The GrantClock magazine
Grant calendars, funder deadlines, federal reporting rules, and the economics of running a small nonprofit development office in the United States.
practical guide
Every award letter you have already signed contains dates you have not written down yet. Here is how to pull them out, add the internal deadlines, and get a full year of grant work onto one page.
checklist
You cannot submit a federal application without registrations that take weeks and expire annually. This is the full sequence, from your UEI to Grants.gov roles, and what to put on the calendar.
regulation and compliance
The Uniform Guidance sets when your financial and performance reports are due, when closeout starts, and how long you keep the file. Here are the actual clocks and where your award can override them.
numbers and benchmarks
Single audit, de minimis indirect, equipment, procurement: the 2024 revision moved most of the dollar lines that decide how a small grantee reports. Here is each number and the base it applies to.
comparison
A rolling deadline and a fixed spring cycle demand completely different planning from a two person office. Here is how each of the three common funder calendars shapes your year and your cash flow.
mistakes to avoid
Most lost renewals are not rejections. They are lapsed registrations, late final reports, and invitation windows nobody watched. Here are eight failure points and the date that prevents each one.
case study
Follow a single community foundation grant through twelve months: letter of inquiry, full proposal, site visit, board docket, interim report, final report, and the decision about the next cycle.
trends and outlook
Simpler applications and multiyear unrestricted grants change what you owe a funder and when. Here is what the trust based model actually shifts, and which half of your portfolio it will never touch.
field report
September through mid November is when foundation deadlines stack up and reports for grants already won come due at the same time. Here is how the six weeks actually run in a two person office.
Every deadline discussed in The Grant Cycle either lands on one page or it gets forgotten. The pillar guide walks through building that page from the award letters already sitting in your files.
How to Build a Twelve Month Grant Calendar From Your Award Letters
Then work outward: the eight other pieces in The Grant Cycle each take one part of it further, and every one links back here.