Grant Management and Fundraising Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Grant Managers, Fundraising Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-NM-037

Before you join: Participants should have practical exposure to NGO programmes, project delivery, finance, partnerships or fundraising, and understand basic budgets and project terminology.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

NGOs and humanitarian agencies often lose funding opportunities not because their programmes lack value, but because donor intelligence, proposal design, costing and post-award controls sit in separate hands. A promising call can fail eligibility screening; a well-written narrative can be undermined by weak indicators or an ineligible budget; and an awarded grant can create repayment, audit or reputational exposure when conditions are not tracked. Fundraising also demands disciplined relationship management, rather than occasional approaches made near a deadline.

This five-day Grant Management and Fundraising Training Course builds a connected working method from prospect research to close-out. Participants use theory of change, logical frameworks, donor segmentation, prospect scoring, activity-based budgeting, RACI, grant registers and results reporting. They learn to interpret calls for proposals, decide whether to bid, shape evidence-led narratives, calculate eligible costs, control submission versions, manage restricted funds and prepare for donor monitoring and audits. The course also addresses ethical fundraising, due diligence, safeguarding commitments, subgrant controls and donor stewardship.

Instruction combines short practitioner briefings with NGO, development and humanitarian cases, including institutional grants, foundation applications and emergency-response awards. Teams scrutinise donor guidance, resolve budget and compliance issues, prepare reporting responses and rehearse grant-management decisions. Each participant leaves with a reusable grant and fundraising toolkit: a funding strategy outline, prospect pipeline, proposal compliance checklist, budget model, grant agreement register and 90-day application plan. The format suits staff who already contribute to programmes, finance, partnerships or resource mobilisation and need reliable cross-functional practice.

What you will be able to do

  • Develop a donor-aligned funding strategy with income targets, priorities and ownership
  • Screen funding opportunities using eligibility criteria, prospect scoring and go/no-go decisions
  • Design grant proposals using Theory of Change, logical frameworks and evidence plans
  • Prepare activity-based grant budgets with eligible costs, allocation methods and budget narratives
  • Control proposal submissions using RACI, compliance checklists and version-control procedures
  • Set up awarded grants using agreement registers, work breakdown structures and risk controls
  • Monitor restricted funds through budget-versus-actual analysis, cash forecasts and supporting documentation
  • Produce donor reports and close-out plans using results data, audit files and stewardship actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Write stronger grant narratives linked to credible evidence and measurable results
  • Build confidence challenging ineligible costs and unclear donor conditions
  • Use a repeatable method for researching, scoring and prioritising funding prospects
  • Coordinate programme, finance and leadership inputs without missed submission requirements
  • Prepare audit-ready grant records and clearer donor reports

For your organisation

  • Higher-quality funding applications with fewer compliance omissions
  • Better bid decisions based on fit, capacity, risk and cost
  • Improved recovery of indirect costs and control of restricted funding
  • Earlier identification of reporting, cash-flow and amendment risks
  • Stronger donor confidence through accurate reporting and planned stewardship

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can structure a funding strategy and manage a disciplined grant opportunity pipeline.

  • Grant lifecycle stages from opportunity scanning through close-out and retention
  • Funding strategy aligned with mission, programme priorities and unrestricted-cost needs
  • Donor segmentation by institutional, foundation, corporate, individual and diaspora sources
  • Revenue concentration analysis using donor dependence ratios and renewal probabilities
  • Ethical fundraising principles, safeguarding commitments and informed donor communication
  • Gift acceptance criteria for restricted funds, reputational risk and due diligence
  • Prospect pipeline stages, ownership rules and monthly review discipline

Participants can translate a community need into a donor-ready results framework.

