New regulations impact grants management
New regulations bring increased scrutiny into grants management – along with a greater administrative burden
For grant professionals, every new piece of legislation that affects the grant process brings challenges, opportunities and uncertainties. New regulations often impact organizations’ core processes, from funding strategies to compliance programs. Answers to questions like – How will this impact my grant administration? and What do I have to do to be compliant? – can fundamentally change from year to year. Understanding the impact of new regulations is vital to ensuring that reporting remains accurate and compliant. Let’s look at a few of the most recent changes to grant regulations, and the implications for grant professionals.
International governments have increased their transparency requirements
Many governments around the globe are working to increase the transparency of their funding. The international market for grants is expansive: £5.3 billion (8.2 billion USD) in grants were distributed in 20151 in the UK alone. The EU implemented the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council in 20162. The law requires reporting to include data related to an organization’s efficacy and ability to meet project deadlines. This dramatically impacts the type and amount of information that needs to be tracked to prove that grantees are being efficient and effective with their grants.
Recent US regulations radically altered the grant management landscape
In 2014, the United States implemented two significant regulations – OMB Uniform Guidance and the DATA Act – to better understand and track the impact of all grant funding. Both regulatory initiatives were designed to increase transparency, but they have also led to an increase in reporting complexity for grantees and intermediaries.
OMB Uniform Guidance3 requires that grantees report not just their spending, but also the success and impact of their programs. The increased tracking helps prevent the abuse of federal award money. Unfortunately, organizations must conduct a time-consuming data collection and tracking process to remain compliant with the new success metrics.
The DATA Act4 requires every dollar of federal money that’s spent (including all funding awarded via grants or contracts) be reported and available to the public on USAspending.gov5. While the move away from manual reporting offers many long-term benefits, organizations are faced with an expensive and time-consuming switch to digital records. Additionally, any reporting that is submitted late or incomplete puts the organization at risk of losing their funding.
Meet the increasingly difficult demands of today’s regulations with Grants Management
Within this radically changing landscape, many organizations find it challenging to cope with the new regulations and stay 100 percent compliant. While these laws have created new reporting complexities at the grantee level, they also represent an opportunity to improve the way grants are managed from top to bottom. The GrantVantage Grants Management solution, built on Microsoft Cloud technology, provides a comprehensive platform to easily handle new regulations, gain better insight into operations, and reduce the burden of reporting.
The solution was designed by grant professionals who understand the challenges they face. Grants Management helps maximize transparency by enabling funders, recipients and citizens to access detailed grant insights in the cloud. With all reporting housed in one central location and always instantly available, the risk of data loss is greatly reduced. The solution significantly enhances the efficiency of budget management, with all grantee and sub-recipient drawdowns, disbursements and reimbursements tracked and reported in a consistent, centralized way. Finally, organizations are empowered to use custom metrics and objectives that best suit their needs, and share progress with others, using compelling visual dashboards.
Learn more
Curious about how the Microsoft Cloud and Grants Management will ensure your organization’s ability to meet these new regulatory requirements? Try the solution today on Microsoft AppSource, to see how Grants Management provides new insights, streamlines day-to-day operations, and guarantees compliance, auditability and organizational accountability.
1https://data.ncvo.org.uk/a/almanac16/fast-facts-5/
2http://ec.europa.eu/budget/mff/simplification/index_en.cfm
3https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/learn-grants/grant-policies/omb-uniform-guidance-2014.html
4https://www.datacoalition.org/issues/data-act/
5https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/Default.aspx
