by Rachel Ayotte | Feb 17, 2025 | Article
Done well, post-award management ensures funds are used as intended, grantees feel supported, compliance obligations are met and the impact of your grants can be clearly demonstrated to stakeholders. Done poorly, it can put your organisation’s reputation, relationships and future funding cycles at risk.
In this article, we cover what post-award grant management is, why it matters, the common challenges grantmakers face, best practices to follow, and an essential post-award grant management checklist to guide your team from award to closeout.
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Post-award grant management is one phase of the overall grant management lifecycle — the stage that begins once a grant has been awarded and continues through to formal closeout.
It encompasses all the administrative, financial and compliance-related activities that take place after funds are disbursed. While every grant program is different, for grantmakers, post-award management typically involves:
Pre and post-award grant management are two distinct but connected phases. Pre-award covers everything from program design and promotion through to application, review and selection. Post-award begins the moment the grant is confirmed and does not end until the final report is received, evaluated and filed.
Effective post-award grant management helps grantmakers in four significant ways:
Ensure compliance and reduce risk Grant agreements contain specific conditions — financial guidelines, reporting deadlines and performance expectations. The post-award phase allows grantmakers to verify that grantees are meeting these requirements, reducing financial and legal exposure and ensuring funds are used as intended.
Measure impact Assessing whether funded initiatives meet their goals is central to the grantmaker’s role. Regular reporting, check-ins and site visits give grantmakers the evidence they need to assess impact and communicate results to boards, donors and other stakeholders.
Strengthen funder-grantee relationships The relationship between funder and grantee is essential to long-term impact. By combining accountability with genuine support and open communication, grantmakers help grantees feel confident carrying out their missions — which ultimately drives better outcomes for everyone.
Inform future grantmaking Reviewing performance and outcomes across your grant portfolio allows you to refine your strategies, identify what works, and make data-informed decisions for future funding cycles. Strong post-award data is one of the most underused assets in grantmaking.
Even experienced grantmaking teams run into difficulties during the post-award phase. Understanding the most common challenges is the first step to addressing them.
Managing multiple grants and reporting deadlines simultaneously When overseeing several active grants at once, it can be difficult to track which reports are due, which grantees need follow-up and where compliance risks may be emerging. Without a structured system, things fall through the cracks.
Inconsistent or incomplete reporting from grantees Grantees vary widely in their capacity and experience with grant reporting. Some submit thorough, timely reports; others need significant prompting, submit incomplete information or miss deadlines altogether. This creates additional administrative burden for grantmakers.
Maintaining clear communication across teams and grantees Post-award management often involves multiple people — program officers, finance teams, executive leadership — alongside the grantee organisation. Keeping communication clear, documented and consistent across all parties is a persistent challenge.
Demonstrating and reporting on impact Funders and boards increasingly expect grantmakers to demonstrate the measurable impact of their grants. Collecting the right data, in a consistent format, across a diverse portfolio of grants is harder than it sounds without the right tools in place.
Grant closeout and record-keeping The formal closeout process — final reports, financial reconciliation, document retention — is often underestimated. Incomplete closeout documentation can create problems for audits, future funding applications and organisational learning.
Reliance on manual processes Many grantmaking teams still rely on email threads, spreadsheets and shared folders to manage post-award activities. This approach is time-consuming, error-prone and difficult to audit, particularly as grant portfolios grow.
The following best practices can help grantmakers build a more consistent, effective and sustainable post-award process.
Start with a thorough review of the grant agreement Before any post-award activity begins, ensure your team has a clear, shared understanding of every obligation in the grant agreement, including financial conditions, reporting requirements, performance milestones and closeout expectations. Brief your grantee on these same points at the outset.
Establish clear reporting expectations early Do not assume grantees know what you need. Define your reporting schedule, the format you require and exactly what information must be included—financial updates, activity progress, KPI data—before the funded work begins. The clearer your expectations, the better the quality of information you receive.
Build in proactive communication Do not wait for problems to surface before reaching out. Regular, scheduled check-ins, even brief ones, help grantees feel supported, surface issues early and strengthen the funder-grantee relationship over time. Establish clear channels and response expectations for both parties.
Maintain comprehensive documentation If it is not documented, it did not happen. Keep detailed records of all grant-related communications, financial transactions, report submissions and decisions. This protects your organisation in the event of an audit and provides a valuable evidence base for future grantmaking.
Plan for closeout from the beginning Closeout is far easier when it has been planned from the start. Include final report templates, financial reconciliation requirements and document retention obligations in your grant agreement, and communicate the closeout process to grantees well before the end of the funding period.
Use technology to reduce administrative burden Purpose-built post-award grant management software replaces manual processes with structured, auditable workflows, saving your team significant time and reducing the risk of errors or missed deadlines.
Use the following checklist to guide your team through every stage of the post-award process. This post-award grant management checklist covers the key tasks from award to formal closeout.
