Grants Management

Muin’s Grants Management module handles both sides of the grant lifecycle: grants you make (outbound disbursements to grantees) and grants you receive (incoming funding from grantors). It includes AI-powered proposal writing, budget tracking with variance analysis, outcome measurement, grantee relationship management, board package preparation, and a Kanban pipeline for tracking received grant applications.

Grant Programs

What are Grant Programs?

Grant Programs define the areas of focus under which your foundation awards grants. Each program has outcome metrics, budget categories, and reporting requirements that flow down to individual disbursements.

How to Create a Grant Program

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Grant Programs
2. Click Create Program
3. Enter the program details:
   • Program name and description
   • Program area (education, health, environment, etc.)
   • Funding available for the year
   • Application and reporting requirements
4. Define Outcome Metrics for the program:
   • Metric name (e.g., “Students Served”, “Meals Provided”)
   • Metric type (count, currency, percentage, text)
   • Target value and unit of measurement
   • Sort order for display
5. Save the program

Managing Outcome Metrics

Outcome metrics set the expectations for grantees when they submit reports:

1. Navigate to the grant program detail page
2. Click the Metrics tab
3. Add, edit, or remove metrics
4. Each metric flows into outcome report forms that grantees complete

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Grant Proposals (AI-Powered)

What are Grant Proposals?

The Grant Proposal Assistant uses AI to guide you through writing complete grant proposals. It follows a structured interview process, then generates each section of the proposal using your answers.

How to Create a Proposal

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Grant Proposals
2. Click New Proposal
3. Enter the proposal name and optionally link to a received grant
4. Click Start Interview
5. Answer approximately 25 questions across 5 phases:
   • Organization background and mission
   • Program design and target population
   • Goals, objectives, and outcomes
   • Budget and sustainability plan
   • Organizational capacity and partnerships
6. After completing the interview, click Generate All Sections
7. Muin generates each section in dependency order (e.g., the budget narrative references the program design)
8. Review and edit each generated section
9. Click Submit to finalize the proposal (this also updates the linked grant status to Submitted if applicable)

Proposal Sections

Sections are generated in dependency order. Each section shows its generation status:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Not yet generated
Generated	AI-generated content available for review
Approved	Reviewed and accepted

You can regenerate any section by clicking Regenerate with the force option to overwrite existing content.

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Grant Budgets

What are Grant Budgets?

Grant Budgets track the approved spending plan for each disbursement and compare actuals against the budget over time. This enables variance analysis and ensures grantees stay within approved allocations.

How to Create a Budget

1. Open a grant disbursement
2. Click the Budget tab
3. Click Create Budget
4. Add budget line items by category:
   • Category name (personnel, supplies, travel, equipment, etc.)
   • Approved amount for each category
   • Notes or justification
5. Save the budget

Reporting Actuals

Grantees submit actual spending for each reporting period:

1. Open the budget for a disbursement
2. Click Submit Actuals
3. Enter the reporting period (e.g., Q1 2026)
4. Record the actual amount spent in each category
5. Add a narrative explaining any variances
6. Save the report

Variance Analysis

View the variance analysis to compare budgeted vs. actual spending:

• Navigate to the budget detail and click Variance Report
• See per-category breakdown: budgeted amount, actual spent, variance amount, and variance percentage
• Identify categories that are over or under budget
• Use this data for mid-grant check-ins and renewal decisions

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Grant Outcomes

What are Grant Outcomes?

Grant Outcomes track whether funded programs achieve their intended impact. Outcome reports link to the metrics defined at the program level and are submitted per disbursement.

How to Submit an Outcome Report

1. Open a grant disbursement
2. Click the Outcomes tab
3. Click Submit Outcome Report
4. Select the reporting period
5. For each defined metric, enter the achieved value
6. Add a narrative summary of progress, challenges, and lessons learned
7. Submit the report

Reviewing Outcomes

View all outcome reports for a disbursement chronologically. Compare metric values across reporting periods to track progress toward targets. Use outcome data in board packages and program evaluation.

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Grant Disbursements

What are Grant Disbursements?

Grant Disbursements are outbound grant payments from your foundation to grantee organizations. Each disbursement follows a structured lifecycle with maker-checker controls and compliance screening.

Disbursement Lifecycle

Status	Description
Recommended	Grant proposed by program officer
Under Review	Assigned for evaluation
Approved	Authorized by approver (cannot be same person who created it)
Scheduled	Payment date set and linked to source fund
Disbursed	Bill pushed to accounting software; payment tracked
Completed	All payments made and reporting requirements met
Declined	Not funded; reason recorded

How to Create a Disbursement

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Grant Disbursements
2. Click New Disbursement
3. Enter details:
   • Grantee Organization (select from grantee directory)
   • Amount and currency
   • Purpose and program area
   • Grant Period (start and end dates)
   • Fund to source the payment from
   • Restrictions on how funds may be used
   • Whether a grantee report is required and the due date
4. Save (status: Recommended)

Approval Workflow

Disbursements enforce maker-checker separation: the person who creates a disbursement cannot approve it.

