The client page

How the page works

Open a client from the Clients page to see everything about it on one page. The left side is a summary that stays in view: the client's name, main contact and key facts with Archive (or Restore), then Details and Contacts. On a narrow screen it sits at the top instead.

On the right, a bar jumps to each section: Grant readiness, Documents, Eligibility profile, Programs, Government grants and Grants. It stays in view as you scroll. Text library, at the end of the bar, opens the library on its own; choose any other link to go back to the page.

Sections with an Edit button turn all their fields into boxes at once. Make your changes, then choose Save, or Cancel (or press Escape) to drop them. A dash means a field is empty. If you try to leave with unsaved changes, GrantAssembly asks first.

Details

The client's name and notes. Choose Edit to change them.

Contacts lists the people you work with there: name, role, email and phone. Choose Add contact to add one, and Edit or Remove on a contact to change it (Remove offers Undo for a few seconds). The first contact is the main contact, shown at the top of the page and on the client's card; choose Make main on another contact to put them first.

Grant readiness

Grant readiness is what funders check before any application. Work through it once, and every grant for this client benefits. A step-by-step bar shows each step: a filled segment with a tick is done, and the line under it names the next step and how many items are left. Once every step is done, the bar goes away. It comes back if a document expires.

It walks you through up to four steps, one at a time:

1. Add the EIN, in the Eligibility profile.
2. Add the legal documents: IRS determination letter, articles and bylaws, board of directors and W-9.
3. Add the financial documents: audit or financial statements, organizational budget, latest Form 990 and certificate of insurance.
4. Confirm SAM.gov: an active registration with a UEI. This step only appears when federal grants are on.

Choose a step on the bar to open the guide at that step. A document with an expiry date that has passed counts as expired, not ready.

Fix it with the guide

1. Press Start guide (Continue once a step is done). A small checklist opens in the bottom corner and stays there while you scroll.
2. EIN and SAM.gov: type the answer right in the guide and press Save.
3. Documents: press Show me. The page scrolls to Documents and outlines each tile still needed with Add here (or Replace here when it has expired). Drop the file on the tile, or click the tile to pick it. To jump to one tile, choose its name in the guide.
4. Each item ticks off as it lands. When a step is done, the guide moves to the next one by itself.

Press Skip for now to leave a step for later, – to shrink the guide to a small button, or × to close it. Start it again any time from the Grant readiness card.

Documents

The Documents card holds the standard documents, the files most funders ask for, one tile each in two groups, and a third group, Other documents, for everything else:

• Legal and tax: IRS determination letter, W-9, articles and bylaws, SAM.gov registration, latest Form 990.
• Financial and governance: audit or financial statements, organizational budget, board of directors, certificate of insurance, annual report.

A missing document shows a dashed + Add tile. Choose it, or drop a file on it. Drop a new file on a filed document to add a newer version: the old one is kept under it as an earlier version, not deleted.

Not sure what a document is? Choose What is this? under its tile. It opens the article about that document in Grant basics in a new tab.

Each filed document is a card you can drag. Drag it onto another document's tile to file it there, or onto Other documents. On a phone or tablet, open the document and choose More, then Change type. If that tile already had a file, the old file moves to Other documents. A notice offers Undo for a few seconds. Each card shows who uploaded it.

Expiry dates. Three documents are only good until a date: the SAM.gov registration (renewed every year), the audit or financial statements (one fiscal year), and the certificate of insurance (the policy's end date). Add the date in the viewer. From 30 days before it, the card says "Expires in 12 days", the document shows on Alerts, and the daily email mentions it a month, two weeks and a week ahead, and on the day.

Select several. Tick the box on a card's corner (it shows when you point at a card) to select it. With documents selected you can download them as one ZIP file, move one, or delete them: choose the trash bin at the bottom of the window, or drag the ticked cards onto it (or onto Download as ZIP to download them).

Document types. Each standard document card has its type as a header. Choose the ? next to Documents and tick the standard documents you keep: unticked ones are hidden on every client (unless one already has that file) and don't count toward Grant readiness.

Duplicates. If you add a file that's already on file for this client (the same file, even under another name), GrantAssembly says so and doesn't upload it again, unless you choose Upload anyway.

The document viewer. Choose any card to open it. It shows all of this client's documents one after another, with a list down the side to jump between them, a search box, and sorting by type, name, newest or expiring first. Zoom in and out or fit pages to the width. Long PDFs show their pages as a strip you can jump through. Each document has Download, and its More menu lets you rename it, replace it, change its type (the same as dragging it), set its expiry date, copy a link to it or delete it. A document with earlier versions lists them underneath: download one, make it current again, or delete it. Press ? in the viewer for keyboard shortcuts.

Recently deleted. A deleted file waits 30 days under Recently deleted (on Other documents), with its earlier versions. Restore it from there, or delete it for good. Deleting also offers Undo for a few seconds.

