You toiled over the grant application for weeks before the deadline. You dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s on all forms and appendices.
Now, after months of waiting, the award letter (or email, as is often now the case) finally arrives and the celebrations begin!
Congratulations!
After you take a few minutes, or even a whole day, to celebrate with your grant team over the new award, it is time to get serious about what you need to do to accept and begin implementing the grant.
- REVIEW the award letter and supporting documentation. You and your grant team/organization leadership need to meet and understand questions such as: Was partial funding awarded? Which line items were funded? Was full funding awarded? Has anything changed in our program design or in our initial quotes that change the implementation plan, timeline or budget? Can we still achieve what we said, when we said we would, in the manner we said we would? Do we need to revise anything in our proposed work plan or budget and share the revisions with the grant maker BEFORE formally accepting the grant?
- ACCEPT the grant. This typically means signing the grant contract or agreement. Depending on the grant maker it can also mean formally acknowledging receipt of the award via email. When there is no signed contract or agreement, depositing grant funds into your organization’s account also signifies accepting the grant.
- DOCUMENT all required deadlines and deliverables expected by the grant maker. When are programmatic reports due: quarterly, bi-annually or at the end of the 12-month grant period? When are financial reports or unit-based billings due? When are press releases announcing the grant required to be submitted to the grant maker? When are conferences scheduled that you are expected to attend as a grantee?
- THANK the grant maker. Showing sincere gratitude for a grant award takes many forms and should be done immediately upon receipt of a grant award, as well as throughout the grant period, as allowable by the grant maker and possible within your organization’s capacity.
- PUBLICIZE the grant award. Following the grant maker’s guidelines, publicize the grant award to your constituents and community. Be sure to use the language provided by the grant maker in all publicity if any was provided.
- SET UP data and financial tracking systems. Ensure that your grant management tracking systems meet the standards of your grant maker (for example, does your system meet Uniform Grant Guidance standards?). Create a system internally of checks and balances so that one member of the grant team is the only person with access or responsibility for programmatic and/or financial data. Have at least two grant team members with responsibility and access to all grant related data to prevent information access issues when reports are due or grant makers ask for clarification.
You may think that some of the action steps outlined above are common sense, however, we have sadly seen grant awards go sour over skipping one of these steps. A good rule of thumb is that when in doubt over a grant acceptance or grant management question, ASK the grant maker. Better to ask for clarification or permission than to seek forgiveness and try to mend a relationship with a grant maker.
