Submittable makes grant management easy!
Updated January 25, 2023
Submittable makes grant management easy!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Submittable
Our organization uses Submittable to manage our annual grant application, grant reviewing, awarding and reporting processes. It is solely used within our granting department, and it wonderfully accomplishes the task of keeping all of our grant work, applications, documentation, etc. for the grant cycle in one location, and all inter-connected!
- Everything related to any applicant's grant (original application, review process, notifications, all communications, site visits, and reporting) is in a central location and is connected and easily accessible. This is a HUGE timesaver.
- Submittable's features are time-saving and make grant management easy and convenient, from start to finish. The platform accommodates every stage of the grant cycle, fluidly and intuitively.
- The only thing Submittable was missing for us was the ability to pre-populate our grant application with a unique 6-digit ID number for each applicant. This was important to us because we match our applicants with a database from the public school district so we have to make sure that each applicant's ID number is accurate. They did not have this functionality, but they were able to provide a reasonable workaround for it.
- The Submittable platform has saved us countless hours in legwork, creating databases and spreadsheets for tracking purposes. We haven't had to do any of those things this year. It's a huge timesaver as well, in that it communicates for you. It sends area-specific e-mail communications to everyone involved (applicants, reviewers, site visitors, etc.), and compiles all incoming communications into one mailbox that we can easily go to and get a quick read on incoming comms. So I would say time saved is the most significant positive impact we've seen with using Submittable.
This remains to be seen at this point. We are rather new to Submittable, so I think we'd be better positioned to answer this after using the platform for a few grant cycles. So far, it seems to be very intuitive for our needs, and our applicants find it very easy to navigate. Our grant reviewers also have no complaints so far on the platform's usability. They have all been able to access the platform easily, see an informative dashboard of what they have specifically been assigned to, and easily click through to their tasks.
We ultimately selected Submittable because of its ease-of-use, and how willing they were to accommodate our "special situations" without charging us a la carte for additional functionality. The others were several thousand dollars more annually, with LESS functionality and fewer features included.
Do you think Submittable delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Submittable's feature set?
Yes
Did Submittable live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Submittable go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Submittable again?
Yes
Using Submittable
3 - Operations, Fund Manager(s), Grant Administrator(s)
2 - A logistical person who fully understands the software overall and can explain its function and access to others who may need to access it for their specific needs, and a person designated to manage the platform, specifically the annual grant process, from application stage to final grant reporting.
- Grant management
- Grant administration and logistics
- Grant reporting
- E-mail communications
- Site visit scheduling
- To manage multiple grant opportunities
- To offer multi-year grant opportunities on a single application
Evaluating Submittable and Competitors
Yes - Submittable replaced Wizehive, which we were using to manage our grants for several years. Wizehive was working, but every year we still had to do a nice amount of manual work for the reporting and tracking of our grantees and awards. So we were specifically looking for something with these functions built in, and Submittable met and exceeded that need for us.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
The most important factor was functionality/usability. As a non-profit, price is also very important to us, but we were looking for a platform that would have the features we needed first and foremost.
I wouldn't change it, because we really went in deep with selection and evaluation prior to choosing Submittable. We wanted to be sure that we were getting exactly what we needed and getting the very best price for it, so we did a lot of legwork and research, then we did alot of engagement with our Submittable reps prior to purchasing the platform. We engaged our executive level team in the process, as well as everyone on the team who would have any level of exposure to Submittable, and got feedback on it from all of them.
Submittable Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Submittable Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
None | None |
No, we did not purchase premium support. We got the basic, because we had received a thorough onboarding for the platform and figured if we ever needed premium support, we could upgrade to it if needed.
We've never had to call on support since we started using Submittable, but the support we received during onboarding of the platform was superb! The Submittable team was very thorough in making sure all of our questions were answered and ensuring that we knew how to maximize our use of the platform.
Using Submittable
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- E-mail communications
- Form building
- Reporting
- None