more about what SmarterSelect can do for your grant program - schedule a demo today!

FAQ's

1. What are the things we should be doing after our award recipients have been announced?

Here’s a quick post-award grant management checklist for your reference:

• Gather feedback

• Make sure your paperwork is filled out and filed correctly

• Start creating your calendar for the next cycle

• Start building your new application and preparing for the next program launch.

2. How do we go about creating our calendar for the next cycle?

Based on the feedback received, you need to decide whether to extend the time candidates have to fill out applications. Just consider each step of the grant cycle and how it went last time as you make your plans for the next one.