1. A reviewer opens the pending disbursement
2. Reviews the purpose, amount, grantee, and fund balance
3. Clicks Approve (with optional notes) or Decline (with reason)

Disbursement Processing

After approval, process the disbursement:

1. Open the approved disbursement
2. Optionally click Send Award Letter first
3. Click Approve Disbursement — Muin runs OFAC screening and compliance validation
4. Once approved, Muin creates a Bill in your connected QuickBooks
5. Pay the grantee from your bank account, and Muin automatically reconciles when the payment clears
6. For manual payments (wire or check), record the reference number and payment date
7. Track disbursement and reconciliation status in real-time on the disbursement detail

Overdue Reports

Navigate to Grant Disbursements > Overdue Reports to see disbursements where the grantee has not submitted a required report by the due date. Record report receipt when it arrives to clear the alert.

Disbursement Summary

View aggregate statistics by year:

• Total disbursed amount
• Number of disbursements by status
• Fund breakdown
• Program area distribution

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Disbursement Batches

What are Disbursement Batches?

Disbursement Batches group multiple approved disbursements into a single processing run. This is useful for board meeting cycles where many grants are approved at once.

How to Create and Process a Batch

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Disbursement Batches
2. Click Create Batch
3. Name the batch and select the approved disbursements to include
4. Click Validate to run pre-flight checks (compliance screening, sufficient fund balances)
5. Click Approve (maker-checker enforced: approver cannot be the batch creator)
6. Click Submit to push all approved disbursements as Bills to QuickBooks. Track payment status through automatic reconciliation.
7. View the Settlement Report after processing for a full audit trail

Batch Statuses

Status	Meaning
Draft	Batch created, disbursements selected
Validated	Pre-flight checks passed
Approved	Authorized for processing
Processing	Payments being executed
Completed	All payments processed
Partially Failed	Some payments failed; review individual results

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Grantees

What are Grantees?

Grantees are the organizations that receive grants from your foundation. Muin maintains a profile for each grantee with relationship stage, compliance status, and reporting history.

How to Manage Grantees

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Grantees
2. View the list with filters for relationship stage and reporting status
3. Click Add Grantee to create a new profile:
   • Organization name and contact information
   • EIN/Tax ID
   • Relationship stage (prospect, active, alumni, inactive)
   • Program areas they work in
4. View a grantee’s profile to see:
   • All disbursements (past and pending)
   • Disbursement and reconciliation status
   • Reporting compliance (current or overdue)
   • Total funding received to date

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Received Grants

What are Received Grants?

Received Grants track funding your organization applies for and receives from external grantors. This is the counterpart to disbursements: here, your organization is the recipient.

How to Track a Received Grant

1. Navigate to Nonprofit > Received Grants
2. Click New Grant
3. Enter details:
   • Title of the grant opportunity
   • Grantor Organization or Grantor Profile
   • Grant Type (program, operating, capital, etc.)
   • Amount Requested and Application Deadline
   • Assigned To (staff member managing the application)
   • Fund to receive the award
4. Save the grant to the pipeline

Pipeline View

Received grants use a Kanban pipeline with stages:

Stage	Description
Prospect	Opportunity identified
Researching	Gathering requirements and eligibility
Preparing	Writing the application
Submitted	Application sent to grantor
Under Review	Grantor evaluating the application
Awarded	Grant approved with award amount
Declined	Application not funded
Active	Grant period in progress
Closed	Grant period complete, all reports filed

Transition a grant between stages to keep the pipeline current. When awarded, record the award amount, grant period, and contact information.

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Board Packages

What are Board Packages?

Board Packages compile grant recommendations, financial summaries, and supporting documents for board meetings where grant approvals are discussed.

Board package templates define the standard sections and data pulls for your board materials. When generated, each package pulls live data from your disbursements, budgets, and outcome reports.

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Tips & Best Practices

• Use outcome metrics from day one: Define metrics at the program level so every grant under that program collects consistent data
• Enforce maker-checker on all disbursements: Never allow the same person to create and approve a grant payment
• Track received grants in the pipeline: Even if you do not win every grant, the pipeline gives you visibility into your application success rate
• Batch disbursements by board meeting: Create a batch per board meeting cycle to streamline approvals and payment processing
• Review variance reports quarterly: Catch budget overruns early so you can work with grantees on corrective plans
• Use the AI proposal assistant for first drafts: It saves significant time on narrative sections; always review and customize before submission

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Common Issues

Problem	Solution
Cannot approve a disbursement I created	Maker-checker is enforced by design. Ask a different authorized user to approve.
Budget variance shows large negative numbers	Grantee may have submitted actuals exceeding the approved budget. Review and discuss with the grantee.
Proposal section not generating	Ensure the interview is complete. Some sections depend on answers from earlier phases.
Batch processing partially failed	Check individual disbursement statuses. Common cause: OFAC screening flag or accounting software connection issue.
Received grant stuck in pipeline	Verify you have edit permissions on the Nonprofit module. Transition the grant status manually.
Outcome report metrics missing	Ensure outcome metrics are defined on the parent grant program before submitting reports.

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Related Features

• Foundation Features — Disbursement tracking, OFAC screening, and QuickBooks reconciliation
• Fundraising — Donor management, campaigns, and contribution tracking
• Distributions — Service distribution events and eligibility screening
• Facility Management — Facility bookings and utilization

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Need Help?

If you have questions about grant management, contact your organization administrator or reach out to Muin support. For detailed guidance on disbursement payment flows, see the Foundation Features documentation.