Building Out a Post-Award Grant Management Checklist 

After spending 100+ hours working on that federal grant where you were losing sleep (and potentially sanity), you received news from the federal agency that your organization was awarded a grant. Congratulations – your hard work paid off!

The only problem is that you spent so much time on writing the grant that you and your team haven’t thought as much about managing the grant. Panic might start to set in as you review the notice of the grant award and navigate what needs to happen next. There are many requirements and compliance expectations – where do you begin?

If it makes you feel any better, this is a common scenario for many new federal grant recipients. This grant management checklist reduces the fear of managing federal grants as we build a step-by-step approach.

Post-award grant management can be broken down into four primary stages:

1. Preparing for Post-Award Management
2. Grant Administration Tasks
3. Ongoing Grant Implementation
4. Closing Out Your Grant

Preparing for Post-Award Management

Before administering a grant award, it’s always best to start at the beginning. These steps will
provide the framework for approaching this work and putting your best foot forward.

• Review: Ensure you and the applicable team members responsible for the grant administration have access to grant award notice, your awarded application, and budget. In particular, look at critical due dates, the names of your designated program officer and grant management specialist, required forms, and the final approved budget. A good rule of thumb is to develop a project plan to track this information (even a quick Google sheet is a great starting point) so that nothing is missed. Mapping this out and understanding
  what is expected of your organization will limit any surprises.
• Kickoff: Set up a time for a kickoff call with this group and then regularly schedule meetings throughout the grant award period. Ensure everyone understands what you intend to accomplish during the grant period and how funds should be expended based on the approved budget.
  • This is also the time when you will want to include other partners external to your organization. This may include finalizing any memorandums of understanding or partnership agreements to solidify your work together. Consider the use of a RACI chart to help you identify how you intend to communicate with different partners throughout the grant award period.
• Requirements: Check that you have access to the source files of the administrative requirements (i.e., 2 CFR 200) and any other federal agency requirements indicated in the notice of grant award.
• Checking in: Ask the federal agency program officer or grant management specialist (indicated in the notice of grant award) any questions or clarify any critical details so you can ensure you are on the best path. Note these considerations when reaching out to the awarding agency if there are still uncertainties about the award:
  • Standard reporting forms to use (if not indicated in the notice of grant award)
  • Whether there are technical assistance sessions that would be helpful for you to
    attend
  • The process for any budget modifications and other prior approval requirements
  • Any clarifications about the approved budget and if there are deviations from the
    budget in the application
• Complete: Finalize any required reports or administrative documents the federal agency requests. Note that there are often required items before an award period begins, including (but not limited to) a diversity and impact statement, risk assessment, and financial integrity review. These required items often focus on assuring the funder that you will be a good steward of public funding and that your organization is focused on inclusivity and equity as part of its standard operations.
• Designate: Identify a person or persons who will be responsible for tracking deadlines and ensuring items are completed on time. Also, set up the shared document storage system where you will house records concerning this grant award.

Grant Administration Tasks

Now that you have begun to set the stage for grant management success, we will focus on the nitty-gritty of administering the grant successfully. For ease of comprehension, we are organizing these tasks into those that are financial, programmatic, or operational. Please remember that there might be some crossover, but it can be clustered into core functional areas.

• Financial: Set up an appropriate code associated with the grant so when it is time for reporting, those expenditures align with how the funds were spent. Share this code with others on your team to code the expenses correctly.
• Operational: Train the appropriate team members whose salaries are being paid out of a federal grant to understand how to do time and effort reporting. Remember that the person who completes the timesheet cannot be the one who approves it!
• Programmatic: If working with an evaluator, ensure that there is a way to receive information about ongoing progress against stated outcomes. Identify the tracking system to measure this information regularly.
• Operational: Review the existing grant management policies and procedures with the core administration team to ensure they are accurate and reflect 2 CFR 200 administrative requirements. If not, create a plan with your team to update them.
• All: Follow your organization’s current procurement policy when working with sub-recipients and contractors and purchasing goods. If there is no such policy, you must adhere to 2 CFR 200 requirements and other applicable requirements as identified in the notice of grant award.
  • Procurement tends to be one of the most complicated processes to follow in the administration of grant funding. There are often questions about subrecipients versus contractors. This one-pager can help as you begin to think about working with other partners.