Funders expect clear, quantitative proof of outputs and impact – and in the case of federal grants, financial and progress reporting is a legal requirement. Yet meeting these expectations is easier said than done.
This article looks at why smarter reporting matters in grantmaking, how nonprofits can turn large volumes of data into insights, and how grant management software makes reporting more effective.
Why Smarter Grant Reporting Matters
Most grant management software can generate reports, but the extent of their reporting capabilities varies.
Basic reports may be static i.e., generated at fixed intervals. They may provide a small range of data points and offer little in terms of customization.
On the other hand, a more advanced grant management solution may offer flexible customization options and present real-time data through dashboards and visualizations.
Let’s consider how these features help organizations when compiling different types of reports.
Regulatory Compliance
For U.S. federal grants, filing detailed reports is obligatory to maintain compliance. Laws like the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) mandate reporting to ensure the public has access to information on all entities receiving federal funds.
Recipients of federal awards have to report on financial and compliance data, and they have to submit progress reports including impact data.
Different government agencies have different requirements but it’s common that all three types of data are required and that reports are submitted at least annually.
For example, for some grants delivered through the NIH, grantees have to submit:
- Financial reports
- Subaward reports
- Progress reports
- Invention reports
- And additional reports when working with human subjects or animals.
How Advanced Reporting Helps
With advanced reporting tools, organizations have the flexibility to configure reports to match the unique requirements of different agencies, deadlines, or funding streams.
As well as helping demonstrate compliance, modern reporting tools can help ensure compliance in the first place. Real-time dashboards allow teams to monitor financial, programmatic, and compliance data continuously, and thanks to this visibility, grant managers can detect issues early – before violations occur.
Automated alerts also help staff stay on top of things. For example, if expenses are trending toward exceeding budget limits, or if sub-awardees are lagging in progress reporting, the system can flag issues early.
Smarter Reporting for Non-Federal Grants
While federal reporting requirements may be more comprehensive, most grants require at least financial and progress reports.
Research by PEAK Grantmaking reveals the following about reporting requirements:
- 77% of funders require a narrative report that’s based on a standard set of questions.
- 96% require financial reports – and more than 50% of those funders provide a template that grantees must use.
- Only 42% allow grantees to choose their own format for reporting financial information.
There are scenarios where more informal agreements are made. For example, the study found that:
- 16% of funders allow reporting to take place over the phone.
- 13% allow in-person reporting.
- 11% allow grantees to re-use reports produced for another funder.
- And 6% accept presentations or video reports.
These flexible approaches are becoming more common in trust-based philanthropy.
Smarter reporting goes beyond simply returning raw data. It provides structure that helps grantees build a powerful narrative about their work; one that connects dollars spent to lives changed.
Demonstrating Impact and Securing Future Funding Opportunities
Following on from the above, having smarter reporting tools is key when it comes to demonstrating impact and increasing the likelihood of securing larger sums in future.
Rather than submitting a spreadsheet that shows how the total sum was allocated across program expenses, a nonprofit might use reporting tools to combine financial data with participation records.
The result could be a narrative such as: “Every $200 invested provided a free health screening that led to early detection of chronic illness for 40% of patients in underserved Cleveland neighborhoods.” The right tools brings together separate data points to paint a meaningful picture.
Internal Improvement
Capturing and analyzing grant data isn’t just about pleasing funders or meeting regulatory requirements; it’s about improving, and driving greater impact.
Advanced reporting tools help organizations to reflect on their own performance, make data driven decisions, and refine their strategies. For example, digging into program participation data alongside financial allocations might reveal that one outreach strategy consistently brings in more participants at a lower cost than another.
Smarter reporting allows teams to troubleshoot challenges, such as identifying why a grant program underperformed in one community, or uncover patterns that explain why certain initiatives exceeded expectations.
This process of reflection and adjustment is what turns reporting into a true driver of improvement. Instead of producing static reports that sit on a shelf, dashboards and real-time analysis makes it easier to translate data into action.
From Data Overload to Actionable Insights
Today’s grant managers may find themselves inundated by data. Organizations may collect volumes of metrics for different grants yet struggle to extract meaningful knowledge. That chaos has to become clarity if data is to have any value.
Here are a few strategies to transform data overload into actionable insights.
Focus on What Matters
More data is not always better; it’s easy to get overwhelmed by tracking dozens of indicators. Prioritize a concise set of KPIs aligned with your goals rather than measuring everything under the sun. Consider which outputs are the most meaningful and concentrate on those data points.
Ensure Data Quality and Timeliness
Data is only actionable if it's both reliable and current. Ensuring quality often means cleaning the data: removing duplicates, standardizing formats, and addressing missing fields that could skew results. Since errors can arise even in automated systems, regular checks are essential.
Equally important is timeliness. Analyzing data promptly allows organizations to respond to issues as they happen, not months later. This helps ensure that programs have the desired impact.
Establish Clear Protocols
To ensure smoother workflows, establish protocols for how information is collected, aggregated, and reviewed. For example, requiring staff to use standardized drop-down fields instead of free-text entries improves comparability across programs.
How Grant Management Software Enables Smarter Reporting
A 2023 scoping review on reporting in funded research highlighted key pain points in post-award reporting. These included inefficiencies in compliance and poor data management. It recommended using digital systems to reduce duplication, streamline reporting, and improve the use of administrative resources.
Using the right grant management system helps organizations meet these objectives. It drastically reduces the manual workload and provides comprehensive reports tailored to the metrics that matter to you. Here’s a few ways that it helps.
Automatic Data Capture
Our cloud based funding management software takes data, including anonymous EDI data. This ensures that the same data points are collected in every case. When analyzing trends across multiple grants, having a uniform data structure allows for clearer comparisons and more reliable insights.
Automation of Reporting Tasks
Many online grant application software platforms allow scheduled exports or automated progress updates, ensuring information is available exactly when needed. This saves teams from the repetitive effort of pulling figures manually, freeing them to focus on analyzing results and drawing meaningful conclusions.
Real-Time Dashboards
As mentioned, dashboards provide real-time visibility over grant activity. For example, they might show how spending levels and outcome indicators are tracking against agreed targets. Because all users access the same live data, decision-making becomes faster, more transparent, and more collaborative.
Conclusion
Using data impactfully gives U.S. grant managers a head start on compliance. Effective tools improve efficiency, making it easier to meet deadlines. They also provide clearer insights on progress, helping organizations to change course while programs are in-motion, potentially optimizing outcomes. In the long-term, insights improve mission delivery.
Funding management software is central to this journey. To learn more about how Flexigrant helps organizations use their data to drive meaningful change, contact us today.