Grants and tenders are an important source of funding for international development organizations, but they are also very time-consuming to produce. Writing one application can easily take grant professionals up to 30 hours. In this article, we present 10 tools that organizations can use today to help their teams with grant and tender activities, from discovery and matching to proposal writing and post-award task management.
Grants and tenders are an important source of funding for international development organizations, including non-profits. But finding the right fit and writing the proposal is very time-consuming. In fact, it is not unusual for professionals to take up to six days to identify five good fits (funders) for grant applications.
Writing one application can easily take between 10 and 30 hours. Longer, more complex grant proposals are even more resource-intensive, taking up to 100 hours before being ready for submission. Furthermore, post-award management activities are just as demanding. It is therefore vital that organizations can leverage the right tools to transform their grant and tender activities into more efficient processes.
In this multi-tool assessment review, we present and analyze 10 instruments that non-profits and other development organizations can utilize to improve their management of grants and tenders. We compare each tool against a list of eight key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Grant management
Instrumentl
Instrumentl is a complete grant management platform used by non-profits, universities, and grant consultants. Organizations can use it during the pre-award stage to identify relevant grant opportunities, access proposal writing assistance, and track the status and key deadlines associated with the selected grants. During the post-award stage, this platform can also be used for task management, financial management, reporting, and compliance. Instrumentl claims to save its users an average of 3.3 hours per application. The only feature missing from this end-to-end solution is a strong grant fit assessment capability.
Currently, the only non-profits that Instrumentl is able to onboard are U.S.-based and registered under the 501c(3) tax-exemption status.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
The subscription plans start at US$179 per month. However, this most affordable plan only covers grant prospecting capabilities. Grant management features are progressively unlocked at plans priced at US$299+ per month.
Grantseeker
Grantseeker is a grant management platform for non-profits and government agencies, assisting users with activities ranging from grant discovery to task management and compliance. However, Grantseeker does not appear to incorporate any AI-powered functionalities, making it significantly more limited than other options on this list. For instance, its core grant database is extracted from IRS filings, and grant status depends on the user’s own input. But for organizations seeking a platform that can centralize everything at a low price point, this could be the right fit.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
Grantseeker is offered as two separate platforms:
- Grantseeker Classic is available for free and can be upgraded to premium for US$14.99 per month.
- Granseeker Pro is a more powerful version tailored for governments and larger non-profits, with quotations available at request.
HELP AI GPT
Tag: focused on Horizon Europe grant calls
HELP AI GPT is a custom ChatGPT that teams can use to generate very comprehensive drafts for Horizon Europe proposals. By adding some initial input about the idea, this GTP will generate a coherent full draft structure, including SMART goals, KPIs (with baseline ranges), and work packages that link the deliverables to objectives and impacts. Although this option exclusively helps organizations with proposal generation, it can still save many office hours, and it comes at a very accessible price point.
Key features:
- Discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
HELP AI GPT is priced at €9 per month. If users do not have a ChatGPT Plus subscription, daily limits will apply.
GrantFIT AI
Tag: focused on EU grant calls
GrantFIT AI is also a custom ChatGPT that functions as an EU call extractor and idea validator. Basically, a user uploads a PDF file with the official call, briefly describes their organization, and a summary of the proposal concept. In return, this GPT will extract the essential points of the call, score the proposal fit, issue recommendations, and highlight any red flags. GrantFIT AI works with calls from Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, Digital Europe, Eureka, Interreg, and other similar organizations. While the scope of this tool is limited – it only helps organizations with fit assessment – it can help to achieve a “Go/No Go” decision in under 10 minutes without breaking the bank.
Key features:
- Discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
The subscription to GrantFIT AI costs €15 per month. If users do not have a ChatGPT Plus subscription, daily limits will apply.
Tender Management
Altura
Altura is an all-around tender management platform. With this solution, users can discover tender opportunities that match their requirements, make quick bid/no bid decisions aided by standardized templates, generate bid proposals with AI, and even manage awarded tenders. Altura claims to be able to analyze 15+ tender documents in one minute, ultimately saving teams up to 16 hours in tender analysis. Another interesting feature is the “Buyer Q&A” where Altura flags all the uncertainties that bidders have that need further clarification from the buyer, and tracks the replies as they are received.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
Altura’s website does not publicly disclose its pricing, but one Reddit user mentioned receiving a quote of £24,000 per year from the company.
