The UK continues to navigate its way through unprecedented challenges, from the ongoing aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to inflation to the housing crisis.
Many communities are still in need of urgent funding, which brings us to the importance of effective grants management. Robust grant management solutions are essential for streamlining processes, freeing up administrators’ time and ultimately, enabling greater impact.
Flexigrant provides an all in one solution to that end – one that’s trusted by some of the UK’s most prominent funders. Read on to find out exactly how it helps organisations perform at their best.
Current Grant Management Challenges
Funds Required to Tackle Financial Hardship
In a previous article, we discussed the principle that it’s important to give more grants during a recession. Charities and nonprofit organizations don’t always see their revenues fall during difficult economic situations but if they do, it reduces their ability to tackle society’s pressing challenges, which worsen during a downturn. As such, alternative sources of funding are essential.
New hardship grants are being launched around the country in order to help those who are struggling most. For example, the Strengthening Worcestershire Fund was recently announced, whereby a total of £200,000 will be awarded to a range of charities, social enterprises and community groups.
The aim is to help disadvantaged residents with cost of living support, to reduce isolation, and to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
The ongoing need for urgent funding around the country – along with growing numbers of grant applications – demands efficient grantmaking processes.
The Need for Greater Efficiency When Managing Grants
A recent UK government report discusses some of their own grant management challenges and how their processes have been improved in order to tackle them. Of course, these challenges aren’t reserved for governments; they can affect any funding organisation.
The report discusses how there was an “urgent need to drive improved productivity and efficiency”. This was “critical” in ensuring that funds not only created their intended impact, but also that their value is maximised, delivering the greatest returns for beneficiaries and the economy on the whole.
Compliance was another challenge, which becomes increasingly complex as organisations aim to reach net zero targets.
It was also necessary to improve their means of collecting grants data as part of the government’s Transparency Agenda, as well as sharing data and improving collaboration.
The report notes how the government’s grants information system has improved the quality and completeness of grants data, which has been vital in terms of publishing statistics annually.
The Role of Grant Management Software
Our grants management software addresses these challenges by simplifying every part of the grant management process. It streamlines administrative tasks, reducing the need for additional headcount and allowing grant managers focus more on impact.
It also and provides a range of tools that improve the applicant and grantee experience and generate strategic insights.
Core Features
Offer Letter Generation and Online Acceptance
You can easily generate and send offer letters to successful applicants, with an option for them to accept offers online. This reduces the admin involved and speeds up the acceptance process.
Application Form Designer and Question Bank
Our application form designer allows you to create customised application forms tailored to your specific needs. With a reusable question bank, you can save time by not having to recreate common questions for each new scheme.
Review Management
Manage the review process effortlessly with our reviewer dashboard where you can track progress, manage shortlists, and assign reviewers.
Streamlining Communication with Our Built-In CRM System
Flexigrant’s CRM helps you manage and track interactions with applicants, reviewers, and other stakeholders. This ensures that all communications are stored in one place, enhancing transparency and efficiency. We also provide email templates to speed up the planning of communications.
Data and Progress Reporting
Our data reporting tools provide valuable insights that can be used to evaluate the success of your grant programs and support compliance. You can generate detailed reports on many areas, such as application progress, funding distribution, and project outcomes.
Data Management
Comprehensive data management tools ensure compliance with data protection regulations. Our grant management solution includes features for data consent, client privacy policies, and cookies policies.
Financial and Payment Management
The solution has various financial management features such as budget tables and budget adjustment tools, helping you efficiently track expenditures and ensure funds are allocated appropriately. There are also dedicated tools for managing payments, including authorisation levels, ensuring that only approved payments are processed.
Premium Features
Organisations looking to further enhance their grant management processes can use our premium features. These features not only help you manage the grant lifecycle with greater precision based on comprehensive data, but they also improve collaboration and help ensure more equitable funding practises.
Standard CV Form
If potential grantees need to complete more than one application, Flexigrant removes the need for them to re-enter the same CV information multiple times. Users can configure a standard CV form; applicants’ CVs are then automatically associated with their grant applications. Another benefit is that this ensures consistency in the information they submit.
Additional Finance Tools
We offer additional financial tools, such as support for foreign currency payments; of course, this is particularly beneficial when it comes to managing international grants. A Finance API is also available, for seamless integration with external systems.
Enhanced Reporting
Our Insights tool, combined with the Awards Data API and data replication service, provides comprehensive reporting and analysis capabilities. As well as gaining meaningful insights from historical data, real-time trend analysis and exploration help you to stay on top of emerging issues and opportunities.
EDI Tool
Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) tool captures anonymised and secure EDI data, aligned with GDPR standards, allowing you to analyse demographics and characteristics of your users.
Dedicated Committee Workspace
Here, users can manage committee meetings and workspaces effectively. It lets you gather input from numerous panel members in one place, supporting organised decision making processes. It’s also a place for sharing important documentation.
Other Tools
As well as the main features outlined above, premium users can:
- Set up Single Sign-On.
- Customise domain and email services.
- Use the colour palette to align the system with your organisation’s branding.
Conclusion
Effective grant management is as crucial as ever for UK grant makers – and perhaps more so, given today’s challenges. Our grant management system provides the tools needed to navigate these challenges, streamline administrative tasks, and drive positive change.
To learn more about how we can help your organisation operate at its highest potential, contact us today to request a demo.
