Bloomerang CRM helps you track your grants at every stage, from application to award. Use notes and workflows to stay on top of deadlines, requirements, and records for every grant your organization applies for.

This article also shows how appeals, pledges, and reports can track deadlines and payments, and how to build dynamic reports that keep open-grant deadlines and reporting requirements in view.

Track Grant Application Process, Requirements, and Deadlines

You can use notes to track the application status of your grants. First, create custom fields to track essential details like grant status, ask amount, and application date.

Create Note Custom Fields

Use custom fields in notes to track information about your grant applications. To create custom fields for notes:

Click Settings.
Click Custom Data.
In the Notes tile, click Select.
Click New Category.
Name the category Grants.
Click Save.
In the Grants category, click New Field.
Create these custom fields:

Field Name	What kind of data goes in this field?	How do you enter data in this field?
Grant Status	Text	Pick 1 Value From a List Example Values: Research Letter of Inquiry Working on Application Disqualified Pending Decision Awarded Denied Reporting Complete
Area of Support	Text	Pick Multiple Values From a List
Single or Multi-Year Grant	Text	Pick 1 Value From a List Example Values: Single Multi-Year
Grant Source	Text	Pick 1 Value From a List Example Values: Government Private Foundation Corporate Foundation
Grant Ask Amount	Currency	Type it In
Grant Application Due Date	Date	Type it In
Grant Application Submitted Date	Date	Type it In
Amount Awarded	Currency	Type it In
Next Progress Report Due Date	Date	Type it In
Next Progress Report Submitted Date	Date	Type it In
Final Report Due Date	Date	Type it In
Final Report Submitted Date	Date	Type it In
Grant Owner	Text	Pick 1 Value From a List

Create an Organization Record for the Grant Funder

To get started, create a constituent for each organization that you are seeking a grant from.

Create a Grant Tracking Note on an Organization’s Profile

Add a separate note for each grant that you are applying for at a particular organization. Then complete at least these fields:

Date — Today’s Date
Application Due Date — When the grant application is due
Note — Type a brief description of the grant
Grant Status
Ask Amount — If known
Attachments — Upload files or add links to helpful information
Grant Owner — Who is responsible for this grant application

Add any other applicable information to the note.

Tip: You can attach a copy of the grant application to the note.

Update Grant Status

At each stage of the application process, open the grant's note and update it. For example, after you submit the application, you would:

Change Grant Status to Pending Decision.
Complete the Grant Application Submitted Date field.
Update the Ask Amount.
(optional) Attach a copy of the submitted application to the note.

When you receive an award letter for a grant, update the note again:

Change Grant Status to Awarded.
Complete the Amount Awarded field.
Complete the Next Progress Report Due Date field.
Attach a copy of the award letter to the note.

If the grant is declined:

Change Grant Status to Declined.
Set Amount Awarded to 0.
Remove any additional deadlines on the note.

Create Upcoming and Open Grants Reports

Create an Upcoming Items Due Report

This report shows open grant applications with deadlines in a specific date range in the future.

When this report arrives in your inbox, it means that there are outstanding items due for open grants, or your records need to be updated in Bloomerang CRM.

Create a new Notes report from scratch.
Include these filters for the custom fields you created:
1. Grant Application Due Date date is in the next 60 days AND Grant Application Submitted Date is empty.
2. Click OR and include Next Progress Report Due Date is in the next 60 days AND Next Progress Report Submitted Date is empty.
3. Click OR and include Final Report Due Date is in the next 60 days AND Final Report Submitted Date is empty.
Exclude these filters: Grant Status is Disqualified, Denied, or Complete.
Add these Notes fields as columns:
1. Grant Status (group and sort by this column)
2. Grant Owner
3. Area of Support
4. Grant Source
5. Grant Ask Amount
6. Grant Application Due Date
7. Grant Submitted Date
8. Amount Awarded
9. Next Progress Report Due Date
10. Next Progress Report Submitted Date
11. Final Progress Report Due Date
12. Final Progress Report Submitted Date
Click More.
Select Details.
In the Name text box, enter the name Upcoming Items Due - Grants.
(Optional) Enter a Description.
(Optional) From the Folder list, select a folder for this report.
To save the report, click Save.

