Manage Funding Programs and Funding Requests
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the objects used in Grants Management.
- Describe the grant lifecycle using the associated Grants Management records and objects.
Meet the Objects That Store Grantmaking Data
Grants Management is built on top of the Outbound Funds Module (OFM) data model, which includes several helpful objects to track grants from your organization to other groups and individuals.
Grants Management adds a few additional objects to help you move through the grants lifecycle and review applications.
Let’s check out the objects included in Grants Management and how each is used. In the following table we’ve indicated if each object is included in Grants Management, OFM, or both, plus if any additional managed packages are required.
| Object | Included In | How It's Used |
|---|---|---|
|
Funding Program |
OFM and Grants Management |
Funding areas and specific grant opportunities that relate to funding request records (more about that object later in this table). Funding program records can have a parent-child relationship so you can relate individual funding programs with larger initiatives. |
|
Funding Request |
OFM and Grants Management |
Applications for funding, such as a nonprofit requesting a community impact grant or a student seeking a scholarship. If an application is approved, these records also act as the award record and are related to other records to track progress and disbursements. |
|
Funding Request Role |
OFM and Grants Management |
A contact’s relationship to a funding request record, such as applicant, grants manager, or financial manager. |
|
Requirement |
OFM and Grants Management |
Information or actions a grantmaker needs at any part of the grant's lifecycle, such as a program budget, interim report, or letter of recommendation. |
|
Review |
OFM and Grants Management |
Assign and track comments and recommendations from expert reviewers and relate them to a funding request. |
|
Disbursement |
OFM and Grants Management |
Money paid to a grantee, either a onetime payment ($1,000 for a scholarship) or in installments (three annual $50,000 payments to an organization). |
|
GAU Expenditure |
OFM and Grants Management when used with Nonprofit Success Pack and the Extension Package |
A general accounting unit (GAU), is a fund designated for specific use or to meet particular restrictions. If your organization also uses the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) managed package, the GAU Expenditure object connects a disbursement to a GAU. Check out the Allocations Overview link in Resources for more about GAUs. |
|
Action Plans |
Grants Management only |
Automatically assign tasks and document checklist items to standardize processes, boost productivity, and improve collaboration. Admins can create action plan templates, allowing you to use one of several standard processes depending on the situation. If you don’t have access to this object ask your admin to update your permission sets (and check the link in Resources). |
|
Verification Check |
Grants Management only |
Track and store details on due-diligence verification activities, such as collecting required documentation. Verification checks can eliminate the need to collect the same information for every request from the same applicant. This feature requires a special permission set—talk with your admin. |
Put Grants Management Objects to Use
Phew. That’s quite a list of helpful objects to track your work. It might help to think about them in context. Here’s an example of how these objects work together throughout the grant lifecycle in Grants Management.
- The grantmaker creates funding programs and publishes them in the portal.
- A grantseeker applies and creates a funding request.
- The grantmaker performs verification checks and confirms the grantseeker’s tax status.
- The grantmaker creates and collects reviews from experts.
- The grantmaker creates requirements and the grantseeker responds through the portal.
- The grantmaker processes the requirements.
- If the grant is awarded the grantmaker creates and releases disbursements to the grantseeker.
Then the cycle repeats as needed.
To learn more about how you can use Grants Management in your day-to-day work, continue to the next module in this trail. There, we follow the Six Sides Fund, a (fictional) grantmaker looking to standardize and simplify how it works with grantseekers and disburses money.