  • Problem tree analysis distinguishing causes, effects, stakeholders and affected populations
  • Theory of Change pathways linking activities, outputs, outcomes and assumptions
  • Logical framework matrices with indicators, baselines, targets and verification sources
  • SMART indicator definitions covering unit, disaggregation, frequency and responsibility
  • OECD DAC criteria reflected in evaluation questions and reporting commitments
  • Gender, disability and protection analysis integrated into programme design
  • Risk assumptions tested through evidence, stakeholder consultation and scenario analysis

Participants can research, assess and prioritise funders using documented qualification criteria.

  • Donor intelligence profiles covering priorities, geography, eligibility, budget range and timing
  • Eligibility screening against registration status, thematic fit and geographic scope
  • Call-for-proposals calendars maintained with decision dates and internal deadlines
  • Prospect scoring matrix weighting fit, access, capacity and probability
  • Corporate partnership propositions matched to ESG priorities and employee engagement
  • Relationship mapping identifies introducers, decision-makers, influencers and stewardship responsibilities
  • Donor due diligence checks sanctions, conflicts, reputational concerns and source restrictions

Participants can prepare persuasive, compliant proposal narratives supported by credible evidence.

  • Compliance reading method extracts mandatory requirements, scoring criteria and annexes
  • Win-theme statements connect community evidence, donor priorities and organisational credibility
  • Proposal narrative structure follows problem, response, implementation, evidence and value
  • Executive summaries state need, solution, scale, results and funding request
  • Evidence plans distinguish baseline data, service records, research and testimonies
  • Plain-language editing removes claims unsupported by data or delivery capacity
  • Red-team review checks coherence, responsiveness, feasibility and evaluator questions

Participants can build donor-compliant budgets and explain the basis for each cost.

  • Activity-based budgets link work packages, quantities, unit costs and timing
  • Direct, indirect and shared costs allocated using documented allocation bases
  • Budget narratives explain calculations, procurement assumptions and value-for-money choices
  • Donor cost rules tested for eligibility, ceilings, co-financing and currency treatment
  • Exchange-rate assumptions and contingency treatment documented within donor rules
  • Salary costing includes gross pay, benefits, taxes and effort allocation
  • Budget reconciliation identifies arithmetic errors, narrative mismatches and unsupported lines

Participants can coordinate a controlled bid process from go/no-go decision to submission.

  • Bid calendar assigns drafting, budget, review, approval and submission milestones
  • RACI matrix clarifies proposal decisions, accountable executives and technical inputs
  • Compliance checklist tracks attachments, signatures, page limits and portal requirements
  • Version control protocol protects approved narratives, budgets and supporting documents
  • Go/no-go criteria assess fit, capacity, risk, cost and strategic value
  • Donor portal submissions verified through receipts, timestamps and final-file checks
  • Decline analysis records feedback, lessons and next-contact actions

Participants can convert an award agreement into controlled implementation responsibilities and deadlines.

  • Award document review identifies obligations, deliverables, payment triggers and amendments
  • Kick-off meeting confirms scope, roles, reporting calendar and escalation routes
  • Grant agreement register records conditions, deadlines, approvals and donor contacts
  • Work breakdown structure converts commitments into owned implementation tasks
  • Project risk register scores threats, controls, owners and review dates
  • Subgrant due diligence assesses partner capacity, controls and safeguarding arrangements
  • Change-control process documents scope, budget and timeline amendment requests

Participants can monitor grant expenditure, cash needs and financial compliance throughout delivery.

  • Chart-of-accounts coding separates grants, cost categories, projects and funding restrictions
  • Allowability tests assess reasonableness, allocability, documentation and donor eligibility
  • Monthly budget-versus-actual analysis explains variances and forecasts burn rates
  • 13-week cash forecast aligns donor receipts, commitments and payment schedules
  • Supporting-document checks cover invoices, timesheets, procurement files and approvals
  • Restricted-fund reconciliation matches ledger balances, reports and bank movements
  • Fraud red flags trigger investigation, reporting and corrective-control actions

Participants can produce evidence-based donor reports that connect results, expenditure and decisions.

