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grant-management-setup

Use when configuring grant tracking in a Salesforce nonprofit org: NPSP Outbound Funds Module (open-source outfunds managed package) or Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking (separate license). Trigger keywords: grant management, funding awards, disbursement tranches, grantmaking setup, OFM, FundingAward, FundingDisbursement, FundingAwardRequirement. NOT for recording donor gifts and receipts, use admin/gift-entry-and-processing. NOT for reporting program outcomes to a funder, use admin/program-outcome-tracking-design.

• v1.0.1
• Salesforce Spring '25+
• Updated 2026-10-03
• Reliability
• Operational Excellence

• npsp
• grants
• funding-awards
• disbursements
• nonprofit
• grantmaking

Open the skill folder on GitHub

Grant Management Setup

This skill activates when a practitioner needs to configure grant tracking in a Salesforce nonprofit org. It covers both available platform paths — NPSP Outbound Funds Module (OFM) and Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking — and provides the decision logic, object model orientation, and configuration steps for each.

Before Starting

Gather this context before working on anything in this domain:

• Which platform is installed? Check Installed Packages for npsp (NPSP), outfunds (Outbound Funds Module), and the Grants Management managed package, and check Setup > Grantmaking Settings. These products do not share objects. Do not mix guidance between them.
• Is Grantmaking licensed and turned on? Grantmaking objects need the Grantmaking licence, the feature turned on, and the Manage Funding Awards system permission. Turning Grantmaking on cannot be undone (references/gotchas.md, Gotchas 1 and 2).
• What is the disbursement model? Single payment or scheduled tranches. Both products model tranches: FundingDisbursement in Grantmaking, outfunds__Disbursement__c in Outbound Funds.
• Which deliverables gate which payments? Both products have a requirement object that can point at a disbursement: FundingAwardRequirement.FundingDisbursementId and outfunds__Requirement__c.Disbursement__c. (Corrected: an earlier version said Outbound Funds has no deliverable-tracking object.)

Questions to Ask Before Configuring

Each question traces to a gotcha in references/gotchas.md.

What proper configuration adds over "just creating awards": one award per agreement with its tranches and requirements as children, statuses whose meaning is written down, and payment release tied to the reports that should gate it.

Core Concepts

Platform Path 1: NPSP Outbound Funds Module (OFM)

The Outbound Funds Module is a managed package, namespace outfunds, published as "a community developed and maintained Open Source Commons project." Its objects are Funding_Program__c, Funding_Request__c, Funding_Request_Role__c, Disbursement__c, Requirement__c, and Review__c. A grant is a Funding Request (with Requested_Amount__c, Awarded_Amount__c, Status__c, term dates, and rollups such as Total_Disbursed__c); disbursements and requirements are its children, and a requirement can look up the disbursement it relates to. An NPSP extension package (outfundsnpspext) links disbursements to NPSP General Accounting Units through GAU_Expenditure__c.

Key constraints of OFM:

• Status fields are package picklists; transitions are not governed by the platform.
• Support comes from the Open Source Commons community, not a Salesforce product line.
• OFM is not compatible with Grantmaking objects: moving between them is a data transformation.
• (Corrected: the earlier text said OFM ties grants to the Opportunity through a lookup and has no requirement object; the package source shows neither an Opportunity field on Funding_Request__c nor a missing requirement object.)

Platform Path 2: Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking (Grantmaking)

Grantmaking is a platform feature available in Nonprofit Cloud for Grantmaking and Public Sector Solutions. Its standard objects include FundingOpportunity, FundingAward, FundingAwardAmendment, FundingDisbursement, FundingAwardRequirement, FundingAwardRqmtSection, Budget and related budget objects, and the application objects. The three objects most grant setups touch:

These are standard objects without package prefixes, available only with the Grantmaking licence, Grantmaking turned on, and the Manage Funding Awards permission. UNVERIFIED (2026-10-03): the earlier statement that Grantmaking is "part of the Agentforce Nonprofit product line as of 2024" was not found in a fetched source.