BidNexus
BidNexus is an AI-powered software with very interesting features for tender management. It can provide a preliminary tender analysis, calculate the chance of success, and generate a proposal draft along with relevant recommendations. Users can implement workflow and task management, including assigning responsibilities to other users within the application and automatically notifying experts to update their CVs regularly. BidNexus also integrates with DevelopmentAid, meaning that it is possible to export tender data from the portal to BidNexus with just one click.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
BidNexus subscription plans start at €250 per month for teams with under five users.
BidScript
BidScript is a tender management software that helps with proposal generation and post-award bid management, from the collaborative management of tasks to the monitoring of key performance indicators, such as time spent and team efficiency. Although BidScript offers some intelligence that can help organizations with bid/no bid decisions, this platform does not directly assist with tender discovery and fit assessment. However, past clients mention that this platform enabled their teams to save up to 65% of their time and increase the quality of proposals.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
The subscription price for Bidscript starts at £45 per month, but this plan has very limited features.
Brainial
Brainial is an AI tool that helps organizations with tender discovery and fit assessment. This platform allows customizable searches to be developed to quickly identify the most relevant tenders. Brainial can also extract key information from each tender, but its Tender Chat is perhaps its most interesting feature. This allows users to ask highly targeted questions and receive instant answers. It’s like having a personal tender assistant.
The platform is highly collaborative, and users can see which tenders have already been qualified by coworkers. However, unlike other platforms, Brainial lacks a full fit assessment feature that can evaluate the proposal’s strong points, highlight weaknesses, and provide an overall success probability. Similarly, its proposal writing solution appears to be more limited than other options on this list since its writing capabilities seem to focus on reusing sections of text from previous proposals. Despite these limitations, the platform is able to save more than 50% of staff time in tender qualification, according to its clients.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
Workflow & task management - Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
The subscription fee is not publicly disclosed on Brainial’s website, but other sources show that prices start at € 5,500per year for tender discovery and €17,500 per year for tender analysis, including tender chat.
Tenderwell
Tenderwell is a portal for government tender discovery. Users can set alerts that notify them when tenders that match their organization’s expertise and capacity go live or are forecasted. This portal also keeps track of the status of selected tenders, so teams can easily keep up to date with extensions, addendums, and award notices. Currently, Tenderwell has over 300k open tenders on its database, along with 250k forecasted tenders.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
Tenderwell has a free plan with limited capabilities, which enables users to create up to 20 tender alerts and read two tenders per day. Paid plans start at € 540 per year.
TenderRadar
TenderRadar helps organizations to find tenders that match their ideal set of parameters. Every day, the platform scans 1500+ tender proceedings and sends match notifications to the user.
Key features:
- Grant discovery
- Fit assessment
- Proposal writing
- Tracking status
- Compliance
- Workflow & task management
- Financial management
- Monitoring reporting
Price:
The subscription price is not publicly available on the TenderRadar website, but it does offer a free demo plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Final Thoughts
There is a myriad of different platforms that can make the discovery and management of grants or tenders much faster and more efficient. Some are complete end-to-end solutions that can assist the user from discovering and matching opportunities all the way through to post-award tasks and financial management. Others only deliver a couple of key features, but can still save staff a great deal of time in specific activities. The price range of these tools varies widely so, ultimately, it is up to an organization to research the tools, undertake some trials, and calculate the return on investment. Budget limitations and staff preferences should also be considered to ensure an organization chooses the right tool.
Disclaimer: The prices disclosed in this article are indicative only, based on publicly available information.
DevelopmentAid is an information service provider for international development that hosts over 87,000 NGOs on its database. Subscribing to the DevelopmentAid newsletter grants you regular access to articles about NGOs and the international aid sector, as well as bidding opportunities, expert opinions, and tool suggestions.
