29+ Sample Grant Reports

What Is a Grant Report?

As a review, a grant refers to the fund given by the government, private entity, or any organization for a certain purpose. And part of what strengthens a grant agreement is when the recipient creates a grant report to update the funder about how the money was utilized. Hence, reporting proves that the grant wasn’t just used for personal reasons but for what it was designed for.

According to eCivis, Inc., the four major types of grant funding are competitive, formula, continuation, and pass-through funding.

Grant-Worthy Parts of a Grant Report

What makes up a grant report? Although people have varying information on the report’s format, design, and content, its most essential elements would consist of the following:

Thank-You Note: First things first, it is standard for receipts to insert a thank-you message about the financial aid in the report. It can be as heartfelt as writing a thank-you letter but shorter. Hence, show your gratitude at the report’s introduction.Grant Activities: The main meat of your report kicks off with the summary of grant activities. This part is where you outline what the organization proposed to achieve with the grant and what activities have been accomplished currently. And a tip is to write like a narrative report where there is a sequence of what has been achieved daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.Results and Impact: What were the outcomes recorded so far? This section compares the data of what was proposed and what was accomplished in reality. Indeed, grants are mostly about financial statements but your data don’t have to be about numbers alone. Include an impact analysis section to explain how the results impacted the project.Challenges and Lessons: Albeit your organization has smart goals and objectives, what about the weaknesses and lessons learned? Create another section for that as well. Input the unexpected challenges that somehow disrupted the goals, lessons learned throughout the entire experience, and other realizations.Strategic Plans: Close the report by mentioning plans for the future. Set strategic plans after learning from the previous parts mentioned earlier. For example, you can post about how the organization will work more effectively in meeting the grantmaker’s desires.

How to Create a Grant Report

In most cases, funders set the grant report guidelines to be followed by the recipients. And even though you already know what a grant report is and what its important parts are, it is essential that you also know how to effectively make a grant report. And you can do so by following these steps:

Step 1: Review Financial Statements

Grant reports and financial statements go hand in hand so you must never go wrong with the numbers. And naturally, grantmakers want evidence of how recipients spent the grant funding. So review every grant expense utilized and what they were specifically used for. Adding receipts will even make the report more credible so you may add them too.

Step 2: Input the Grant Report’s Parts

Complete the anatomy of your grant report by inserting all the basic parts of a grant report that were discussed before. So down from the thank-you message to the strategic plans, input them in your report. Also, refer to the financial statement as your reference on what to write for the amount spent. And always be truthful on the results, impact, challenges, lessons, and so forth.

Step 3: Balance the Details and Organization

A very detailed report will be appreciated by grantmakers but not to the point where you put too much, including unnecessary or irrelevant information. Being direct is also the key to create an effective grant report. Most importantly, check the organization of your details. Hard-to-follow reports are as good as bad reports, which must not be committed.

Step 4: Set the Format and Submit

Finally, finalize the format of your grant report when you are done with the content. You can always edit the sample grant reports listed above. And every template is not only customizable but also printable and downloadable. Moreover, the standard is to ensure to print the report on white paper with numbered pages. Set the cover sheet and other attachments until you are ready to submit them.

FAQs

What are the types of grant funding?

It has been reported that there are four types of grant funding—competitive, formula, continuation, and pass-through funding.

What are other tips to write a grant report?

Here are a few notes you might want to apply for your next grant report:

  • Add graphs, tables, charts, and other visual representations of results to avoid wordiness and save time reading.
  • Organize the report’s content by using bullet points and subheadings.
  • Never forget the words ‘thank you’ in your report to be courteous to the funders.
  • Work with a reliable team so you won’t have to compile all the reports alone.

Where do grants come from?

Grants are usually given as free money and need not be repaid. And you often get them from the government, school, nonprofit, or a private organization.

Always remember that well-written grant reports invite more grant funding. Although reporting sometimes requires Herculean effort and time, everything will be worth it when you comply with the grant report requirements and earn your funder’s trust. In fact, you won’t have to suffer at making reports from scratch; and that is all thanks to sample grant reports. Download now!