Now is the Time to Embrace Technology in Grantmaking By WizeHive, Grant Management Software
Leveraging technology in grantmaking is an excellent way to streamline your workflow and to ensure that your grants are set up to have the greatest effect. With its ability to increase efficiency and modernize the process of managing government grants, technology can help maximize your impact. Read on for a primer on why embracing the evolving role of technology is one of the best choices you can make for your grants management processes, your subrecipients, and your community. It’s time to leave spreadsheets behind.
Utilizing spreadsheets for the management of funding opportunities and grants carries significant limitations. Spreadsheet-based management results in a greater strain on resources, poor monitoring of grant performance and, ultimately, less impact. Following are three sizeable drawbacks to relying on spreadsheets:
1. Challenges to data integrity. When done manually, data gathering, input, and analytics are likely to suffer from a degree of human error. This can result in compromised integrity of grant data, and as a result, less trust in your agency.
2. Time intensive management. Manual tasks, such as application processing, budget tracking and reporting require a considerable amount of time and place a substantial administrative burden on grant managers.
3. Limited process transparency. When the grants process is run manually, transparency—which helps prevent fraud as well as misuse of funds—is often sacrificed. Because management is labor intensive, the added burden of gathering and publishing data for purposes of transparency and accountability tends to be overlooked or varies depending on which staff member takes on the task.
How technology can help maximize your impact.
Technology allows grantmakers to benefit from a unified management system, which encompasses the full lifecycle of the grant and results in numerous benefits, such as: streamlined processes, increased transparency, standardized data reporting, improved resource allocation, trend spotting, data-driven decision making, and comprehensive risk mitigation.
1. Streamlined Processes. Grantmakers can set up automated workflows that route applications, approvals, and notifications to the appropriate personnel. Automated validation and review systems can check application completeness, verify eligibility criteria, and flag any errors or inconsistencies. Workflow automation reduces administrative tasks and ensures that processes follow predefined paths. It also allows for better collaboration and coordination between reviewers and decision makers, who can access applications digitally, and collaborate remotely. This enhances accuracy and speeds up the processes of review and decision-making. 2. Increased Transparency. With grant management technology, transparency and accountability are ensured via application tracking features and post-award monitoring. Automated programs simplify audits and support alignment with policy objectives. Governments can also make grant information accessible to the public through online databases, fostering transparency and trust and enabling stakeholders to track the allocation and use of funds. 3. Standardized Data Reporting. Technology enables the real-time capture and updating of data, eliminating lags that come from manual data collection. Data standardization and mapping (both of which are accomplished via technology for grant management) ensure that data is cohesive, organized, and can be transformed or migrated as needed. 4. Improved Resource Allocation. Grant management technology ensures consistency and reduces the workload of manually capturing and integrating data points, freeing up time and lightening workload, which results in improved human resource allocation. Such efficiency frees up time and resources, enabling staff to focus on higher-value activities, such as strategic planning and program evaluation. 5. Data-driven Decisions. Consistent and streamlined reporting processes facilitate data-driven decisions and evaluations. With the aid of data analytics, governments can monitor grant outcomes, identify trends and patterns, and assess the impact of funding. Analyzing data from multiple grants can provide insights into trends, program effectiveness, and performance, which can further help in making informed decisions about future funding allocations. 6. Risk Mitigation. Technology assists in managing risks associated with grants. Digital systems can incorporate checks and controls to ensure compliance with regulations, policies, and reporting requirements. The enhanced communication enabled by online platforms and project management tools helps clarify expectations, address queries and issues promptly, and foster stronger relationships between government agencies and grant recipients. Technology can also aid in conducting audits and monitoring grant expenditures, identifying any potential issues or irregularities. Maximizing your impact by harnessing the evolving role of technology. Grantmakers and their processes must be agile to keep up with the changing needs of the communities they serve. Their grant management software must continue to evolve to keep up with grantmakers’ needs as well. By leveraging the latest technology, grantmakers can benefit from increased efficiency, transparency, and accountability, along with improved decision-making and optimized resource allocation. In addition to the inherent benefits of each advancement, when applied together, these improvements have a transformational effect on the grant management process, resulting in the most valuable outcome of all: maximized impact for grantmakers, subrecipients, and the communities they serve.
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