Reviews of the Grants Management Systems

The following reviews look more closely at each of the systems that met our eligibility criteria for inclusion in this guide. For each we used a simple rating (Basic, Standard, Advanced) to compare the strengths and weakness against requirements criteria in 12 key areas:

  • Grant, Contact & Organization Records
  • Grant Applications
  • Application Review
  • Communications
  • Payments & Budgeting
  • Grant Requirements & Outcomes Evaluation
  • System Querying & Reporting
  • Security, Permissions, & Data Access
  • User Experience
  • Support & Training
  • Stability in the Market
  • Customer Experience Survey

Your foundation should decide which criteria is important for its own needs, and thus may rate criteria differently than we did, but this rating system can be a starting point for comparison. You can find the scores for each system in the Comparison Chart; or, select multiple systems to compare them against one another.

For each system review, we’ve also provided results from our customer experience survey, including how many people reported using the system, in the survey; scores in a range from -2 to 2 based on those users’ reported experiences with the training, support, and implementation offered by the systems’ vendors; and what a weighted percentage of those respondents would recommend the system to others. We’ve reprinted the content of the survey in Appendix C.

System

Amp Impact

Amp Impact by Vera Solutions is one of two grants management systems reviewed in this guide natively built on the Salesforce platform. Originally developed to help grantmakers measure and evaluate the impact of their grants programs, the system has evolved … Read more

System

Blackbaud Grantmaking

The 2018 launch announcement of Blackbaud Grantmaking signaled the next stage in the evolution of GIFTS Online, the grants management system Blackbaud had acquired from MicroEdge in 2014. Along with the relaunch and rebranding, the vendor has also developed new … Read more

System

CC Grant Tracker

CC Grant Tracker by CC Technology is a cloud-based full-featured grants management system with a heavy focus on research grants, but the ability to track and evaluate a wide range of grant programs. In addition to solid grant tracking and … Read more

System

Cybergrants

CyberGrants is an easy-to-use, highly-configurable system that provides a solid set of tools for managing the full grant lifecycle. The system provides good insight into the organizations in a foundation’s database, with the ability to capture a wide range of … Read more

System

First Akoya.net

First Akoya.net is a web-based grants management system from the Bromelkamp Company built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform. The system brings together the robust CRM functionality of Dynamics with solid grant tracking and management capabilities. An optional eGrant.net add-on extends … Read more

System

Fluxx Grantmaker

Over the past decade, Fluxx Grantmaker has continued to evolve from an open source solution into a sophisticated, full-featured grants management system. Users can choose to view system data in a table view or a series of unique, customizable, card-based … Read more

System

Foundant

With more than a decade of service in the marketplace, Foundant has built a track record as a solid, affordable solution for foundations seeking software that can manage a full grant cycle. Foundant’s grant tracking is organized around “Processes”—the company’s … Read more

System

foundationConnect

Salesforce.org added foundationConnect to its portfolio of nonprofit solutions in 2019 after acquiring its vendor, roundCorner, the year before. This cloud-based grants management solution, which is available through the Salesforce AppExchange, is built natively on top of the Salesforce platform … Read more

System

GivingData

GivingData has evolved significantly since 2016 and today is a solid option for foundations looking for a user-friendly solution to manage grants and evaluate impact. The key strengths of the system, which began in 2009 as a Business Intelligence overlay … Read more

System

SmartSimple

SmartSimple is a flexible cloud-based platform that provides grants management solutions for a wide variety of grantmaking programs. The system can be configured to provide a great deal of advanced functionality via robust workflows and a marketplace of pre-built integrations … Read more