Writing & guides
Grant management, written down properly.
Guides and opinions for funders: due diligence, audit-grade records, 360Giving, proportionate reporting, and honest comparisons with the software you may be paying too much for today.
The grant lifecycle explained, stage by stage
A clear walk through the grant lifecycle for funders: programme setup, intake, due diligence, assessment, decision, award, payments, reporting and publishing.
Guides
Running a grant panel meeting that decides well
How to run an effective grant decision panel: preparing a committee pack, managing conflicts, making and recording decisions, and handling the budget in the room.
How to write grant assessment criteria
A practical guide to writing clear, weighted grant assessment criteria that applicants can address and assessors can score consistently.
How to set up a grant programme or fund
A step-by-step guide to setting up a grant programme: defining the fund, writing the call, setting criteria and budget, and opening a round applicants can navigate.
Grant management in 2026: a practical guide for UK funders
A plain guide to running the full UK grant lifecycle well, from programme setup and due diligence to decisions, payments, reporting and 360Giving publishing.
Software & comparisons
What is a grant management system (GMS)?
A plain definition of a grant management system, what a GMS does across the grant lifecycle, and how to tell a real grants management platform from a glorified form builder.
Salesforce for grant management: alternatives for UK funders
Salesforce can be configured for grantmaking, but it is a CRM platform, not a purpose-built grants system. When a dedicated UK grant management alternative fits better.
Grantledger versus the incumbents: an honest comparison
How Grantledger compares to enterprise grant management systems, configurable UK platforms, online application platforms, and spreadsheets on time-to-value, built-in due diligence, audit-grade records, and total cost.
Grant tracking software: what it is and what good looks like
What grant tracking software does, the difference between tracking grants and managing them end to end, and the tracking features UK funders should expect.
Grant application software and form builders: what to look for
How online grant application software and form builders should work for UK funders and applicants: eligibility checks, save-and-return drafts, and no account required.
Free grant management software: the real cost
Free grant management software and free trials can be a great start, but the real cost is in staff time, lock-in and missing controls. How to weigh free against fit.
Best grant management software in the UK for 2026
How to judge the best grant management software for UK funders in 2026: the criteria that separate strong products, and where the well-known options fit.
Migrating off legacy grant management software
A calm, practical plan for moving from an incumbent grant management system without losing history, momentum, or your team's patience.
Spreadsheets versus a grant management system
Spreadsheets get many funders a long way. Here is exactly where they stop working, and what you gain by moving to a purpose-built grant management system.
Choosing grant management software in 2026
A buyer's checklist for UK funders: the features that matter, the questions that expose weak products, and the costs that hide in long implementations.
Features
Writing grant reporting emails that actually get replies
Most overdue grantee reports are forgetfulness, not refusal. Here is how to write reminder emails that recover them, and why a human should still approve every one.
Multi-year grant management: keeping long grants on track
How to manage multi-year grants well: staged payments tied to milestones, proportionate annual reporting, and a clear view of commitments across years.
Measuring grant impact and outcomes without drowning grantees
How funders can measure grant impact and outcomes proportionately: defining indicators, collecting evidence, and turning reports into learning rather than box-ticking.
Managing conflicts of interest on grant panels
A practical approach to conflicts of interest in grantmaking: declaring, recording and managing them so decisions stay fair and defensible.
Human-in-the-loop AI in grant assessment: where the line belongs
AI can read and summarise applications usefully. It must not decide. Here is how to use AI in grant assessment while keeping decisions human and defensible.
Grant payments and disbursement management
How to manage grant payments well: condition-gated tranches, payment schedules, reconciliation with finance, and a clear ledger from commitment to paid.
Grant application scoring and assessment that holds up
How to score and assess grant applications fairly: published weighted criteria, evidence-grounded scoring, reviewer assignments, and decisions that stay with humans.
Eligibility checks for grant applications: get them right
Why an eligibility pre-check saves time for funders and applicants alike, how to design fair eligibility rules, and where to place the check in your application flow.
Proportionate grantee reporting that people actually complete
How to set reporting requirements that match the size of the grant, get higher completion rates, and turn reports into learning rather than box-ticking.
Publishing to 360Giving: a guide for funders
Why UK funders publish their grants as 360Giving open data, what the standard expects, and how to make publishing a by-product of your process rather than a project.
Tamper-evident audit trails, explained
How a SHA-256 hash chain makes a grant audit trail tamper-evident, why it matters for funders, and how to verify one yourself.
What 'audit-grade' actually means in grant software
Audit-grade is more than a log file. Here is what funders should expect: tamper-evidence, human-owned rationale, tenant isolation, and proof you can hand to a board or regulator.
Compliance & due diligence
Safeguarding for grant funders: a proportionate approach
What funders should expect on safeguarding from the organisations they fund, how to ask for it proportionately, and how to record it as part of due diligence.
Grant compliance for UK funders: what to get right
A practical overview of grant compliance for UK funders: due diligence, data protection, safeguarding, transparency, and keeping defensible records throughout.
Companies House checks for funders
How and why funders should check applicants against Companies House: confirming company status, officers and filings, and combining it with charity checks.
Charity Commission checks explained for funders
What the Charity Commission register tells a funder, how to use it for due diligence, and what to do when a check cannot be completed.
Right to erasure for funders: doing it properly
How UK funders should handle data protection and the right to erasure across applications, decisions and published open data, without breaking their audit trail.
A practical guide to UK charity due diligence for funders
What to check before you fund a UK organisation, using the Charity Commission and Companies House, and how to handle the cases where the registers cannot answer.
For your sector
Scholarship and bursary management for funders
How to run scholarship and bursary programmes well: fair assessment, sensitive handling of applicant data, staged payments, and light-touch reporting.
Grant management software for charities and nonprofits that give grants
What charities and nonprofits that make grants need from grant management software: affordability, ease, built-in due diligence, and transparency, without a big IT project.
Grant management for local councils and the public sector
What councils and public bodies need from grant management: transparency, audit-grade records, due diligence on recipients, and a fair, accessible application process.
Grant management for foundations and trusts
What charitable foundations and grant-making trusts need from grant management: a defensible decision process, audit-grade records, and transparency to beneficiaries and regulators.
Corporate grant management and CSR giving
How companies can run corporate giving and CSR grant programmes well: a credible process, due diligence on recipients, impact reporting, and transparency stakeholders trust.
Grant software for community foundations
What community foundations need from grant management: handling many funds and donor-advised giving, local due diligence, and transparency to donors and communities.