Drop to sort. Drop files, a folder or a ZIP file on the box beside the documents ("Drop files here and we'll sort them"; on a phone it sits above them), or choose Choose files there. They upload right away, each where it belongs, and a notice sums up what went where, with Undo. For a SAM.gov registration, an audit or an insurance certificate, a short window asks for the expiry date, filled in from the file where we can read it. To check each file's type before anything uploads, choose Review before uploading: this opens bulk upload.

Details we find in your files. When you upload a document, GrantAssembly looks for details the client's eligibility profile uses: the EIN, the UEI, the SAM.gov status and expiry date, the kind of organization (from the IRS letter), the latest audit year, the year founded, the state and the annual budget. If it finds any the profile doesn't have yet, a window asks about them one at a time as plain questions, for example "Is Eastside Arts' EIN 12-3456789?", with a small picture of the spot in the file it came from.

1. Compare the value with the picture, then choose Yes or No. The next question opens by itself. No asks a follow-up, such as "Okay. What's its EIN?", with a box to answer in (or a list to pick from): choose Use this, Skip to leave it out, or Cancel to go back to the question unchanged. When files disagree, the question is "Which is …?": pick one of the values (each shows the file it came from), or None of these to type it.
2. The numbered row at the top shows every question (a check for yes, a dash for no): choose any number to jump to it, or Review all to see everything. Previous and Next move one at a time, and Accept all says yes to the rest. On a keyboard: Y yes, N no, the arrow keys to move, Enter to use a correction, Esc to cancel it. A value that would replace a different one already saved shows what's saved now.
3. The last screen lists every update that will be saved and the ones you said no to. Choose any of them to go back. Choose Save, or close the window to change nothing.

The file is read on your computer, in your browser. Nothing is saved to the profile until you choose Save, and you can change any value later under Eligibility profile.

Scans and photos. A scanned PDF or a photo of a document (JPG, PNG) is read too: GrantAssembly recognizes the words on its first two pages, also on your computer. A scan can misread a letter or digit, so compare the value with the picture of the scan before you choose Yes. The first scan takes a few seconds longer while the reader loads. A blurry or crooked scan may not be read; type those details in yourself.

Bulk upload (Review before uploading) lists every file first. GrantAssembly sorts each file by its name, then by what's inside. A file it can't identify goes to Other documents, with the most likely types offered as quick picks if you want to change it. It reads a PDF's or Word file's text and title, and tells look-alikes apart, so board meeting minutes don't land as the board list. When two files fit the same document, the clearer name keeps it, then the newer one. Files already on file are left out. Check the list, then choose Upload. A file for a document that's already filled becomes its newer version; nothing is deleted. Each upload also saves a short sorting report (what was guessed and what you picked) that helps us improve the sorting.

Other documents holds everything else you reuse across this client's applications, such as logic models, letters of support or photos. Add files with the + tile or by dropping them on the section.

Files can be up to 100 MB each. Programs and scripts can't be uploaded.

What an upload fills in

Every file you add is read in your browser as it uploads, at sign-up and any time after. Nothing is saved until you say yes:

1. A window opens with what's worth checking, one question at a time, such as "Is Lantern Bay Youth Arts' EIN 12-3456789?" with a picture of where it is in the file. It asks about the EIN, UEI, mailing address, website, budget, year founded, staff and more.
2. It only asks about answers you don't have yet, or ones the file states differently. When it's different, what the file says and what's saved now are shown side by side. Saved answers only change when you choose Yes.
3. Writing you'll reuse comes next: a mission statement, the organization's history, program descriptions, staff bios, and statistics that name their source. Choose Yes to keep one in the Text library, or No to change the words first. Anything already in the library isn't offered again.
4. The last screen lists everything that will be saved. Choose Save.

After an upload, a line under the documents says which grants in progress it helped, such as "The W-9 helps 2 grants in progress", and how many of each one's Application score checks are done.

If a file names another organization, it says so, and nothing is filled in from it. Open it and use Move to or Delete if it's in the wrong place. A folder or ZIP file is read file by file, with one set of questions for all of them. Scans and photos are read too, but their answers are always yours to check, and their writing isn't offered for the Text library, since a scan can misread a word. PDFs over 30 MB aren't read.

Text library

The Text library holds writing you reuse in proposals, so you write it once: the mission statement, the organization's history, program descriptions, staff bios, and statistics. It has its own tab at the end of the client page's section bar.

Choose Add to library and answer a few questions: what you're saving, the text, and for a statistic its source and when you last checked it. A staff bio offers the client's contacts, and a program description starts from the program's summary. Common items you haven't saved yet show as buttons that start right at the question.

• A statistic keeps its source, a link to the source and the date you last checked it. A year after that date, it's flagged "Check the source again", so an old number doesn't slip into a new proposal. Choose Checked it today once you've confirmed it.
• Each item is for this client only unless you change For on the review screen to All clients, for text you use everywhere. A staff bio asks, since your own bio as a consultant fits every client. Items for all clients show on every client's page.
• Edit opens the answers on one review screen; choose Change beside any of them. A delete can be undone for a few seconds.

