Funder Reporting Templates: What to Include and How to Structure Each Report Type

A grant report answers two questions: what did you do, and how did you spend the money? Funders read reports to verify that their investment produced results and that their money was used as agreed. The format varies widely, but those two questions are always at the core.

The challenge for nonprofits managing multiple active grants is that each funder has a different template, a different online portal, and a different level of detail they expect. There is no universal format. What works for a federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) report will not work for a community foundation that wants a two-page narrative PDF.

What Goes Into a Financial Report

The financial section of a grant report needs to show the funder exactly how their money was spent. The standard structure is a budget-vs-actual table:

Each funder wants this table formatted differently. Federal agencies often have their own spreadsheet templates. State funders may have an online form where you enter each figure individually. Foundations typically accept a PDF with a simple table.

Beyond the numbers, financial reports should include a brief explanation of any significant variances. If travel is underspent because a planned site visit was postponed, say so. Funders expect variances; they want to understand why they occurred and whether they affect program delivery.

What Goes Into a Progress Report

The narrative section should directly mirror the goals and outcomes specified in the original grant application. If your application said you would serve 150 participants and deliver 12 workshops, your report should state how many participants you served and how many workshops you delivered. Do not replace specific metrics with vague language about program activities.

A basic progress report structure:

Section 1: Program Activities and Outputs List each funded activity and the outputs produced during the reporting period. Be specific: dates, locations, participant counts, deliverables completed.

Section 2: Outcomes and Impact Report on the outcomes identified in the grant agreement. Use the same metrics and indicators you committed to. If data collection is still in progress, say so and explain when data will be available.

Section 3: Challenges and Adjustments Describe any obstacles encountered and how they were addressed. Funders do not expect perfection; they expect transparency. Identifying a challenge and explaining your response demonstrates organizational competence.

Section 4: Plans for Next Period Briefly describe planned activities for the next reporting period. This section is usually short — one paragraph is sufficient.

Federal Grants vs. Foundation Grants: What Changes

Federal grant reports are submitted through agency-specific systems: GrantSolutions, eGrants, a state workforce agency portal, or similar. These systems have their own data entry forms and required fields. The financial component is usually submitted separately, often through the federal Payment Management System (PMS) or equivalent. Federal reports require supporting documentation for any questioned costs and must align precisely with approved budget categories.

Foundation grant reports are more flexible in format but still have specific expectations. Most foundations have their own reporting templates, available on their website or sent with the award letter. Community foundation reports tend to be shorter (one to three pages) and focus on narrative outcomes. National foundations (Robert Wood Johnson, W.K. Kellogg, Annie E. Casey) have detailed reporting requirements, online portals, and specific data collection formats.

State agency reports vary by program. Many state agencies use online grant management portals (similar to federal systems) with required forms and data fields. Check the state agency’s grantee resources page for their specific format.

Building a Reusable Template

No template works universally, but you can build a baseline structure that covers the common elements across most funders:

1. Grant identification (funder name, grant number, grant period, reporting period)
2. Executive summary (two to three sentences on overall progress)
3. Activities and outputs (bulleted by funded activity)
4. Outcome data (table with targets, actuals, and % achieved)
5. Budget vs. actual table
6. Variance explanations
7. Next period activities
8. Certification signature

Keep this structure in a shared document. Before each reporting deadline, open it and add the funder-specific formatting requirements from their grant agreement. Most of the content will transfer; what changes is the packaging.

The more useful investment is a reporting calendar that maps every grant deadline twelve months out, with data collection tasks assigned to staff in advance of each deadline. Reports that require scrambling to collect data and reconstruct expenditure records are reports that introduce errors.

DEFINITION

Progress report

A report submitted to a funder documenting program activities, outputs, and outcomes achieved during a reporting period. Also called a programmatic or narrative report. Progress reports demonstrate that grant-funded activities are being implemented as described in the grant agreement and producing the intended results.

DEFINITION

Financial reconciliation report

A report that compares approved budget line items to actual expenditures for the reporting period, showing how much was spent in each category, the remaining balance, and any variances. Funders use financial reconciliation reports to verify that restricted funds are being spent according to the approved budget.