NGOS
Running an NGO Like an Organisation: Grants, Cost and Reporting
A funder asks for the utilisation statement for the second tranche, and the finance person is still matching field advances to receipts from three districts. The programme team has done the work. The paperwork is what stalls the next release.
Our advice to the director covers the running of the organisation, namely grant-wise budget tracking, programme costing, role clarity between field and head office, and a reporting calendar. We do not give legal, tax or compliance advice, and we do not raise funds for you. Your auditor and lawyer decide those matters.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Each grant has its own budget heads and reporting format, so the same field expense gets recorded three ways and nobody can say which grant is really underspent.
- 02Overheads get argued about at every renewal because no one has worked out what a coordinator, a vehicle or a month of office rent actually costs per programme.
- 03Field staff keep attendance registers and photo logs in their own formats, and the monitoring officer rebuilds the funder report from them in the last week.
- 04Programme managers are promoted for their field skill, then asked to run budgets and teams without any routine to do it.
- 05The founder approves every payment and every hire, which keeps control tight and leaves no time for the funder conversations only the founder can have.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A grant tracker with one row per funder: sanctioned amount, tranches received, spent to date, balance, and next report due date
- 02Programme cost per beneficiary or per session, built from salaries, travel, materials and the share of rent
- 03The field advance and settlement routine: who issues, how receipts return, and how many days an open advance may sit
- 04A reporting calendar that lists every funder report, the data it needs and the person who owns each number
- 05How monthly review meetings run between the programme heads, the accounts person and the director
- 06Which decisions the director must make and which a programme manager can sign off up to a limit
- 07Volunteer and part-time staff roles, including who supervises them and who records their hours
- 08A one-page board summary of cash, commitments and programme delivery that trustees can read in five minutes
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- List every grant you hold on one sheet with sanctioned amount, received so far, spent so far and the next report date. Sort by date. The earliest deadline tells you where to start this week.
- Pick one programme and add up a month of salaries, travel, materials and a fair share of rent. Divide by the people reached. Hypothetical example: ₹1,20,000 over 300 children is ₹400 each.
- Write down how a field advance travels from request to settled receipt. Note where it waits longest. Agree one rule with accounts for how many days an advance may stay open.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A one-page grant tracker with sanction, receipts, spend and next report dates for every funder
- A programme cost sheet showing direct cost and shared cost for each activity you run
- A role chart for field coordinators, programme managers, accounts and the director, with approval limits
- A monthly reporting checklist that tells each owner what they submit and by which day
Not the right fit when: Hold off if you face a notice from an authority, a dispute with a funder or a question on registration or tax status. Those need your lawyer or chartered accountant first.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
