What Are the Best Corporate Grant Management Systems?

Historically, large foundations and Fortune 500 companies dominated the corporate grants landscape. Other entities simply didn’t have the money or resources to effectively solicit, vet, track, and manage grants.

Thankfully, technology has evened the playing field quite a bit. Companies and organizations often use grant management systems—usually software-based—to automate CSR (corporate social responsibility) workflows and reduce the logistical headaches of managing grants.

Depending on the grant management system your company chooses, though, your CSR team and executive suite might stumble upon new headaches. We’ll discuss some popular grants management software to help you decide which platform is worth the money.

Table of Contents:

• What is Grants Management?
• Key Features of Effective Grant Management Systems
• What is the Best Grants Management System? Top Options Compared
• Choosing the Right Grant Management System for Your Organization
• Groundswell: Grant Management Without the Headaches

What is Grants Management?

Grants management describes the process of awarding grants to worthy applicants and monitoring the funds’ journey to ensure they’re used effectively. Comprehensive grants management starts at the beginning of the grant lifecycle and sees the program through to its closeout.

The key steps in the grant lifecycle from the perspective of the grantor include:

1. Grant opportunity planning
2. Application announcement and solicitation
3. Application consideration and final decision
4. Notifying applicants (yes, even the ones who did not get selected)
5. Agreeing on funds disbursement and execution framework
6. Providing support and monitoring the grant’s progress

Corporate Grants Management

Corporate grants management, or corporate grantmaking, simply refers to grants funded and distributed by for-profit entities, rather than governments. As companies realize the financial benefits of implementing CSR initiatives, corporate grants are certain to gain in popularity. 

Key Features of Effective Grant Management Systems

The best grant management system for your organization mainly depends on your capabilities, needs, and goals. The general rule of thumb is that larger firms require a comprehensive suite of tools due to the volume, size, and complexity of grants they consider, while smaller organizations can get by with leaner, simpler platforms.

As a result, many people think that companies have to pay top dollar for platforms that offer everything. That’s not necessarily true anymore, but it’s a good idea for your grantmaking software to have:

1. Collaboration options

Your company’s Slack probably doesn’t need yet another chat, so having a communication and approval process feature for grantmaking software can be helpful.

2. Built-in compliance

Grants management needs a comprehensive paper trail in case the IRS or another regulatory body wants a closer look at your company’s financials. Another important compliance consideration is ensuring conformance with HIPAA and data privacy laws.

3. General application monitoring and review

It’s simply a waste of time not to have every relevant detail about grant applications in a single repository. The platform you choose should provide easy access to any grant’s progress, including grant awards and grantee impact reporting.

4. Scalable capabilities

Your company might only have the budget for one or two grants right now, but what about the future? For continuity’s sake, at the very least, it’s important to have a grantmaking software that can seamlessly grow alongside your business without charging you an arm and a leg for each new grant. You'll also want to ensure that you can bring on as many team members as you need to support the process, preferably without extra costs.

5. Supporting charities made easy

It’s not just about managing grants, the end process should be smooth for the nonprofits you support too. Choose a platform that makes donating simple, ensures funds reach charities quickly, and provides clear reporting so both your team and the organizations you support can focus on impact, not paperwork.

What is the Best Grants Management System? Top Options Compared

If you search for corporate grants management systems online, you’re bound to run into some of the established legacy providers, such as Benevity, Deed, CyberGrants (now Bonterra), AmpliFund, and Submittable. These platforms have been around a while, but does longevity automatically translate into quality?

Groundswell vs. Deed

For a long time, Deed relied on SurveyMonkey to support its grantmaking capabilities. If that’s still the case, then your team must sign yet another contract with a third-party software provider. That means additional fees and security needs as well.

On top of subscription costs, users are typically on the hook for 2.5% distribution fees whenever they award applicants. 

Groundswell vs. Benevity

Perhaps Benevity can meet your company’s needs. It seems to be adequate as long as grant and donation recipients are okay with weekslong waits to get their money. 

Users online have raised complaints over Benevity’s ticketed customer service system, which doesn’t always provide quick and satisfactory answers. Did we mention the three-percent distribution fee on grants?

Groundswell vs. Submittable

Submittable is another legacy CSR platform that’s gained some clout over the years. However, times change, and some legacy folks fail to keep up with them—evidenced by the lack of a mobile app for Submittable. 

Like Benevity and Deed, Submittable takes up to three months for grants and donations to hit recipients’ bank accounts. The cherry on top is Submittable’s five-percent distribution fees. 

Choosing the Right Grant Management System for Your Organization

After researching your options and determining which features, if any, are non-negotiables for your company, you and your team may want to consider the following factors:

• Cost: Monthly or yearly subscription rates are one thing, but you also have to consider hidden expenses like additional admin or grant fees. Would you rather deal with a flat one-percent distribution fee, like you’d get with Groundswell, or higher rates on top of other ad-hoc fees?
• Administrative burden: Your team doesn’t have time for monthly invoices and payroll reconciliations. Groundswell offers instant reporting and self-service payroll giving. 
• Ease of adoption. Groundswell combines its grantmaking, volunteering, and giving modules into one intuitive platform. A lot of the legacy CSR providers offer an amalgam of different tools and dashboards that aren’t easy to pick up.

Groundswell: Grant Management Without the Headaches

Picking a grant management system without an already robust knowledge of the CSR environment—AKA, the vast majority of people—can be intimidating. Many software providers brag about their capabilities and track records, but just as many offer platforms that are too expensive, complicated, clunky, or slow.

Groundswell’s mission is to offer mid-sized and smaller businesses a practical and effective choice. Our corporate grant management system provides a centralized hub where users can monitor grants over the entire lifecycle. You can customize workflows to maximize efficiency, allowing your team to focus on the tasks that require a human touch.

Those aren’t the only benefits, though. If you’d like to see how Groundswell can help your company get in on grantmaking and CSR in general, schedule a demo with us today.