Grant reporting templates are the forms and documents through which grantees report to funders on their use of grant funds and the outcomes they've achieved. Designing good report templates is surprisingly important — templates that ask the right questions in the right way produce useful data; templates that ask too much, too little, or the wrong things produce compliance paperwork with little actual value.
This guide covers what to include in progress and final report templates for different grant types.
Before diving into specific content, several design principles apply across all templates:
Ask only for what you'll use. Every question on a report form creates work for the grantee. Only include questions whose answers will actually influence programme management or learning. If you've never used a particular field's data, cut it.
Pre-populate what you already know. Grantee name, project title, grant amount, reporting period — these are all known by the funder. Pre-populate them in the report form rather than requiring grantees to re-enter information already in the grant record.
Match depth to grant size. A final report for a $2,000 community event grant should not look like a final report for a $200,000 multi-year programme. The depth of reporting should be proportionate.
Distinguish outputs from outcomes. Outputs are activities and products (events held, reports produced, participants enrolled); outcomes are changes (knowledge gained, behaviour changed, situations improved). Both matter, but don't confuse them.
Include space for honesty. A report template that only asks "what did you achieve?" will produce success narratives. Including "what was harder than expected?" and "what would you do differently?" creates space for genuine learning.
Progress reports are typically collected for multi-year grants or large project grants with significant milestones. A well-designed progress report includes:
Project status (one of: on track / at risk / significant issues) — a simple status flag that lets programme staff quickly identify grants needing attention.
Activities completed this period — what has been done since the last report? Brief narrative, 2-3 sentences.
Activities planned next period — what will be done before the next report? Brief narrative, 2-3 sentences.
Key outputs to date — quantitative data on outputs produced. Examples:
- Number of participants / clients served
- Number of sessions / events delivered
- Documents, products, or resources produced
Progress against milestones — for grants with defined milestones, a table showing each milestone, its due date, and its status (completed / in progress / not yet started / delayed).
Budget update — simplified budget vs actual. Example fields:
- Grant received to date: $[amount]
- Expenditure to date: $[amount]
- Remaining balance: $[amount]
- On track to spend within grant period: Yes / No
Issues or concerns — free text for anything the grantee wants the funder to know about: challenges, changed circumstances, risks, requests for variations.
Financial acquittal documents — request for receipts or invoices above a threshold, or a supporting bank statement summary.
For small community grants, a brief final report is proportionate. Example structure:
Project description — one paragraph on what the project delivered. Pre-populate with the approved project description; ask grantees to correct if changed.
Activities delivered — brief narrative on what was done.
Participants / beneficiaries — number of people who directly benefited. Optional: brief demographic breakdown (age group, locality) if relevant to the programme.
Key outcomes — 2-3 sentences on what changed or improved as a result of the project.
Challenges or learnings — optional free text on anything that was harder than expected.
Financial summary — total grant received, total expenditure, unexpended balance (if any).
Supporting evidence — option to upload photos, receipts, or other evidence (not required, but welcomed).
Executive summary — 3-5 sentences summarising the project and its key outcomes.
Project delivery narrative — 1-2 pages describing what was delivered, how it aligned with the original plan, and any significant deviations and why.
Participants and reach — quantitative data on who was served:
- Total participants / beneficiaries
- New vs returning participants (if relevant)
- Geographic distribution (if relevant)
- Demographic breakdown (if relevant to equity goals)
Outcomes achieved — structured against the outcome indicators specified in the grant agreement. For each indicator: target, actual, and notes on variance.
Learnings and reflections — what worked well, what was harder than expected, what would be done differently.
Sustainability — how will the project's outcomes be sustained after the grant period?
Financial acquittal — budget vs actual for the full grant period. Fields:
- Grant received
- Total expenditure (by budget category)
- Unexpended balance and disposition
- Other funding received for this project
Supporting documentation — request for receipts/invoices for expenditures above a threshold (commonly $500-$1,000).
For large grants, a more comprehensive report is appropriate:
All elements of the mid-sized template, plus:
Theory of change review — how did actual experience compare to the original theory of change? Were the assumptions valid?
Stakeholder and community feedback — what did participants, beneficiaries, or community members say about the project? Include any formal survey data, focus group findings, or stakeholder interviews.
Partnership and collaboration — how did relationships with partner organisations contribute to outcomes?
Sector contribution — did this project produce learning, resources, or models that benefit the wider sector?
Independent evaluation findings — if an external evaluation was conducted, include key findings.
Audited financial statements — for grants over a specific threshold (commonly $100,000-$200,000), audited accounts of grant expenditure.
Different sectors benefit from sector-specific report fields:
Arts and culture: audience reach, diversity of participants, artistic or cultural outcomes, media coverage.
Conservation: species data, pest population indices, vegetation cover, ecological monitoring results.
Education: student achievement data, attendance, qualification completions, teacher development outcomes.
Health: clinical outcomes, health behaviour change, service utilisation, wellbeing measures.
Social services: case outcomes, client wellbeing scores, housing stability, employment outcomes.
Online report forms — accessed through the grantee portal — provide several advantages over Word documents submitted by email:
Tahua provides configurable report templates — pre-populated with grant record data, structured for aggregation, and collected through the grantee portal.