More and more corporate social responsibility (CSR) teams and professionals are looking to use grantmaking as a tool for employee engagement, social impact, and community building. However, that doesn’t mean finding the right tech to help you get the job done is easy.
Choosing the right grant management software for your CSR team means breaking down your goals and finding a tool that supports them all. Let’s take a deeper dive into what to look for and consider when choosing grant management software to support your CSR initiatives.
Grant management software is a collection of technology and tools that empower you to plan, award, and monitor grants. It’s a platform that allows you to oversee all the processes that go into grant management, including program design, application review, reporting, and more.
This broad definition covers just about every kind of software for grant management. However, it’s not necessarily true to say that all software is made equal. Depending on the user and their goal for grantmaking, different platforms (or tools with different functionalities) may be necessary.
Grant management software for grantmakers like corporations, for example, probably won’t look or function like grant management software for government agencies or nonprofit organizations themselves.
When we talk about grant management for CSR, we’re largely referring to what’s often known as social impact grantmaking. CSR teams can support their ongoing efforts by investing in a tool that supports the goals of both social impact and strategic grantmaking.
Each of these goals lends itself well to the mission behind corporate social responsibility: ensuring that your organization’s impact on the world is positive.
Adopting either or both of these approaches ensures that your CSR team uses grantmaking to uplift its existing efforts. As such, you’ll need to choose a tool that reflects your CSR goals and intentions. The best software for CSR teams, in this case, is one that incorporates grantmaking as one of many tools that help you build a robust program.
Not all grant management tools are equipped with the same bells and whistles. No matter what, though, it’s essential to ensure that the tool you pick has essential features like:
With the basics of grant management tech established, you can shift your focus to comparing different product options on the market. How can you determine which tool is the best grants management software for you?
Below, we take a quick look at leading CSR platforms to understand how their approach to grant management differs.
As one of the biggest names in the legacy CSR space, Benevity is undoubtedly an established platform. Benevity does indeed offer corporate grant management capabilities as part of its complex platform, but some may find that the size and complexity of the tool makes it difficult to implement. Implementation and onboarding can be lengthy and difficult, due to the complexity of the tool.
Plus, as a large tech company, Benevity tends to charge more than its competitors for grants manager software. While its costs will vary, it cites annual software fees as ranging from about $30,000 to $200,000 – a price worth noting.
Groundswell is an all-in-one CSR platform built to make social impact easy and usher in a modern era of giving. Groundswell offers far more than grant management software, though; our platform aims to centralize all of your social impact activities into one easy-to-use tool. That means one login and one dashboard for reporting across all your programs, not just the one you're logged in to.
With some of the fastest disbursement times and lowest fees on the market, Groundswell stands out as an approachable option for CSR teams of all sizes from SMBs to enterprise companies.
The platform formerly known as CyberGrants has now been incorporated into the larger Bonterra software family.
As a piece of a larger software puzzle, Bonterra’s grant management tool isn’t quite as robust as some of its competitors. Customers are encouraged to pay additional charges for support packages that enable them to get the most out of their software and often have to rely heavily on customer support for updates and additions to their program.
While this option may be nice for some, it also might indicate that the tool isn’t the most beginner-friendly – and finding customer support may not be simple.
GrantsConnect is one of several products created by the platform YourCause, another legacy name in CSR tech. As a distinct product, GrantsConnect may not offer teams access to other CSR capabilities – like employee giving and volunteering – for a single price or within a single platform.
When compared to legacy platforms, Groundswell clearly comes out on top as the best grant manager software for CSR teams.
With Groundswell, you can access employee volunteering, donation matching, grantmaking, and other capabilities that help CSR teams work efficiently without a hassle. Plus, only Groundswell gives you the tools and functionality of a corporate grantmaking program without the high price tag.
Unique benefits like our intuitive mobile app and hands-off funds disbursement system ensure that you can hit the ground running when you’re ready to launch your program. But you don’t have to just take our word for it – Groundswell has also earned the G2 badge for Easiest to Use and Most Implementable.
No matter the size of your team or CSR goals, you’ll find that Groundswell is equipped with everything you need to make your vision a reality.
Our mission is to make it possible for more businesses and organizations to ensure their impact on the world is one they can be proud of. Ready to join us? Book a demo with our team today to learn more.
