One of the most impactful ways that your association, higher ed institution, or foundation can make a difference in your community is by recognizing mission-driven organizations and impressive individuals who are initiating changes for the better. With similar intentions of supporting and rewarding values-aligned work, awards and grants both distribute funds to awardees and require your organization to have proper financial management practices in place for smooth disbursement.
However, awards and grants differ in implementation and practice, which we’ll cover in this guide:
Armed with these similarities and differences, and with best practices for management in mind, you’ll be able to determine which program is the best fit for your organization’s goals.
What is grant management?
According to OpenWater, grant management is “the process by which grantmaking organizations oversee all activities related to a grant.” Grants are often issued by associations, foundations, and higher education institutions to fund projects, missions, or goals that the grantee outlines in their application.
The grant management lifecycle
The grant process typically spans three stages: pre-award, award, and post-award. For grantmakers, moving through these stages constitutes the grant management lifecycle. Seeing a grant through the entire lifecycle requires a structured and organized grant management process for the grantmaking organization.
The five phases of the grant management lifecycle are as follows:
- Create and promote grant applications
- Review proposal submissions
- Communicate funding decisions
- Disburse and track funds
- Review and analyze grant progress
Because the grantmaking process includes protecting sensitive information in applications, ensuring compliance, and overseeing the disbursement of funds, you’ll want to make sure your team is prepared to handle these tasks carefully and accurately. Leveraging tools that automate tasks, generate reports, and provide centralized data storage can smooth out the grant management process and set your team up for success.
What is awards management?
The processes for creating, implementing, promoting, and ensuring the ongoing success of your awards program fall under the umbrella of awards management. If your association or higher ed institution is looking to increase awareness of your organization, support a robust member engagement strategy, and recognize the achievements of your members or community, organizing an awards program is the right call.
Similar to grant management, the awards management process covers the creation of the award and application form, promoting the nomination opportunity, receiving and reviewing submitted applications, selection, and review and analysis of the process once completed. However, whereas grants typically have a post-award stage that includes the grantee reporting their work back to the grantmaker, the penultimate stage in awards management is recognition.
Award winner recognition
Your organization’s goal in creating an awards program is to honor accomplishments in your community, industry, field of study, or organization—which is why the recognition part of the awards management process is so vital.
Planning a celebration event or reception to announce the winners of your awards not only gives the awardees the acknowledgement they deserve, but also provides an opportunity to build relationships with current members, honored guests, and industry thought leaders. It can raise awareness for your organization as well.
Another opportunity for recognizing awardees and winners, either in conjunction with an event or as a stand-alone gesture, is creating a digital gallery to showcase awards. Especially if this is done alongside a celebratory event, a digital gallery can allow those who weren’t able to attend to view the awards and be a digital keepsake for honorees.
Awards and grant management FAQ
To ensure successful award and grant management, you’ll need a roadmap with resources and guidance for navigating through the process. We’ve included a few common questions below to launch your journey.
What’s the main difference between awards and grants?
Generally speaking, awards are given to recognize previous accomplishments, and grants are issued to support future or present endeavors. However, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and scholarships can also be referred to as “awards.”
What are best practices for both grant and award management?
Like any multi-step process, do your research and create a plan before you get started. These best practices also apply for both award and grant management:
- Establish goals and objectives for your awards or grants in your initial planning meeting. Take the time up front to outline what you hope to accomplish with your grants or awards. You’ll be better able to shape the program towards that end once you’ve clearly defined it.
- Ensure your financial infrastructure is sound. Not only will you want to continue bestowing grants or awards for years to come, but you’ll also want to have the right processes in place for smooth funding disbursement. Evaluate your organization’s financial capacity prior to launching either type of program.
- Promote your award and grant applications. Leverage a multi-channel strategy to get the word out about your opportunity to as many eligible potential applicants as possible. Don’t overlook member communications as part of this process. Clowder recommends incorporating peer-to-peer messaging into your member communications strategy, which can often drive applications for awards and grants, since members can flag the opportunity to people they know who would be a good fit.
- Streamline your awards and grant management process with software tools. Overseeing the grant lifecycle or an awards program can be an overwhelming task, with so many moving pieces. But using a dedicated tool for awards management or grant management will relieve the burden and lead to a better outcome overall. There are even solutions that can help you manage both types of programs in one platform if your organization wants to take that step!
What roles are involved with grant and awards management?
Since both awards and grants require transparency, fair selection, meticulous record-keeping, and alignment with the issuing organization’s values, grant and awards management includes several key roles in the process, such as:
- Organizational leadership: Setting overarching goals, approving funding, and outlining the rules and policies for an award or grant are all subject to your organization’s board or leadership team’s discretion.
- Program administrators: Since they’re responsible for taking the award or grant from inception to analyzing the process after the award or grant has been issued, administrators take care of the logistics and keep the management process on track.
- Judges: In order to run a fair selection process, you’ll need to choose impartial, expert judges from among your staff or volunteers to review applications or nominations.
- Sponsors: This group funds specific awards or grants. To acknowledge their contribution, sponsors may also play a role in setting goals or criteria for their chosen grant or award.
Depending on your application process, nominators may also play a role—i.e., individuals who submit candidates for awards instead of applying for themselves.
Whether your organization decides to issue grants or launch an award program, you’ll be better equipped to manage it successfully with a clear understanding of what makes each process unique. Keep the best practices we’ve covered in mind as you support your community through these avenues.
