Communication is one of the most underinvested aspects of grants management. Funders put significant effort into assessment and decision-making, but often treat communication with applicants and grantees as an afterthought — sending template emails on an ad hoc basis. The result: applicants feel left in the dark, grantees are uncertain about expectations, and funders spend time on reactive inquiries that a clear communication plan would have prevented.
This guide covers how to build a communication strategy that keeps every stage of the grant cycle running smoothly.
Poor communication from funders has real consequences:
Conversely, funders known for clear, responsive communication attract better quality applications, build trust with the sector, and spend less time on reactive administration.
Before anyone submits, your communication job is to help the right organisations apply and discourage mismatched applications. This requires:
Clear programme documentation
Application guidance sessions
Consider running webinars or drop-in Q&A sessions before the deadline for significant grant rounds. These serve two purposes: answering questions at scale (one session replaces dozens of individual emails), and building relationships with potential applicants. Record sessions and publish them.
Pre-eligibility checks
For competitive rounds, consider a short pre-eligibility form or email enquiry process that lets applicants check whether they're a good fit before investing time in a full application. This saves everyone time.
Once a round is open, communicate proactively:
If your assessment timeline shifts, communicate that proactively. Applicants waiting on funding decisions often have their own plans depending on the outcome.
How you communicate decisions — positive or negative — shapes how organisations perceive your funder brand.
Successful applicants
Unsuccessful applicants
This is where many funders underperform. A form letter saying "we received many strong applications" tells the declined applicant nothing useful.
Better practice:
- Acknowledge the quality of the application (if genuine)
- Give brief, honest reasons for the decline — not a critique, but enough for the organisation to understand why
- Indicate whether they're encouraged to apply in future rounds
- Point to other funders or resources where relevant
Declined applicants who receive respectful, informative feedback often reapply successfully in future rounds. Those who receive form letters often don't bother.
Once a grant is underway, communication needs to be structured, not left to chance.
Onboarding
At the start of each grant, send a welcome package that includes:
- Key contacts at the funder
- Payment schedule and conditions
- Reporting requirements and due dates
- What to do if circumstances change
Don't assume grantees remember all this from the grant agreement they signed six months ago.
Regular check-ins
For multi-year grants, schedule proactive check-ins at six-monthly intervals. Don't wait for grantees to contact you with problems. A 30-minute call every six months is enough to stay informed about progress, flag emerging issues, and maintain the relationship.
Change requests
Clearly communicate the process for requesting budget changes, scope modifications, or timeline extensions. If grantees don't know what's permissible, they either proceed without approval (a compliance risk) or do nothing and struggle (a programme risk).
Crisis and challenge situations
Some of the most important funder communication happens when things go wrong. Establish a clear process for grantees to flag problems early — and communicate that process explicitly. Grantees who feel safe raising problems early give funders the opportunity to help; those who hide problems until they're unavoidable create bigger issues for everyone.
Reporting is a common pain point in the funder-grantee relationship. Improve it with:
If reporting requirements are complex, offer a guidance session at the start of the grant.
Beyond individual grant communication, funders should communicate at the programme level:
A newsletter or email update twice a year keeps your sector informed and engaged without requiring significant effort.
Choose channels that match your audiences:
A grants management system that automates routine communication (acknowledgements, deadline reminders, status updates) frees staff to focus on the conversations that require human judgment.
Tahua's grants management platform includes built-in communication workflows — automated acknowledgements, deadline reminders, and grantee portals that keep everyone informed at every stage of the grant cycle.