Grants

When Grant Reports Slip

A missed grant report sets off consequences: holds on future disbursements, damaged funder relationships, a reputation that follows your organization into every new application. For foundations, a missed grantee report means incomplete expenditure responsibility records and a 990-PF with gaps.

A university juggles federal awards alongside foundation grants on different reporting cycles. A nonprofit tracks a dozen funders with different fiscal years. A private foundation monitors expenditure responsibility across program areas. Lextree’s Grants module covers both sides — grantee and grantor — with every reporting deadline, restriction, and requirement alongside the rest of your compliance obligations.

Never Miss a Report

Private foundation grants require progress reports, financial summaries, and final close-out reports on each funder’s schedule. Some want quarterly updates; others ask for annual summaries or milestone reporting.

Every report you owe every funder gets its own record: due date, report type, submission status. When you submit, you record the date, method, and confirmation. Reminders arrive 30, 14, and 7 days before each due date. Multi-year grants generate obligations across the full lifecycle. Federal awards add layers — OMB Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), Single Audit requirements, standardized forms like the SF-425. The same tracking structure handles federal financial reports, performance reports, and interim updates. Classify each grant by funding source and filter by funder type when preparing for audit. Organizations just formalizing this process can start with our nonprofit grant tracking spreadsheet template to log due dates before moving them into a structured registry.

Terms and Restrictions

Use-of-funds restrictions, geographic limits, population requirements, matching obligations, indirect cost rate caps — your organization agreed to each condition when it accepted the award. Universities managing federal portfolios face additional restrictions around cost allocation and allowable expenses.

Each restriction gets its own record with the compliance requirement and verification method. Matching requirements show the required amount and type (cash, in-kind, or either) alongside reporting deadlines. Indirect cost rate agreements link to the specific grant and funder, so you always know which rate applies. Multi-year grants live in a single record with period-by-period obligations. You always know which year you’re in, how much you’ve received, and what reports come next. Renewal-eligible grants trigger reminders 90 days before the application deadline.

Grantee Oversight

When you award a grant, you track that the grantee submits required reports on time, that your team reviews them, and that issues get follow-up.

Every grant your organization awards gets a full record: grantee, award terms, disbursement schedule, reporting obligations. Each grantee report has its own due date, received date, reviewer, and review outcome. Overdue reports surface automatically. Private foundations making grants to organizations that aren’t public charities must exercise expenditure responsibility under IRS rules — written agreements, tax status verification, annual reports from each grantee. The ER flag filters your portfolio to show all ER grants at a glance, essential when preparing 990-PF. Each record captures the grantee EIN, entity type, written agreement status, and most recent tax status verification.

Grants in Context

A foundation’s grant-making activity ties directly to its tax obligations. Expenditure responsibility grants appear on Form 990-PF, and minimum distribution calculations depend on total qualifying distributions. Those filings live in Taxes.

Grant agreements often overlap with contract management. Organizations with dedicated grants teams use this module; those with occasional grants track them in Contracts. Every grant, received or made, anchors to a legal entity. For nonprofits with affiliated entities, universities managing grants across departments, or foundations awarding through multiple funds, you always know which organization holds each grant. Cities, counties, and special districts passing through federal awards to subrecipients carry the same reporting and monitoring obligations — see how cities and counties track grants alongside contracts and signing authority.