How to build a grants results page that earns trust

The decision has been made and the notifications are out. Soon the first emails start trickling in. Who was selected? On what criteria? And when does the next season or round open? Each of these questions can take up your team’s time.

A well-built results page for your grant program answers them before anyone has to ask. It also shows that your process is fair and where the funding is being put to use. And it can be used to highlight the success impact stories of your program.

Here’s what to put on the page and how to build it without a huge lift.

Four building blocks for a good grants results page

A list of names is rarely enough. It tells the “who,” but not the “why.” Answering that question as part of the announcement builds trust.

Start with the essentials:

1. The grantees

Give names, project titles and a short description in one or two sentences. Add the award amount if your guidelines allow it.

2. The program in numbers

How many applications came in, how many were selected, and what was the total value? Even three figures give the page weight.

3. The selection process

Describe in a few steps how the decision was made. Mention the assessment criteria and the role of reviewers. Individual scores should stay internal.

4. Dates and next steps

Say when the decision was made and when the next round opens.

Be open without oversharing

Many teams hesitate because they worry about sharing too much. But transparency doesn’t mean disclosing everything. You decide where to draw the line. It just needs to be drawn deliberately and apply to everyone.

It also helps to settle early which details applicants agree to share. A note on the form is enough: the project name and short description may be published if the application is successful.

The British Academy of Management, a professional body for management research, leads by example. After every round, it publishes a dedicated page on its grantees. The page is organised by funding program and states the maximum amount per project, along with the grantee’s name, university and project title.

Summaries, collaborators and the actual award amounts sit in a linked project archive. That keeps the page short, and anyone who wants more detail is one click away. Earlier years remain online, which makes the program easy to follow over time.

Show impact: what happens to the money

The strongest results pages don’t stop at selection. They show what the funding became. A photo, a short quote from a grantee and one concrete figure are often enough. Challenges and lessons belong there too. Telling openly what went well and what didn’t makes you credible.

The material for this is usually already in hand if you collect final reports. In Good Grants, grantees can submit images, video and audio alongside text and numbers. That makes it easier to understand a project’s impact and to show it vividly.

“I’m not healed yet, but I’m learning to be patient with the process.” With that sentence, a grantee tells their own story on the website of Aidsfonds, a Good Grants customer, in an impact story from the Indonesia Healthy Cities with Pride program. Paired with a photo and concrete results, such as ten new PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) sites in Samarinda, it paints a credible picture of what the funding made possible.

Five steps to a polished results page

A good results page isn’t built at the last minute. This approach keeps the effort small:

1. Plan early.
Decide at the start of the program what you want to show later, and collect consent on the application form.

2. Use the data you already have.
When applications, scores and decisions live in one place, figures are quick to pull. The dashboard and reporting features in Good Grants are designed for exactly this.

3. Keep the writing simple.
Short sentences and plain words make the page easy for everyone, including people seeing your program for the first time.

4. Tell grantees first.
Let them know shortly before the page goes live. The bulk messaging feature makes this easy.

5. Keep it up to date.
Update the page after every round. An outdated page does more harm than good.

When you manage applications, scores, payments and reports in one place, you have consistent facts at hand. For an overview of what Good Grants offers after the award stage, see its post-award features.

Show what your program achieves

A results page is your calling card after selection. It explains how fairly you worked, and it makes visible what your funding achieves. That strengthens trust among applicants, funders and anyone who comes across your program in future.

Your next step doesn’t have to be big. For the next round, choose three things: the grantees, two key figures and a short description of the process. Publish them, then build the page out step by step.

At Good Grants, we believe grantmaking can be simple and fair. If you’d like to see how programs can run with less effort and more transparency, try our 14-day free trial.