Review the grant agreement
Review all terms, conditions, reporting deadlines and deliverables
Confirm your team’s understanding of compliance requirements
Brief the grantee on all obligations and mutual expectations
Confirm contact persons on both sides
2. Establish a reporting schedule, requirements and format
Set and communicate all reporting deadlines to the grantee
Define exactly what information each report must include (financial updates, activity progress, KPI data)
Confirm the reporting format — online submission, written report, oral update or a combination
Set up automated reminders ahead of each deadline
Create report forms in your grant management platform
With Good Grants, grantmakers can create an unlimited number of grant report forms to solicit programmatic, financial, KPI or other information, at any time and as often as required.
3. Plan and document communications
Define your communication channels (email, platform messaging, phone, site visits)
Set expectations for response times and availability
Schedule regular check-in points with each grantee
Document all significant communications in a central location
4. Monitor compliance and financial management
Confirm that grant funds are being spent in accordance with the agreed budget
Flag any budget variances or requests for amendment promptly
Review submitted financial reports against expected expenditure
Identify and address any compliance concerns as early as possible
5. Track progress and measure impact
Review progress reports against agreed milestones and deliverables
Collect impact data in a consistent format across your grant portfolio
Conduct site visits or calls where appropriate
Document outcomes for internal reporting and stakeholder communications
6. Establish and communicate closeout procedures
Notify the grantee of closeout requirements and timeline in advance
Receive and review the final report
Complete financial reconciliation and confirm all funds are accounted for
Archive all project-related documents, communications and financial records
Confirm any final payments or fund returns are processed
Communicate formally with the grantee to confirm the grant is closed
Capture learnings for future grantmaking cycles
Managing post-award grant activities manually, through email, spreadsheets and shared folders, is one of the most common sources of risk in grantmaking. As grant portfolios grow, these approaches become increasingly difficult to sustain and almost impossible to audit.
Purpose-built post-award grant management software gives grantmaking teams a structured, centralised way to manage reporting, compliance, communications and closeout, all in one place.
Here are the post-award features to look for in your grant management software:
Good Grants provides post-award features that allow grantmakers to create unlimited grant report forms, configure automated notifications, manage grantee communications and track the full lifecycle of each grant — from award to closeout — without relying on disconnected tools.
With the right checklist in hand and purpose-built tools to support reporting, communication and closeout, grantmakers can strengthen their impact, improve funding outcomes and build the kind of funder-grantee relationships that create lasting change.
Good Grants supports this full grant lifecycle — from application and review through to award, post-award management and closeout — in a single, easy-to-use platform.
Ready to see it in action? Start a free 14-day trial.
Post-award grant management refers to all the administrative, financial and compliance-related activities that take place after a grant has been awarded. For grantmakers, this typically includes monitoring grantee progress, managing reporting schedules, ensuring compliance with the grant agreement, maintaining communication and overseeing the formal closeout of the grant.
Pre-award grant management covers everything from program design and promotion through to application intake, review and selection. Post-award begins once the grant is confirmed and covers monitoring, reporting, compliance, communications and closeout. Both phases are essential, but they involve distinct tasks, tools and responsibilities.
A post-award grant management checklist typically covers: reviewing the grant agreement, establishing a reporting schedule and requirements, planning communications with grantees, monitoring financial compliance, tracking progress against milestones, and managing the formal grant closeout — including final reports, financial reconciliation and document retention.
Common challenges include managing multiple grants and deadlines simultaneously, inconsistent or incomplete reporting from grantees, maintaining clear communication across teams, demonstrating measurable impact, completing proper grant closeout documentation and relying on manual processes such as spreadsheets and email that are difficult to scale or audit.
Best practices include: thoroughly reviewing the grant agreement before post-award activities begin; communicating reporting expectations clearly and early; scheduling regular check-ins with grantees; maintaining comprehensive documentation of all communications and financial transactions; planning for closeout from the outset; and using purpose-built grant management software to reduce administrative burden and risk.
Post-award grant management software replaces manual processes with structured, auditable workflows. Key capabilities include online grant report forms, automated deadline reminders, centralised document storage, built-in communications tools, payment tracking and portfolio-level reporting. This reduces administrative burden, improves compliance and gives grantmaking teams better visibility across their entire grant portfolio.
Grant closeout should be planned from the start of the post-award phase, not left until the end. It typically involves receiving and reviewing a final report, completing financial reconciliation, confirming all funds are accounted for, archiving all project records and formally communicating to the grantee that the grant is closed. Capturing learnings from each grant at closeout is also good practice for refining future grantmaking.
Yes. Good Grants includes dedicated post-award features, including unlimited grant report forms, automated notifications, grantee communication tools and full lifecycle tracking, from award through to closeout. Explore post-award features on the Good Grants website.
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