Blackbaud Grantmaking for Multiple Funding Sources
January 30, 2018

Blackbaud Grantmaking for Multiple Funding Sources

Patrick Points | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Grantmaking (formerly GIFTS Online)

Blackbaud Grantmaking is used by our Philanthropic Services department to manage the grantmaking activities of our foundation clients. We use Blackbaud Grantmaking to:
  • Manage the processing of all grant applications (using the IGAM module);
  • Manage written and email communications with applicants and grantees;
  • Track and schedule and record payments;
  • Set reminders for critical tasks;
  • Generate custom reports for our clients.
Blackbaud Grantmaking is the only product we know of that allows us to manage the grantmaking processes from multiple funders simultaneously.
  • Custom reporting: in addition to providing many standard reports, Blackbaud Grantmaking makes it very easy to create and save custom reports. Writing effective queries is simple and requires no knowledge of SQL (though you have an option to write SQL queries if you prefer).
  • Robust template system: Blackbaud Grantmaking's Document Template Manager greatly facilitates our written communications with applicants. Approval/decline letters, check letters, and proposal summaries are just a few of the documents we generate on a daily basis, and unlike some other systems we've used, you don't have to export the data from Blackbaud Grantmaking before using it in a mail merge document. The Document Template Manager integrates with Microsoft Word.
  • Managing multiple funding sources: We have over a dozen foundation clients who have supported hundreds of organizations over the years. Blackbaud Grantmaking makes it very simple to keep the client data separated, even when multiple clients are contributing to the same organizations.
  • Blackbaud Grantmaking is a budget-friendly document management system. We have documents associated with organizations (e.g., IRS letters), individual grant requests (applications, budgets, approval letters, etc.), requirements (grant evaluations and reports), and payments (check letters) and it is very easy to save and search for these documents when they are needed. Blackbaud Grantmaking makes is easy to keep everything where it belongs (and move documents when you misfile them).
  • The existing portal for applicants to submit online applications (IGAM) is too confusing for them. Instead of logging in through one link, they must use follow one link to begin a new application and a second link to view or resume working on their in-progress applications.
  • Submitting progress reports and grant evaluations through IGAM is also very limited in its usefulness. Users can only upload attachments of completed forms. Ideally, Blackbaud Grantmaking would allow users to create online forms for grantees to fill out. Responses could then populate fields in a database table that could, in turn, be used in conjunction with the report generator and document templates.
  • Blackbaud Grantmaking allowed us to increase efficiency and provide more services to our clients than we had been able prior to implementing it. It has increased our capacity at every stage of the grantmaking process.
If you are only managing one funding source, or working for a foundation that makes relatively few grants per year, Blackbaud Grantmaking is probably overpowered for you. It would still be useful, but it really shines when managing complicated and robust grantmaking activities.