Know how you can make things easier by using a grant payment software. Run your grant program more smoothly using the tips in this blog.
If you manage a grant program, you're responsible for a lot of paperwork and keeping track of important deadlines. It can be tough to stay organized and on top of everything, but using grant payment software can make your life a lot easier. With this in mind, below we’ll share three ways grant payment software can help you run your grant program more smoothly.
What Is Grant Payment Software?
In its simplest terms, grant payment software is an application/program that helps organizations manage and process grant payments. In other words, it’s a tool that can be used to streamline the grant payment process, track payments, keep track of expenses, and manage grant guidelines. Grant payment software can also help organizations manage their budgets more efficiently and track spending.
How Much Does Grant Payment Software Cost?
The cost of a grant payment software will vary depending on the features and functionality you need. There are different costs associated with different types of software, so it is essential to do your research before making a purchase.
There are two payment types for grant payment software: one time cost fees, or subscription based.
One time cost software: While at first blush, you may feel this option is the most cost effective, the reality is you often are left on your own after purchase. There’s generally not much support after you buy, and in many cases there is a significant learning curve with little more than a general instruction guide.
Subscription based: These are often referred to as software as a service or SaaS companies. They come with a recurring monthly or annual fee, but they also include the licensing fees, the cost of using the software, and the maintenance fees, which is the cost of keeping the software up-to-date. Typically, subscription based software comes with tutorials, ongoing support, and a customer service team that can answer questions and troubleshoot problems in the event anything goes wrong while using the program.
How Does Grant Payment Software Work?
The software works by tracking and managing all the information related to the grant program - i.e. your application forms, candidates, recipients, and the grant payments themselves. For example, if your grant program is releasing scholarship payments, the software would track things such as the payment amount, the date, the recipient, and other relevant information.
Quality scholarship payment management software typically has a database that stores all of this information should you ever need it now or in the future. All of the materials related to the grant can also usually be accessed via a cloud based storage system so anyone who needs to view or use the information can do so.
There are typically three ways in which grant payment software is used:
- To track and manage grant payments: Where is the money going and who is it going to?
- To make grant payments: Actually “cutting the check” to the recipient (usually a wire transfer/ACH transaction).
- To report on grant payments: Managing scholarship payments/grant payments generally requires sending reports to your shareholders, donors, partners, etc…so they get proof of where their money went.
How Does Grant Payment Software Make Your Life Easier?
The top three ways in which grant payment software makes life easier include: reduction in manual labor for sending grants, saving time on approval process and payments, and it’s safer and more secure than writing a check.
Saves the manual effort of sending grants
The grant payment process may have several bottlenecks. Send grants involve multiple steps that can be time-consuming such as:
- Correspondence between program and finance teams and even with the candidates themselves.
- Collecting and confirming recipient bank information.
- Filling out and double checking paperwork.
- Transmitting your grant guidelines.
- Confirming successful receipt of the grants.
It goes on and on. Grant payment software on the other hand can automate much of the process by doing things like:
- Sending automatic approval requests to the appropriate individuals.
- Automating updates to concerned parties.
- Alerting to issues in the fund sending process.
Saves the time required to get the approvals and process payments
Another way the software can save time is by automating the payment process. After choosing your recipients, it’s easy to click a button that fires off an email asking for a quick approval/denial from pertinent parties. Then, once the approvals have been obtained, the payments can be sent out saving a significant amount of time and reducing the chances of errors.
Safe and secure grant distribution
Grant payment software can help ensure all granted payments are made securely and efficiently. The software may help store and transport payment information, which eliminates the need to manually enter sensitive information. This can help protect both the program’s and the grant recipients' privacy while also reducing the risk of fraud. It’s worth noting that managing scholarship payments manually may lead to errors, omissions, and even interception of payments. Grant payment software can help to prevent these mistakes by providing a central place that has added layers of protection to manage all payments.
Make Your Life Easier With Grant Payment Software!
It’s more critical now than ever to find ways to make the complicated job of running a grant program easier. By automating the approval process, executing payment processing, and storing the pertinent data related to grant payments securely while enabling staff members to quickly access and report such details, grant payment software essentially increases efficiency. As a byproduct, thanks to the ease with which you can run and share reports and information with your team and donors, it ensures transparency and accountability. And the best grant payment software on the market is SendGrant. Click here to learn more about what we can do for your grant program.
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