TLDR
An Evidence Bundle is how you answer the auditor's document request once, correctly, without emailing files or sharing a folder that contains more than they should see.
An Evidence Bundle is how a nonprofit packages its audit evidence before handing it to an external reviewer. Instead of pulling files from email archives, shared drives, and accounting exports and sending them in a ZIP, the organization builds a titled bundle inside the grant management system and delivers it through a scoped portal link.
Why bundling matters more than filing
Filing documents correctly is necessary but not sufficient for audit readiness. The filing question is whether each document exists and is stored somewhere accessible. The bundling question is whether the right documents can be identified, assembled, and delivered when a reviewer asks.
You can answer the filing question in minutes and still fail the bundling question. Solving filing means you have solved the easier half.
What goes into a bundle
The contents depend on the review, but most audit evidence bundles for grant-funded nonprofits include:
Award documents: The signed award letter or contract, any amendments, and the approved budget.
Restriction terms: The specific use restrictions, allowable cost definitions, and any funder-specific conditions.
Financial reports: Expenditure reports for the audit period, reconciled against the general ledger.
Narrative reports: Submitted progress and final narrative reports.
Time-and-effort records: For grants with personnel costs, the certifications or timesheets that support the salary charges.
Supporting documentation: Invoices, contracts, receipts, and procurement records for sampled expenditures.
Activity log export: The change history showing who modified grant records, when, and what changed.
See Also
Free resource
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What auditors need from nonprofit grantees - organized by section. Build your evidence bundle without missing the documents that typically produce findings. Delivered by email.
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Q&A
What should an evidence bundle include for a federal grant audit?
At minimum: the grant award document and any amendments, the applicable restriction terms, the expenditure report for the audit period, all SF-425 submissions filed during the period, the time-and-effort records for grant-funded staff, and the activity log showing who changed what on the grant record. The auditor may also request supporting invoices and subrecipient monitoring records.
Q&A
Is an evidence bundle the same as a grant file?
A grant file is the complete running record for a grant: it accumulates everything over the life of the award. An evidence bundle is a curated subset, assembled for a specific review, containing the documents and reports most relevant to that reviewer's questions.
Q&A
How does bundling reduce audit risk?
By requiring the organization to review and select evidence before sharing, the bundling process itself surfaces gaps. If a required document is missing from the bundle, the staff member building the bundle notices before the auditor does.
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