Grant management software is one of the keys to effective philanthropy, greatly streamlining processes for nonprofit organizations, charities, government agencies, and other grant makers.
However, integrating this software with your broader IT infrastructure requires foresight and careful planning. Including tools like Flexigrant in your strategic IT review is therefore critical, helping to ensure your systems run efficiently and align with your organisation’s objectives.
In this article, we’ll discuss several considerations to keep in mind when conducting such a review.
The Strategic Importance of Grant Management Software
For any type of funding organisation, it’s vital to accurately and efficiently track, manage, and report on grant activity. Advanced grant management software helps achieve that in many ways and brings consistency to the grants process.
All in all, it’s a catalyst for driving significant funding and success if implemented in the best way for your unique operations. Here’s how.
Operational Efficiency
Streamlining activities in the grant management process (including processing grant applications, financial tracking, and compliance reporting) reduces the administrative overhead that comes with manual processes, saving significant time and resources.
With efficient and well-defined processes in place, organisations can apply for and manage a higher volume of grants at a lower cost.
Financial Management
The best grant management system will support your organisation’s financial management at every stage of the grant process. Areas it can help with include budgeting, distributing funds, making claims against budgets, and reporting, while connecting it with accounting software streamlines things further. For international grant management, your software should be able to handle foreign currency payments.
Compliance
The best grant tracking software makes compliance less tedious in several ways. First, through making processes consistent, it makes it easier to actually conduct your operations in a compliant way from the outset.
Using a single cloud based solution to manage grants also centralises reporting and the storage of documentation, making it easy to track funding, monitor deadlines, and ensure adherence to grant guidelines.
Strategic Insights
Business Intelligence tools (such as Flexigrant Insights) supports grant data analysis, enabling funders to continuously improve. With real-time trend analysis, users can examine everything from expenditure patterns to applicant and EDI metrics.
Aligning Funding Management Software with Your Organisational Goals
When incorporating Flexigrant into your strategic IT review, it’s necessary to assess how it aligns with your strategic objectives. For example, if your organisation plans to increase the number of grants it applies for or manages, the system must be able to scale accordingly. Consider the steps below to ensure alignment.
Clarify Short-Term Objectives
Are you looking to reduce the administrative burden, improve reporting and compliance, have a more data-driven approach, or all of the above? Understanding such priorities will help you define how the award management software fits into the bigger picture.
Clarify Long-Term Objectives
Aligning the software with your long-term objectives means you can avoid disruptive changes down the line. Flexigrant is designed for scalability and flexibility, able to grow alongside your operations. As you expand your grant management activities, the system can adapt to handle more data, more users, and more complex processes.
Overcoming Integration Challenges
The process of integrating new software into an organisation’s existing IT infrastructure is often challenging, and it’s critical to address these issues during your review. Below are some key challenges to keep in mind.
Legacy Systems
Older systems often come with compatibility issues, so conduct a detailed assessment of your existing systems and identify potential integration issues early on.
Change Management
Transitioning to new software requires a behavioural and cultural shift within the organisation. In order for employees to adopt new systems, they need to be clear about the benefits and how it will impact their day-to-day tasks.
In fact, research into change management reveals that the category of staff that most often resist change is mid-level managers, followed by front-line employees. And two of the top reasons employees resist change is lack of awareness about the reason behind the change, plus a lack of support from and trust in management/leadership. So, communicate the benefits to all staff and ensure that leaders are setting an example.
API Connectivity for Integration
Flexigrant offers robust API connectivity, easily able to integrate with your existing systems, such as finance, HR, or CRM software. This ensures that all grant-related data can be exchanged smoothly, reducing data siloes. Consider which integrations are necessary right now and which you may require in future.
Implementation Planning
Without a solid implementation strategy, your organisation risks delays, resource drain, and missed opportunities. Consider the following best practices.
Early Involvement of Key Stakeholders
It’s vital to involve the right people from the outset; this reduces the likelihood of friction later on, as all relevant departments will be on the same page. Those who are part of the strategic IT review should also be part of the implementation project, helping to ensure alignment.
A significant risk that can occur due to such a review is delaying the rollout of critical software, so be prepared to advocate for its timely implementation. Make the case that it aligns with organisational objectives and highlight the fact that delays could negatively impact your ability to meet those goals.
Conclusion
Flexigrant is a strategic tool designed to scale with your organisation, providing a robust platform for managing grants efficiently, improving compliance, and helping your organisation achieve its mission.
Integrating this software into your strategic IT review helps ensure that its implementation aligns with broader objectives and supports long-term success.
Key considerations include the features required to meet short and long-term goals, integrations with your existing infrastructure, and the human aspects (i.e., getting stakeholder buy-in and ensuring effective change management).
To learn more about our cloud grant management platform or to request a demo, contact us today.
