Dates Matter

Aug 10

4 min read

Dates matter.

All sorts of dates matter.

Birthdays. Anniversaries. Bills due. Holidays (school and otherwise). Grand final dates. And a whole heap of other dates.

Grant dates matter too.

In fact, grants are almost completely date driven.

There is the grant open date, grant close date, project start date, event dates, project completion dates, reporting dates, acquittal date and then all the project other milestone dates you will have in your project or event plan.

If that seems like a lot of dates, you're right. Thankfully, they are usually spread out and easy to keep track of in a calendar.

Grant dates loosely fall into 3 categories – application dates, project dates (think grant reporting dates) and acquittal dates.

Application dates

Application ‘open’ periods vary between grant programs. Some grants are open for applications all the time. Others are only open for a short period of time, maybe 6 weeks.

I tell all my clients and workshop participants to start planning their project before they find the right grant. This means when the right grant is announced and officially opens for applications, they are well prepared. It also means it won’t be a mad hurry to submit an application by the close date.

If you are planning an application there are other dates you may need to think about too.

Dates that you MUST have supporting documents completed by.
Dates you set as deadlines for ‘that thing you need’, so you can write your application.
Dates to check your draft application and get approvals, so you can submit by the close date.

If your application is successful, there will be a contract to sign (in hard copy or the digital world) and it will be dated. Once you have signed the contract, then you can start your project (and start spending money).

I’m going to digress for a moment to talk about the term ‘retrospective’. Something is retrospective if it occurs before the funding contract is signed. If that something is project expenditure, and was included in the grant application budget, it will retrospective expenditure if it occurs before the contract signed date. The big deal about this is – you can’t include it in your project expenditure and will have to pay for it yourself. Up shot – don’t spend any money until the contract is signed.

Project dates

Each major phase of your project will have a start and end date. You outline these phases in your grant application and they usually become the milestones in your contract with the funder.

A word to the wise, keep your project stages fairly high level and when choosing the start and end dates give yourself enough time to gather evidence to show you’ve completed that stage. This will help you in your reporting.

(Note: As ‘event planning’ begins way before the event and finishes after the event, treat events and event planning as a project.)

Acquittal dates

The last date to remember is the acquittal date.

Acquittal usually means a final report – probably written and financials, evidence of where you have acknowledged the funder and most likely some photos too. If you have a complex grant or project, then you will likely have other things as well.

The acquittal is when everything is wrapped up and you have completed the contract!

Project done.

Reporting done.

Then, if the funder has no questions or requests for more information, you can celebrate and enjoy the results of all your hard work!

What happens if you’re not going to make a contract date?

When you write your application you will have done a plan, have a timeline and have great intentions of meeting your project and acquittal dates.

However, life (and most definitely projects) don’t always go to plan! Sometimes there is a delaying in starting your project because a decision on the grant takes longer than expected. Sometimes bad weather means you can’t start construction. Sometimes you need to reschedule your event. Sometimes there are delays in one or more of the project phases.

When this happens and there are delays in your project phases, pick up the phone or send an email to the funder to let them know. If there are big changes, then you might need to seek a variation to your funding contract. No need to worry - the funder will help you work through this (and I’m here to help if you need me).

With all your ‘living life' dates plus grants dates – it can be easy to lose track of when that grant ‘thing’ is due. And you really don’t want an email or letter from the funder saying – your overdue!

In conclusion...

ALWAYS, always, always add your grant dates to your calendar!

Fridge calendar. Outlook calendar. Phone calendar. Desk calendar. Google calendar. Teams calendar. Any and all calendars you have!!

Make it easy for yourself - add context when you do this and include information about what is due. It will save you time and is more helpful than just the title of the report.

For example, the following is more helpful than just noting 'Progress report 2 due'

Progress report 2 due