Grant Lifecycle Manager is a Grant Life Saver
January 08, 2016

Grant Lifecycle Manager is a Grant Life Saver

Susan Haley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Grant Lifecycle Manager

The family foundation I work for uses Foundant's Grant Lifecycle Manager product for all aspects of their grantmaking - letters of inquiry, grant applications, grant reports, tracking payments of grants, evaluation of grant applications, as well as producing customized reports. Our entire organization uses it - staff, executive directors, grantees and our board of directors. We have been told by many grantees that this is the best online software they use - is it easy to access, understand and you can save your work as you go, rather than having to submit something in one sitting.
  • With GLM we are able to customize our application exactly as we want it to be. This ensures that we receive the precise information we want and need in order to make the best decisions for the community.
  • I also particularly like that we can automatically send reminders to grantees when reports are due, confirmations that applications and LOIs have been received and instant notifications to me that things have been submitted.
  • With GLM the process to scan and upload documents is seamless. Our auditors like to see signed grant contracts and board minutes confirming the terms of a grant. We upload these and it serves as our virtual filing cabinet - we are striving to go paperless and GLM has greatly assisted in the endeavor.
  • It is exceptionally difficult for me to be critical of GLM. If there was one place, it might be in the customized reports. Frankly, I don't really think it is GLM's fault - I think the fault lies with me. My brain doesn't tend to think as analytically as is necessary to craft a report that gives me the information I am seeking in a concise form. Fortunately, the customer service at Foundant is always ready to assist me to make the best report that I can. Once the report is written we save it and I can continue to run it on a regular basis.
  • I only see a positive return on investment with GLM. Rather than spending two full days copying and collating grant applications, letters of inquiry and grant reports for our board docket, it now takes me about 5 minutes to make these visible in GLM for my board so they can log on and review everything there. It has re-energized my grantmaking because my time is now freed up to do the valuable work, rather than the out-of-date mundane copying task - to say nothing of the amount of paper saved and the funds saved on express mailings.
I have not used other online grantmaking products or evaluated others. I used to use MicroEdge Gifts, but not the online application version. It was a stand alone management system. This is hands-down better, easier to use and a more complete system.
Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM) is very well suited for the small staffed foundation. I have highly recommended it in the past and will continue to do so. Their customer service is flawless and the product is excellent. It has reduced my paper and simplified my work flow. I cannot think of a family foundation or small staffed foundation that it wouldn't work well for.