Keeping track of grants and funding bids

If you're keeping a charity or community group going on a handful of grants, you'll know how much juggling it takes: applications in progress, decisions you're waiting on, money that can only be spent on certain things, reports due on different dates for different funders. And it's often one or two people holding it all together, alongside the work the group actually exists to do.

You're far from alone. Four in five voluntary organisations in the UK have an income of under £100,000 a year. This guide won't make the funding landscape any easier, but it can make keeping track of it less of a weight: what each grant asks of you, why it helps to keep it all in one place, and a short monthly habit that stops things slipping.

Why it can feel harder than ever

If applying for funding feels like more work for less reward lately, that isn't your imagination. Many grant-making foundations have reported increases of 30% or more in the applications they receive in a year, and most are having to turn down more applicants than before. With so many more applications chasing the same money, a "no" is often about numbers, not the value of your work. As one charity put it in IVAR's 2026 survey of funding experiences, "as your chances of success decrease, the amount of work required to apply has gone up."

It takes a real toll. One study estimated that small charities spend around 38% of the grant income they win on the work of applying for it. Keeping good records won't change the odds, but it does mean less time spent searching for information, and more of your energy left for the people and causes you're there for.

What a grant asks of you after the "yes"

Winning a grant is the start of a relationship with the funder, and most come with a few responsibilities. Every funder is different, so always read the terms, but as an example, the National Lottery Community Fund's Awards for All grants in England ask you to:

• spend the money within an agreed period of up to two years;
• spend it only on what you said you would, or what you've agreed with them since;
• tell them about changes, such as delays, a new main contact, or more than £1,000 left over;
• keep your records, because they may ask to see them up to seven years after the project finishes.

Larger grants often come with regular reports and payments in stages. It's a lot to keep in your head across several funders, which is why it helps to have it all in one place.

Restricted money, in plain English

Most grants are restricted funds. The Charity Commission explains that restricted funds can only be used for particular purposes. If a funder gives you money for a youth project, it has to be spent on that youth project. Unrestricted funds, by contrast, can be spent on anything that furthers your charity's aims.

That's why it matters to track each grant separately: what it's for, how much you've spent, and how much is left. It also makes the end-of-grant report much easier to write.

Keeping it all in one place

With several funders, each asking for something slightly different, the biggest help is simply having everything in one place that the whole team can see: what's been applied for, what's been awarded, what each grant is for, and what's due when. It means nothing depends on one person's memory or inbox, and anyone can pick it up if they need to.

There's no single right way to do it. Every group's funders, reporting and trustees are different, so a good tracker is built around how you already work rather than squeezed into a template. That's why, when we build one with a charity, we start by sitting down with the people who manage the funding and work out together what they need to see. There's an example grant tracker on our charities page.

A ten-minute monthly habit

Once a month, perhaps before a team or trustee meeting:

• check which application deadlines fall in the next six weeks;
• check which reports are due and who's writing them;
• update spent and left to spend on each grant;
• note any changes you need to tell a funder about.

Ten minutes a month is usually enough to stop a report deadline sneaking up, and it makes it easy to give trustees a clear picture.

Funders are changing too

There's some good news. Dozens of funders have signed up to IVAR's Open and Trusting Grant-making commitments, which include not wasting applicants' time and making reporting proportionate. In IVAR's 2026 survey, 51% of charities said funding practice had improved over the last three years, compared with 28% who said it had got worse. One wrote: "I am finding that more funders are making interim and final reporting easier and quicker by accepting existing reports."

It doesn't fix everything, but it's worth looking out for funders who've made those commitments, and worth telling a funder honestly when their process is hard work. Many of them want to know.

Common questions

Do we need special software for this?

No. A spreadsheet works well for most small charities and community groups, and you already have one. Specialist grant-management software exists, and can be worth it for organisations managing a lot of funding, but a well-kept spreadsheet will see most groups a long way.

How long should we keep receipts and records?

The Charity Commission says charities must keep accounting records for at least six years, and some funders ask for longer. The National Lottery Community Fund, for example, may ask for records up to seven years after a project finishes. It is worth making a note of the keep-until date for each grant.

What if a grant is paid in instalments?

Larger grants are often paid in stages, and later payments can depend on reports being in, so it helps to keep payment dates alongside your report dates.

What if our plans change partway through?

Tell the funder early. Most would much rather hear about a change or delay at the time than at the end. Their guidance usually says what they need to know about and how to ask.

Sources

1. UK Civil Society Almanac 2024: how many voluntary organisations are there?, NCVO, data for 2021/22.
2. Nine considerations for foundations responding to rising demand, Association of Charitable Foundations, November 2024.
3. Getting off the “hamster wheel”: how can foundation boards respond strategically to rising demand?, Association of Charitable Foundations, September 2025.
4. Searching for life rafts: funding experience survey 2026, IVAR, May 2026.
5. Small charities spend more than a third of grant income on applications, research finds, Charity Times, on research for the Law Family Commission on Civil Society, July 2022.
6. Spending and managing your Awards for All funding, The National Lottery Community Fund.
7. Charity reserves: building resilience (CC19), Charity Commission, GOV.UK, updated September 2026.
8. Managing charity finances, Charity Commission, GOV.UK.
9. Open and trusting grant-making, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.