A subscriber emailed me a few days ago asking me how to track my clients’ grants and create a grant calendar.
This is a two-part question, and I will do my best to answer it holistically.
How do I track grants?
These days, since I have five clients and manage hundreds of grants at a time, I use Instrumentl. Instrumentl has a grant research tool, so when I discover a prospective grant for my client, I add it to the tracker and give it a status.
I update each grant as I work on it, submit it, and receive a decision. The platform emails me about new grants that match my filters and upcoming deadlines. I can print various types of reports. It works very well for me.
Instrumentl is $179/month and is worth the price. They offer subscribers a 14-day trial and $50 off with Promo Code:EPICGRANTS50.
In the past, I have also used a spreadsheet. I manually kept it up to date and made it a shared file so my clients could see the status of any grant.
Next, how do I plan my grant schedule…
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Let’s assume that I write five grants each month for my client. At the beginning of the fiscal year, I first add the grants that are a sure thing from the year before. These are ongoing funders and they are prioritized.
Next, I add new grants that have deadlines, high grant awards, and ones that we are most likely to win.
Then I add all other prospective grants with deadlines.
Finally, I sprinkle in grants with rolling deadlines to fill in any gaps.
If I am contracted to write 5 grants per month, I try to schedule 7-8 grants per month. I do this because sometimes grant funder focus changes, grant programs freeze, or grant funders decide not to open their application to the public and make it invite only.
If any of these things happen, I have backup grant options ready to go.
Until next time,
Write Epic Grants