Keeping track of multiple grant applications can be messy, as you must deal with deadlines and proposals. You donโt just talk to an organization representative and ask them to give you the funds โ you actually have to present to them why they should do so.
Itโs fairly easy to track your grant applications, though. Just open our Grant Tracker Spreadsheet on a new tab, toggle the โMake a copyโ button, and enter your details into the template. In this article, weโll explore some tips for keeping tabs on your grants, how to use our template, and how to create one yourself if you so wish.
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Tips on How to Track Your Grant Applications
Whether you want to use the classic pen and paper duo for tracking your grant applications, a spreadsheet, or a more convenient grant tracker software, there are several best practices that youโd want to follow. Here are some of them:
- Have a centralized record:ย Keep your applications and proposals in one place, such as a cloud-based spreadsheet. This will help you organize and easily access the crucial details of each application.
- Set reminders: This lets you do your tasks on time, which is crucial when you need to submit the required documentation or follow up on your application status.
- Save copies of your applications:ย Having duplicates of everything that you submitted for your grant application, such as the forms and supporting materials, allows you to track and reference your applications.
- Follow-up:ย If youโre not seeing any response about your funding application, never hesitate to follow up with the organization you applied to. Send an email or call their contact person to hear about the current status of your application.
- Evaluate your success:ย Retrospect about possible reasons a certain grant funder rejected your proposal and work to improve on these areas.
Best Grant Tracking Template You Can Use for Free
One of the best ways to monitor your funding requests is to use a grant spreadsheet. And if you havenโt gotten yourself a copy of our template yet, you can get it here. Itโs based on Google Sheets and has two separate tabs that let you organize your application details and prospective funders accordingly.
But who is this template for? As long as youโre someone who works with not-for-profit funding projects, whether as an individual or an organization representative, you might find yourself using our free spreadsheet.
Applications Tab
Upon opening our template, youโll see the fields where you can enter the information about your grant application, together with the funder youโre trying to connect with, deadlines, and other useful data. Hereโs a more detailed breakdown of this tab.
Columns A, B, and C โ Main Application Details
This is where youโll put the primary information about your funding request. Under โApplying For,โ youโll want to describe what your proposal is all about. Right beside this is the โApplying Toโย column, where you put the organization youโve submitted the application to.
You can easily pick your progress under โApplication Statusโย from the drop-down lists weโve pre-loaded for you. Among your choices are in progress, rejected, pending, and funded.
Columns D and E โ Categories
From the names โProject Typeโย andย โApplication Type,โ itโs easy to tell that these are columns that help you easily course through your grant requests. In the first one, you can simply describe your funding application in short phrases like educational purposesย and environmental driveย to give them a concise theme.
Meanwhile, you can select the type of document youโve submitted to a certain organization under the latter column. The drop-down lists included allow you to pick from common application types like a response to RFP, concept paper, letter, and report.
Columns F, G, and H โ Dates
These columns will detail the important dates regarding your grant, particularly the deadlines and the next steps you need to accomplish. Note that the โDeadlineโ andย โDate Sentโย columns have data validation โ you canโt enter other types of input except dates.
Columns I and J โ Financial Details and Notes
The last columns under this tab will be for the financial aspect of your funding requests. You can put here the amount youโre expecting versus the actual money you have received. At the side is the โNotesโ section, where you can put feedback from the organization that might have rejected your application and whatnot.
Foundations Tab
This is another tab where you can put the detailed information you have about the foundations and organization you are dealing with. It has seven columns that contain the basic details of the institutions, their contacts, and your applicationโs status.
Columns A, B, and C โ Grant Funder Details
The first three columns allow you to put the name of the foundation, together with their description and your application. Take note that, in this tab, the โApplying Forโย column is automatically generated based on the foundation name youโve entered in column A.
Columns D, E, and F โ Contact Channels
These fields simply contain the name of the organizationโs representative, together with their contact details. Also included in this part is the website of the organization, which you can leave blank if unavailable.
Column G โ Application Status
The last part of the โFoundationsโย tab is the โApplication Statusโ column. Our template automatically retrieves your applicationโs current progress from the other tab, and this column simply serves to constantly display it.
Why Use This Grant Tracker Spreadsheet
When dealing with a multitude of grant applications, being a one-man team might be difficult. This is where our grant tracker spreadsheet comes in โ itโs cloud-based via Google Sheets, which means you can easily shareย it with other team members for collaboration.
Additionally, our template is also built with formulasย and functions that make the work a bit easier for you, together with data validation rules and drop-down lists for convenience. And the best thing about it is itโs free.
What Should a Grant Management Template Have?
Thereโs really no benchmark when it comes to grant tracking spreadsheets, but here are a few nice-to-haves in a template.
- Name of the funding organization
- Grant details like the fund amount available and requested
- Grant deadlines and other important steps
- Application status and the next steps to accomplish
- Application details like project type
- Notes section
How to Create a Grant Tracker in Google Sheets
If youโre interested in creating a grant tracker from scratch to ensure that every part of it is customized for you or your organizationโs needs, here are a few steps you can follow.
- To start, go to Google Sheets and create a new โBlankโ sheet.
- Next, on the top row, create column headers for your application details, organizationโs name, grant status, deadline, amount requested, and notes.
- After that, press Ctrlย + A, then go to โFormatโ > โAlternating colorsโย to ease visibility in your spreadsheet.
- Finally, pick your theme and click โDone.โ
By then, you will have your simple but effective grant-tracking spreadsheet. If you want to incorporate more advanced features like functions, data validation, and drop-downs into your tracker, browse online Google Sheets coursesย at Udemy today.
Final Thoughts
Monitoring your grant applications that are meant for a great purpose can be as easy as downloading our free grant tracker spreadsheet. To see more of these templates, donโt forget to browse our other blogs too.
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