Uploading a document can add to the library too: a mission statement, history, program descriptions, staff bios or statistics in it are offered, one question at a time, and you choose what to keep. See What an upload fills in.

To use an item, open a document in Writing and choose Text library in the panel on the right: insert it at the cursor, or drag it into the text.

Eligibility profile

The Eligibility profile holds the facts funders check before you apply. GrantAssembly uses it to fill in the eligibility checklist and Go/No-Go score on this client's new grants, and to judge how well foundations fit. It has four groups:

• Organization: organization type, EIN, year founded, annual budget, staff, mailing address and website.
• Where and whom: state, service area, program areas and populations served.
• Financial readiness: audit or reviewed financials, latest audit year, indirect cost rate and matching funds.
• Preferences: the smallest and largest awards worth pursuing, lead time to prepare, staff capacity right now, the reporting it will take on and the funders it pursues. These feed the Go/No-Go score.

The section shows how many of the 12 key fields are filled. To fill them in or change them:

1. Choose Update. A window asks one question at a time.
2. It only asks what's still blank. Answers you saved before aren't asked again.
3. If a document on file states an answer, such as the budget, it's already filled in and the screen says which file it came from. Check it, then choose Continue, or Skip for now to leave it blank.
4. With the EIN saved (or once you answer it), the latest Form 990 filed with the IRS is read from free public records and fills in what's still blank, such as the budget, staff and year founded, saying so on the screen. If the 990 has a mission statement and the Text library has none, the last screen offers to keep it. New organizations, and small ones that file the 990-N postcard, have no Form 990 to read: the screen says so and asks as usual.
5. The last screen lists every answer. Choose Change next to one to fix it, then Finished to save.

Programs

Programs are the things this client does that a grant could pay for, such as an after-school tutoring program or a food pantry. Add one for each, so you describe it once and use it on every grant for it.

Choose Add a program (or Add program once there's one). It asks one question at a time, and only the name is needed; choose Skip for now on any other question.

1. Its name, and in a sentence what it does.
2. What kind of program it is (youth, food access, arts and culture, health, housing, or something else). The likely kind is picked for you from the name. Your pick fills in a starter logic model and keywords to edit.
3. Keywords for finding grants: a few words separated by commas, such as literacy, reading, tutoring. Recommended then shows grants whose title has one of these words, on top of the client's own match preferences. Grants it finds say which program they are for.
4. Its yearly budget, if you know it.
5. Each part of the logic model, one per screen (or Skip the logic model).
6. A last screen to check it all. Change goes back to one answer; Finished adds the program.

A logic model shows how the program works, from what it uses to the changes it makes. Many funders ask for one. Each part is optional, and each list takes one item per line:

• Need it addresses: the problem and who has it, with a number and its source if you have one.
• Goals and Objectives: the big changes you want, and measurable steps toward them (what changes, for how many people, by when).
• Inputs: what it needs to run, such as staff, volunteers, space and partners.
• Activities and Outputs: what it does, and what you can count when it does it.
• Short-term and Long-term outcomes: changes you expect within a year, and after several years.
• Assumptions: what has to be true for it to work.

No logic model yet? Pick the kind of program closest to yours on the "What kind of program" question. It fills in example rows for you to edit. Picking another kind later asks before it replaces anything you typed. Replace every [bracketed] part, such as [number] or [area], with your own facts before you use it in an application. To work on paper first, choose Download a blank logic model (Word).

Each program shows how many parts are filled in; choose Show logic model to read it. Choose Edit to change a program (it opens on the check screen, where Change goes to one answer), or Delete to remove it (you can undo for a few seconds). Grants it already found stay in Recommended.

Government grants

GrantAssembly starts with foundations. Are you interested in applying for state or federal grants? is asked when you sign up and again when you set up each client (starting from your sign-up answer). You can change the answer here at any time. It saves right away.

• No, foundations only (the usual answer): Find shows Foundations. Federal and state grants are left out of Find, Recommended, the client's counts and the daily email.
• Yes: state grants show. Federal grants from Grants.gov also need an active SAM.gov registration with a UEI. Until those are in, a short line says what to add, such as "Add your UEI to see federal grants".

To add them, choose Edit under Registration, set SAM.gov registration to Active, type the UEI and the expiry date, and choose Save. Federal grants turn on by themselves once these are saved. The switch Show federal grants (Grants.gov) for this client turns them off or back on by hand. If the registration expires, federal grants pause until it's renewed.

Email

Under the client's details, Email me new grants for this client decides whether its new grants go in your daily grant update. Turn it off for a client you're not looking for new grants for right now: its new grants still show in Recommended, and its deadlines still come in the email. The change saves right away.

Grants

The client's grants, with their status and deadline. Choose one to open it. Add grant adds one you found anywhere, already set to this client, and Export saves the list as a spreadsheet (CSV) or PDF. See Grants.