Tip: Schedule this report to run weekly. The purpose of this report is to notify you of any outstanding items due related to a grant application, with ample time to meet deadlines. In the scheduling settings, select the setting to not send an email if there are no results in the report.

Create an Open Grants Report

This report shows all open grants and their details.

Tip: Schedule this report to run monthly and be sent to your team’s inbox, so that relationship managers and grant owners can stay up to date on the status of their grants.

Create a new Notes report from scratch.
Include these Grant Status filters:
1. Research
2. Letter of Inquiry
3. Working on Application
4. Pending Decision
5. Awarded
6. Reporting
Add these Notes fields as columns:
1. Grant Status (group by this column)
2. Grant Owner
3. Area of Support
4. Single or Multi-Year Grant
5. Grant Source
6. Grant Ask Amount
7. Grant Application Due Date
8. Grant Submitted Date
9. Amount Awarded
10. Next Progress Report Due Date
11. Next Progress Report Submitted Date
12. Final Progress Report Due Date
13. Final Progress Report Submitted Date
Add the constituent column Relationship Manager.
Click More.
Select Details tab.
In the Name text box, enter Open Grants.
Optional) Enter a Description.
(Optional) From the Folder list, select a folder for this report.
To save the report, click Save.

Track Grant Pledges and Payments

Appeals represent what compelled a donor or funder to make a gift to your organization. By creating an appeal to track grants, your organization can easily identify which transactions are related to awarded grants. You can use appeals to:

Identify pledges as grant awards. To learn more, see Use Pledges to Track Awarded Grants.
Report on received grant revenue by adding pledge payments.
Report on projected revenue related to outstanding grants.

Create A Grant Appeal

Create an appeal for grants:

Click on Settings.
Click Custom Data.
Click Appeals.
Select New.
Enter an appropriate name for the appeal, such as Grants.
Click Save.

Use Pledges to Track Awarded Grants

When you receive a grant award, create a pledge on the granting organization’s timeline with the “Grants” appeal. When you receive a payment from the funder towards the grant, apply the money to the pledge as a pledge payment. Because the pledge already has the Grants appeal, the pledge payments will also inherit that appeal.

From the organization’s timeline:

Create a new pledge.
Enter the following information:
1. Date — The date on which the grant was awarded (or the date on which you were notified of the award).
2. Amount — The total amount of the grant award.
3. Fund — Based on how the organization will use the grant.
4. (Pptional) Campaign.
5. Appeal — Select the Grants appeal.
6. Method — If the grant was already deposited to your bank account, select None to avoid processing an additional payment. Otherwise, select EFT or Credit Card.
Click Schedule.
1. If the award will be paid in multiple installments, enter this information:
  1. First Installment Date — The date on which you will receive the first payment.
  2. Frequency — Determined on a case-by-case basis.
  3. First Installment Amount — The amount of the first payment.
  4. Number of Installments.
2. If the award will be paid in a single payment, enter this information:
  1. First Installment Date — The date on which you will receive the award.
  2. Frequency — Custom
  3. First Installment Amount — The total amount awarded.
  4. Number of Installments — 1.

Create Outstanding Grant Pledges Reports

Use reports to track your grant pledges and payments. Important grant reports include:

Open Grants
Upcoming Grant Items Due
Outstanding Grant Pledges

To learn more about creating and customizing reports, read:

This report shows all outstanding grant pledges and their respective payment details, such as pledge status, payment history, next installment details, and balance information.

Create a new Transaction report from scratch.
Include these filters:
1. Appeal is “Grants” AND Pledges and Pledge Payments
Add one of these two filters (but not both):
1. Pledge Status is “In Good Standing"
2. Pledge Status is “In Arrears”
Add these Pledges and Pledge Payments columns:
1. Pledge Status
2. Amount Paid
3. Pledge Balance
4. Next Installment Date
5. Next Installment Amount
6. Amount in Arrears
7. Days in Arrears
Add these additional columns:
1. Projected Revenue This Fiscal Year
2. Projected Revenue Next Fiscal Year
(Optional) Delete these columns:
1. Type
2. Fund
3. Campaign
4. Appeal
Click the Pledge Status column.
Click Group By This Column.
Click More.
Select Details.
In the Name text box, enter Outstanding Grant Pledges.
(Optional) Enter a Description.
(Optional) From the Folder list, select a folder for this report.
To save the report, click Save.

Track Grants