What to Watch Out for in Grant Management Software Reviews

Finding the right grant management software for your foundation can often be a time consuming task. When you choose to go with a grant management software, you want it to be the only time you will ever need to make that decision, which is why it’s so important to get it right the first time.

If you are going through the process of learning about the details and features of various grant management software, then you probably typed the phrase “grant management software reviews” into a search engine at some point. You may have found that many reviews about the various grant management software platforms offer a lot of confusing terminology and mixed feelings.

Another problem with reading these reviews is that when customers raise their concerns, they often refer to specific features within the platform, and it’s difficult to understand what they are referring to since you have never used the platform yourself.

If you are reading over grant management software reviews to find the best grant management software solution for your foundation, take a look at this list of red flags to watch out for when doing your research.

Grant Management Software Reviews Red Flags

One “red flag” that you need to keep in mind when reviewing grant management software is that many of the platforms that are marketed towards grant management aren’t actually designed with this purpose in mind. Rather, these are simply accounting platforms that can be used for tracking grant funding.

While grant management does require a significant amount of accounting to effectively administer the funds they are entrusted with, platforms that are exclusively designed for accounting simply can’t meet the diverse and specific needs of grant managers and the organization they work with.

With that being said, these are terms you need to watch out for when reading grant management software reviews.

Clunky

What this often translates to is a grant management software platform that is still in early stages of development or simply has a user-interface that is not well designed.

When users say that a software product is “clunky,” they often mean that the layout is unintuitive, information is difficult to find, and there are often additional and unnecessary steps to carry out simple tasks.

On top of their complicated navigation and unintuitive layout, “clunky” grant management systems will sometimes have an unattractive graphical interface that can make using them less appealing. Although this may not directly affect their functionality, it can affect the user’s ability to find what they are looking for.

A modern, well-designed GMS should not only be attractive and inviting, but it should have a intuitive navigation that allows users to easily reach the functions and information they need to complete tasks and meet deadlines.

When using a system that stores and manages a large amount of data, documentation, and details about specific programs, you want everything to be where you would expect it to be, and it’s important that the information is labeled in a way that makes it readily apparent for any user.

Lack of Customization

Lack of customization is a huge drawback for many of the grant management software iterations on the market today, and it is a common complaint among users in their grant management software reviews. This term is especially prevalent when users talk about their experience with generating reports.

Grant management software will typically allow you to create automated reports that draw data from various sources, but they do not always allow you to create custom reports.

Grant managers often need to create custom reports that feature specific sets of data, depending on the projects that are being funded and who at the foundation is viewing the data.

Best-in-class grant management software allows you to create customized reports that are able to pull data automatically from any document kept in the system’s central database. One feature that makes this process much more convenient is cloud integration.

When organizations store their data on an in-house server, they will often need to create custom-written SQL protocols to retrieve and populate their data. This process is less flexible than reports made through cloud integration because everything needs to be stored in a specific format that is very difficult to update.

Lack of Integrations

The ability to integrate additional software and applications into existing systems is becoming an extremely important feature for many organizations that rely on technology in their daily operations, and grant management software is certainly no exception to this rule.

Being able to integrate other platforms to expand your system's capabilities allows you to manage more of your daily processes from one central location. This significantly reduces the amount of searching and redundancy involved in grant managers’ responsibilities, creating a more streamlined process for grant management.

While it would be impossible to create integrations for every piece of technology that is used in grant management, some of the basics you should look for in a grant management system are email, calendars, e-signatures, and cloud integration.

Grant Management Software by GivingData

Based on our years of experience working with a diverse range of private and family foundations, we built our product around the role of grant managers and their teams. We know that grant managers have unique needs and requirements, which is why we strive to ensure that our platform is flexible, customizable, and all-encompassing.

We hear our clients’ feedback about what works for them and what they would like to see, which is why we are always continuing to develop additional features and new capabilities. 

If you are tired of reading grant management software reviews and would like see GivingData in action, then contact us to schedule a free demo. Our knowledgeable team is well-versed in grant management, and our mission is to support grant managers like you.

Click here for more information or to get in touch with our dedicated team!