  • Results framework connects indicators, collection methods, targets, owners and reporting dates
  • Data quality assessments test validity, reliability, precision, integrity and timeliness
  • Indicator tracking tables document results, disaggregation, evidence and data limitations
  • Donor reports reconcile narrative achievements, indicator values, expenditure and variances
  • Adaptive management decisions use monitoring findings, beneficiary feedback and risk signals
  • Outcome stories combine consented testimony, verified data and ethical imagery
  • Reporting calendars coordinate programmatic, financial, audit and evaluation deadlines

Participants can close grants properly, respond to audits and plan future donor engagement.

  • Audit-ready filing structure indexes agreements, reports, invoices, contracts and approvals
  • Audit preparation plan assigns evidence retrieval, query responses and management actions
  • Close-out checklist covers final reports, asset disposition, balances and records retention
  • Donor stewardship plan schedules updates, recognition, learning briefs and renewal conversations
  • Lessons-learned review captures bid quality, delivery performance and compliance issues
  • Portfolio dashboard tracks pipeline value, win rate, restricted income and deadlines
  • 90-day application plan prioritises improvements, owners, milestones and evidence

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Donor-aligned funding strategy template
  2. Prospect scoring and pipeline model
  3. Proposal compliance checklist
  4. Activity-based grant budget model
  5. Grant agreement and reporting register
  6. 90-day fundraising and grant-management application plan

Who should attend

  • Grant Managers — need to control award obligations, reporting and close-out requirements
  • Fundraising Managers — need a disciplined pipeline and stronger institutional funding proposals
  • Programme Managers — need to convert delivery plans into fundable, measurable grant designs
  • Finance Managers — need to manage restricted budgets, cost eligibility and donor financial reports
  • Partnerships Officers — need to research donors and manage institutional funding relationships
  • NGO Directors — need oversight of funding risk, bid decisions and income diversification

Skills and tools covered

Donor prospect researchProposal developmentGrant budget preparationRestricted fund controlDonor reportingGrant compliance management

Tools and standards

Theory of Change, Logical Framework Approach (Logframe), RACI matrix, OECD DAC Evaluation Criteria

How the course runs

Training methodology

Teaching combines short practitioner briefings with guided analysis of donor calls, grant agreements, budgets and reporting scenarios. Participants work in groups on NGO, development and humanitarian cases, applying structured templates to prospect research, proposal planning, cost allocation and grant control. Simulations address bid decisions, donor clarification requests, budget variances and audit queries. Facilitators provide feedback on decisions and documents, followed by individual application planning for participants' current funding responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to NGO programmes, project delivery, finance, partnerships or fundraising, and understand basic budgets and project terminology. Experience contributing to a proposal, donor report or grant-funded project is useful but not essential. The course assumes participants can read donor guidance and work with spreadsheets at a basic level. No prior qualification in fundraising, accounting, monitoring and evaluation or donor compliance is required. It is not designed as an introductory course for people with no experience of organisational budgets or project work.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have some exposure to NGO programmes, finance, partnerships, fundraising or project delivery. They do not need prior formal training in grant management, accounting or monitoring and evaluation.

Bring a laptop for working with templates and spreadsheet-based budget examples. Participants may also bring a current donor call, proposal outline or grant-management issue, subject to their organisation's confidentiality rules.

It is designed for grant managers, fundraising staff, programme managers, finance staff, partnerships officers and NGO leaders. It is particularly useful where several functions contribute to proposal development and grant delivery.

Proposal writing is one part of the course, alongside donor research, budgeting, submission control, award management, reporting and close-out. Participants learn how decisions made during proposal development affect financial control and donor compliance after award.

Participants leave with practical templates for prospect qualification, proposal compliance, budgeting, agreement management and reporting. The final application plan identifies priority actions, responsible colleagues and milestones for the next 90 days.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between practitioner input, document analysis, group work, simulations, feedback and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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