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Review: Grant Budget Manager Featured

Review: Grant Budget Manager Adeolu Eletu

After working as an accountant, CPA and CFO for a number of years - founder and developer of Grant Budget Manager, Rick Perrin began to consult for Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and found that they had unique budgeting needs. He quickly learned that this problem wasn’t unique just to this nonprofit. In fact, all nonprofits small or large face the same budgeting and forecasting issues due to the uncertainty of grants and the continuous fluctuation of donations. With his background in finance he set out to create a tool that would make budgeting and forecasting easy for small to mid-size charities.

In Use:

Nonprofits rely on grants and donations to keep them afloat throughout the year. It’s what allows them to pay their staff, invest in infrastructure and help the constituents that they serve. But grants and donations can’t always be counted on – and grants start and stop at different times of the year. An organization could have $10,000 in grant money coming in, in April, but only $5,000 coming in, in September. But like any business, that same charity has similar monthly expenses in April as it does in September. That’s why it’s so important to manage their budget monthly but also forecast what they’ll need in months to come.

Unlike similar products, Grant Budget Manager was created for nonprofits. It works directly with QuickBooks and many other accounting systems for a seamless integration.  Unlike similar software that charges a set-up fee on top of annual fees, Grant Budget Manager requires a one-time implementation fee. Perrin did this to relieve nonprofits of the burden of having to budget monthly fees into their forecasts.

Technology Needed:
Grant Budget Manager currently sits on prem and is compatible with a PC. The program has an encryption key built into it to protect a nonprofit’s data and prevent data loss.

East of Use:

The implementation of Grant Budget Manager takes about 20 hours, most of that time is working with the client and their employees to show them how the platform performs. Once the platform is installed, Perrin is confident it will save charities both time and money.

Recap:

Founded by Perrin, Grant Budget Manager is a tool that’s built for nonprofits. It works with excel to help charities manage their budget and forecast future spend. With a 36-month timeline it allows nonprofits to manage long-term grants and their multiple-year budget. The platform also allows clients to run reports, analyze key results, allocate costs, and quickly update their finances. With different dashboards available, clients can see where they stand in the present and what their future expenses may look like.

Advantages:

  • Unlike other accounting tools, Grant Budget Manager is built for nonprofit organizations
  • The platform costs a one-time implementation fee while other competitors charge an implementation fee plus annual fees
  • Integrates with QuickBooks and other accounting systems
  • Has an encryption key built in to protect against data loss

Disadvantages:

  • Located on prem and for PCs only
  • Grant Budget Manager is a newer software so there aren’t very many reviews and testimony about the product yet

My Opinion:

Just by talking to Perrin for a short amount of time, it’s clear that Grant Budget Manager was a labor of love (1500 hours of programing to be exact). This robust platform sets out to solve all of the unique problems that nonprofits face in terms of budgeting and accounting.

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Danielle Loughnane

Danielle Loughnane earned her B.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College and has currently been working in the data science field since 2015. She is the author of a comic book entitled, “The Superhighs” and wrote a blog from 2011-2015 about working in the restaurant industry called, "Sir I Think You've Had Too Much.” In her spare time she likes reading graphic novels and snuggling with her dogs.

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