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Any grant manager knows how complicated it can be to manage and approve funding. After more than a decade spent reviewing proposals, reports and applications from UK charities and other organisations, I have seen firsthand how complex the process can become.
In my roles, I have been responsible for overseeing the full grant cycle, including monitoring incoming applications, refining processes, communicating with applicants, and handling processing, tracking and compliance. Many grant managers find it difficult to maintain the effectiveness of each stage of this cycle while ensuring that funds are used appropriately and successfully.
In this review, I share my personal experience of working with the 4 best grant management platforms in the UK market. We’ll also explore what they do well, where they fall short, and which type of organisation they are best suited to.
1. KindLink (The Best Choice)
KindLink is an online platform designed for end‑to‑end grant management, and it is the one I personally rank as my top choice. It also brings together wider CSR activity, from employee volunteering to emergency disaster relief, and supports the KindLink Foundation, a CRM built for non‑profits.
Pros
KindLink’s grant management software helped us vet non-profit organisations, store grant applications, authorise payouts, and collect impact data directly from organisations we supported. Its interface allowed us to keep track of multiple grant management applications at the same time.
Unlike the other platforms I’ve worked with, KindLink made it easier to vet the charities and community organisations benefiting from our corporate grants. They meticulously follow the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) process to ensure corporates meet the necessary compliance and mitigate any risks.
It allowed our teams to deliver grant funds to non-profits across the globe and not just in the UK. So, if your organisation wants to support community organisations and non-profits outside the greater UK, it can do so with KindLink.
Because KindLink is fully integrated, my team could access corporate volunteering, match funding, payroll giving, impact reporting, and SDG/ESG reporting alongside core grant tools. This meant our CSR and corporate philanthropy activities sat in one place, rather than being scattered across several systems.
What stands out most in day‑to‑day use is its simple, practical and user‑friendly design. It’s built by people who genuinely understand the grant cycle and the pressures grant managers face.
Cons
You may find the scope of this platform quite broad if your organisation’s needs are fairly singular and limited to managing grants.
Why I Recommend KindLink
I’ve had a seamless and hassle-free experience using KindLink’s grant management platform. Its user-friendly features make it quite easy for grant managers to follow and complete the pre-award, award, and close-out phases of the grant management lifecycle. Based on my personal experience, it is the platform I recommend first to most corporate grant teams.
2. Benevity
Benevity is a popular CSR platform with a grant management product. It also supports a complete lifecycle of grants.
Pros
The key standout feature is the configured application form, which adjusts based on grant size, region, or programme type. It also offers dashboards that give an overview of the current statuses and pending actions that non-profits or supporting organisations need to complete.
Benevity’s built-in workflows helped us lower manual work and focus more on strategy functions. Like KindLink, we could also support multiple grant programmes across countries.
Cons
Benevity is more enterprise-heavy and is ideal for mid to large-sized organisations owing to its higher expense.
3. Neighbourly
Neighbourly is a leading platform used by UK businesses in the CSR management space.
Pros
Neighbourly offers features that resemble grant management, but in my experience, it leans more towards managing corporate donations and community giving.
Rather than a dedicated, standalone grant management tool, Neighbourly weaves grant‑awarding functions into its donations platform. I have used it to set eligibility criteria and timelines for charities to apply for funding, while its automated system filters out ineligible applications, which saves time at the initial screening stage.
From my perspective, Neighbourly works very well for businesses that want a more structured and transparent way to give back to communities, especially at a local level, without needing all the detailed workflow options of a specialist grant management system.
Cons
Compared with full‑scale grant management platforms, I have found Neighbourly to be less comprehensive when it comes to in‑depth controls, workflow customisation and advanced review processes. For complex or high‑volume grant programmes, those gaps can become noticeable.
4. YourCause
YourCause by Blackbaud is a leading enterprise-based global CSR platform that also offers a grant management product called GrantConnect.
Pros
GrantConnect software offers a wide range of features, from modifiable application and form builders to automated workflows, approvals, and disbursements.
It also integrates with YourCause’s CSRConnect and NPOConnect systems, bringing together multiple CSR activities in one unified platform.
What really stood out for me is its reporting capabilities, tracking budgets, monitoring spending, analysing programme effectiveness, and auditing grant workflows.
Cons
YourCause is more suited to enterprises with wider and more sophisticated CSR needs and may not be ideal for smaller, growing organisations.
In Conclusion
Over the past decade, I’ve been fortunate to work with each of these four corporate grant management platforms at different times. Each one has its own strengths and limitations, so there is no single “perfect” choice.
In my view, the right platform is the one that helps your organisation close its specific gaps and tackle its real-world challenges while aligning closely with your CSR goals and culture. I hope these insights from my own experience make it easier for other grant managers to choose the platform that best supports their next stage of grant management.
Also read: The Best Small Business Grants in Canada You Need to Check
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