Tracking and Managing Grants in DonorDock

DonorDock can manage grants from early prospecting and application through award, payment, reporting, and ongoing stewardship.

Because grant management often involves more than simply recording the final payment, DonorDock provides several tools that can work together to track the granting organization, application process, internal tasks, fundraising pipeline, awarded amount, and received funds.

Start with the Granting Organization

Create a Contact record for the organization providing the grant and set the Contact Type to Organization. This record can serve as the central place for tracking your organization's relationship with the funder.

Consider adding a Badge such as Granting Organization to make these contacts easier to identify in reports and lists.

If you regularly communicate with individual staff members at the granting organization, create separate Individual Contact records for those people and associate them with the Organization.

This lets you track communication and relationship history for individuals while keeping the granting organization as its own record.

Create a Campaign for the Grant

A Campaign can organize the records and activity associated with a specific grant opportunity.

When creating the Campaign:

1. Navigate to Transactions > Campaigns.

2. Click + Add Campaign.

3. Enter a Campaign Name.

4. Set the Campaign Type to Grant.

5. Enter the amount you hope to receive as the Goal, if applicable.

6. Add the planned Start Date and End Date.

7. Add an internal Description with any additional grant information.

8. Click Create and Save.

For example, you might create: 2026 Community Arts Expansion Grant

💡 Using a separate Campaign for each significant grant can make it easier to view the Gifts, Pledges, Appeals, Activities, and Notes associated with that opportunity in one place.

Use the Ask Board to Track the Grant Opportunities

An Ask represents a planned fundraising request tied to a Contact. For grants, an Ask can be used to track the opportunity as it moves through stages such as:

Identify → Cultivate → Solicit → Close

This gives your team a visual fundraising pipeline for grant opportunities and can help answer questions such as:

• Which grants are still being researched?

• Which applications are being prepared?

• Which requests have been submitted?

• Which grants have been awarded or declined?

• Who is responsible for each opportunity?

When creating a grant Ask, associate it with the granting organization and assign an Owner responsible for moving the opportunity forward. You can also include the expected amount and other relevant Ask information to help your team forecast potential funding.

Use Project Boards to Manage the Application Process

While the Ask Board tracks the fundraising opportunity, Project Boards can organize the work required to complete the grant.

For example, a Grant Project Board might contain stages such as:

Research → Drafting → Internal Review → Submitted → Follow-Up → Reporting → Complete

Tasks can then be created for individual pieces of work, such as:

• Research eligibility requirements

• Draft the project narrative

• Prepare the program budget

• Gather financial statements

• Request letters of support

• Review the application

• Submit the grant

• Prepare an interim report

• Submit the final report

Assign each task to a team member and move it through the Project Board as work progresses.

Use the Action Board for Individual Follow-Up

The Action Board is each team member's personal view of the work assigned to them.

Tasks and asks related to grants can appear on the Action Board for the responsible team member, helping each person track deadlines and follow-up without reviewing every Project or Ask Board.

The Action Board can be especially helpful for:

• Upcoming application deadlines

• Follow-up calls or emails

• Assigned grant-writing tasks

• Pledge reminders

• Reporting deadlines

• Other time-sensitive activities

This allows the Ask and Project Boards to provide the broader team view while the Action Board helps each team member manage their individual responsibilities.

Track Communication and Grant Activities

Activities can be associated with the granting organization and, when appropriate, the Grant Campaign.

Use Activities to maintain a history of interactions and work related to the grant, including:

• Tasks

• Meetings

• Phone Calls

• Emails

• Asks

• Notes

For example, you can record a meeting with a program officer as a Meeting Activity and associate it with both the granting organization and the Grant Campaign.

This keeps communication and grant history accessible to other team members working on the opportunity.

Store Grant Documents and Notes

You can upload documents related to a grant to the granting organization's Contact record for easy reference.

These might include:

• Grant guidelines

• Application documents

• Budgets

• Award letters

• Contracts

• Reporting requirements

• Final reports

You can also use Contact Notes or Campaign Notes to record internal information such as links to application portals, login instructions, reporting requirements, or other details your team may need.

Track an Awarded Grant with a Pledge

When your organization has been awarded a grant but has not yet received the funds, consider creating a Pledge.

A Pledge represents the amount the funder has committed to provide and allows your organization to track the outstanding balance until the grant payments are received.

When creating the Pledge:

• Associate it with the granting organization's Contact record.

• Enter the awarded amount.

• Set the appropriate installment schedule, if the grant will be paid in multiple installments.

• Associate the Pledge with the Grant Campaign.

• Add the Fund or Appeal when appropriate.

For example, if your organization is awarded a $50,000 grant paid in two $25,000 installments, the Pledge can represent the full $50,000 commitment, while the individual payments are tracked as they are received.

Record Received Grant Funds as Grant Gifts

Once grant funds are actually received, record the payment as a Gift. Set the Gift Type to Grant.

The gift should generally be associated with:

• The granting organization's Contact record

• The related Grant Campaign

• The applicable Fund

• The applicable Appeal, when used

• The parent Pledge, if the grant was previously recorded as a Pledge

This allows the received funds to be reflected in the granting organization's giving history and in your organization's Gift Reports.

If the grant is paid in multiple installments, you can enter each received payment as a separate Grant Gift and connect it to the same parent Pledge.

Grant Campaigns and Grant Gifts Serve Different Purposes

Although both use the word "Grant," they track different information.

Using these tools together gives your team both the fundraising and operational view of the grant.

Example Grant Workflow

A grant might move through DonorDock like this:

1. Create the foundation as an Organization Contact.

2. Create a Grant Campaign for the opportunity.

3. Create an Ask for the planned request and track it on the Ask Board.

4. Create tasks on a Project Board for research, writing, budgeting, review, and submission.

5. Track assigned tasks and follow-up through each team member's Action Board.

6. Record meetings, emails, calls, and other communication as Activities.

7. When the grant is awarded, create a Pledge for the committed amount.

8. As funds are received, create Grant Gifts and connect them to the Pledge and Grant Campaign.

9. Continue using Tasks and Project Boards for interim and final reporting requirements.

10. Use Gift Reports and Campaign reporting to review the funds received and remaining grant balance.

Reporting on Grants

Grant-related data can be reviewed using both Campaign and Gift Reports.

For received grant funds, create a Gift Report and filter by:

• Gift Type = Grant

• Campaign

• Fund

• Appeal

• Date

• Granting Organization

If you use a dedicated Campaign for each grant, filtering by Campaign makes it easy to review the Gifts associated with a specific award. You can also use Pledge Reports to identify awarded grant funds that have not yet been fully received.

Tips for Organizing Grant Data

💡 Use one Campaign per grant when practical. This provides a central place for the Gifts, Pledges, Activities, and other records related to that opportunity.

💡 Use the Ask Board for the funding opportunity and the Project Board for the work. The Ask answers "Where are we in the fundraising process?" while the Project Board answers "What still needs to be done?"

💡 Create a Pledge when the award is confirmed. This allows you to distinguish between funds that have been committed and funds that have actually been received.

💡 Record payments as Grant Gifts when the money arrives. This keeps your financial reporting based on transactions actually received.

💡 Keep the granting organization and its staff separate when needed. Use an Organization Contact for the funder and Individual Contacts for program officers or other people your team communicates with.