Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered how to improve your non-profit's grant management? To ensure your organization receives the right funding at the right time, it's important to have an effective grant management process. In today's video, we'll be sharing some tips on forming an efficient grant management process to save you time and increase funding for your organization. Ready to learn more? I'm Alex from JotForm. Let's dive right in. Non-profit grant management, when done correctly, is the key to a successful fundraiser. However, the process of budgeting, tracking, reporting, and managing grants can become an overwhelming administrative project, taking valuable time and resources away from important work at the heart of your organization. For that reason, streamlining your grant management process will enable your organization to spend less time searching for grants and completing applications, and more time on higher-value tasks. To help you and your organization improve your non-profit grant management process, here are six tips to follow to reduce cumbersome administrative tasks, allowing you to focus more time and energy towards your organization's mission. First, pay attention to research grants and funding opportunities. It may seem like a good idea to apply for every grant and funding opportunity you can find, but in reality, it's better to search for the grants that best match your non-profit's mission, goals, and overall strategy. Grant funding can be found in a variety of places, all of which you should look into thoroughly, such as various branches of government, family foundations, public charities, community foundations, and private foundations. When looking for grant opportunities, be sure to pay close attention to their grant cycles and giving histories. Keep in mind, organizations generally aim to award grant funding for a specific purpose, so you'll need to determine what exactly the grant will fund prior to applying. Then, when you've determined your organization's needs, you can streamline the research process by focusing strictly on the funding that meets those needs. Our second tip to share with you is to organize your funding information and any supporting documents. A great way to improve your non-profit's grant management is to organize and maintain your records throughout the year. Storing information in emails, hard copy file folders, computer files, and random spreadsheets is less efficient than keeping all of your essential information and supporting documents in one handy location. Some items you might consider storing in the same easy-to-access location are funder requirements, funder contact information, requested amounts, tax details, answers to common questions, invoices, receipts, and other financial documents. Organizing this information will save you a ton of time throughout the grant application process. The third tip we have for you today is to invest in software to track grant applications. Using a grant tracking solution will help you to meet important deadlines and submit reports on time. And by effectively managing your grants, you'll free up time to apply for additional grants, possibly securing more funding for your organization's mission. One way to go is JotForm, which offers grant tracking spreadsheets that enable you to monitor the status of ongoing grant applications, manage contact details, and organize grant application information. The spreadsheet is entirely customizable and even offers a calculation feature that automatically sums up the total amount of grant funding you've requested and received. Our fourth tip is to report on your progress internally. Create summary reports to keep your board members and your organization updated regularly on your funding status. But remember that reporting on your status will take less time once you have an efficient tracking solution in place. You can choose to base your progress report on your grant status, such as in progress, pending, or awarded, or by items such as upcoming monthly deadlines or top funders. You should choose the metric that makes the most sense for you and your organization. Meeting deadlines and keeping stakeholders in the loop is the fifth suggestion we have for you today. Though accurate tracking is critical for managing grants internally, it's also a key aspect of how you can best communicate with external funders and grant makers. Potential funders are sure to have progress reporting requirements, and it's your responsibility to share the right information with them at the right time and show them that they can trust your organization. Our sixth and final tip for today is to determine your post-award grant management plan. So you've handled the research, applications, proposals, and other grant details, but there is still another step, creating a plan for grant management following the award. This means being able to answer a few essential questions. If you're applying for a one-year grant, does it renew? How likely is it that the funder will offer this grant to your organization again next year? Given that many grants have a duration of just two years, what's your long-term funding strategy for the program once current grant funding expires? Some other things you should consider in the post-award process are to create a documentation process for how and when you and your team will implement promised action items, outline any reporting and compliance measures, and determine the roles and responsibilities of the staff handling the grant, and any other activities that ensure your nonprofit is directing the grant funds as promised. With the right tools, the grant management process doesn't have to be so chaotic and time-consuming that it makes you want to quit your job and give van life a try. JotForm's handy tracking and reporting tools like the Grant Tracking Spreadsheet enable you to organize and stay on top of important grant information with ease. Also, JotForm can help your organization gather grant application information into templates like the simple grant application or the multi-page grant application. Then you can track and monitor your data through JotForm tables. If you dedicate time to the six tips we've shared with you today, you'll be able to manage the grant process seamlessly with little to no stress. And when you see how smoothly the funding starts rolling in, you can begin celebrating your well-earned success. With all of the great tips we covered today, let's take a moment to look at them once more before wrapping up. For an effective nonprofit's grant management process, we suggest researching grant and funding opportunities, organizing funding information and supporting documents, investing in software to track grant applications, reporting on your progress internally, meeting deadlines and keeping stakeholders in the loop, and determining your post-award grant management plan. Thanks for joining us today. Again, I'm Alex from JotForm. See you in the next one. [♪ music playing ♪