Requirement Status Model

The earlier version of this skill described a fixed Open, Submitted, Approved lifecycle with no Rejected state; the NPC Guide documents six Status values and a separate ApprovalStatus. A workable convention: Status tracks where the deliverable is (Open, In Progress, Submitted, Delayed), and the reviewer's decision is recorded both in ApprovalStatus (In Review, Approved, Rejected) and by moving Status to Approved or Rejected. A rejected deliverable goes back to Open or In Progress for resubmission, with feedback in Description. Document whichever convention you choose.

Architectural Incompatibility Between Platforms

OFM and Grantmaking share no common objects, no shared APIs, and no native migration path. An org moving from OFM to Grantmaking must:

1. Transform outfunds__Funding_Request__c → FundingAward
2. Transform outfunds__Disbursement__c → FundingDisbursement
3. Transform outfunds__Requirement__c → FundingAwardRequirement, mapping Status__c and Type__c values to the standard picklists
4. Re-map all Flows, reports, and automation that reference OFM API names

This is a data migration project, not a configuration toggle.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Multi-Tranche Disbursement Schedule in Grantmaking

When to use: The award pays in several scheduled tranches and the org uses Grantmaking.

How it works:

1. Create one FundingAward with Amount = the total award, AwardeeId = the grantee account, and Status = Active.
2. Create one FundingDisbursement per tranche with Amount, a future ScheduledDate, and Status = Scheduled.
3. Move each tranche through Pending Approval, Approved, Processing, and Paid, setting DisbursementDate when paid.
4. Set FundingAward.Status to Completed when every tranche is Paid or Cancelled (a Flow can do this).

Why not the alternative: Do not model tranches as separate FundingAward records: this breaks parent-child reporting and duplicates requirements.

Pattern: Deliverable Tracking and Payment Gating With FundingAwardRequirement

When to use: Grantees must submit reports before later tranches are released.

How it works:

1. At award setup, create one FundingAwardRequirement per deliverable with Type, DueDate, AssignedContactId (grantee) or AssignedUserId, Status = Open, and FundingDisbursementId = the tranche it gates.
2. When the grantee submits, set IsSubmitted, SubmittedDate, and Status = Submitted; notify the grants manager.
3. The reviewer sets ApprovalStatus and Status to Approved or Rejected.
4. Enforce the gate: validation rules for same-record rules, and a record-triggered flow on FundingDisbursement that blocks Status = Paid while any requirement pointing at it is not Approved (references/examples.md, Example 3).

Why not the alternative: Tasks or Chatter posts produce no structured data, cannot be reported in aggregate, and cannot gate automation.

Decision Guidance

Recommended Workflow

1. Identify the platform path: Confirm installed namespaces (npsp, outfunds, Grants Management) and the Grantmaking licence; do not proceed until the path is unambiguous.
2. Assess grant requirements: Document tranches, deliverables and the tranches they gate, grantee portal access, application model, and reporting needs. Match them to the decision table above.
3. Turn on and grant access: For Grantmaking: Setup > Quick Find "Grantmaking" > Grantmaking Settings > turn on (irreversible); assign Grantmaking Manager (and Grantmaking for Experience Cloud for portal users) through permission set groups; configure the application model and, for Individual Application, the Application RecordType Config.
4. Configure the data model: Page layouts, field sets, and record types for awards, disbursements, and requirements; write down the requirement status convention.
5. Build lifecycle automation: Validation rules for same-record rules and a record-triggered flow for the disbursement gate (references/examples.md, Example 3); a flow to complete awards.
6. Validate end to end and document: Create a test award with tranches and requirements, walk every status, confirm reports, then record the platform path, picklist conventions, and automation for future support and migrations.

Review Checklist

Run through these before marking work in this area complete:

• [ ] Platform path (OFM vs. Grantmaking vs. Grants Management) is confirmed in writing, not assumed
• [ ] Grantmaking licence, feature switch, and Manage Funding Awards permission are verified if Grantmaking objects are in use
• [ ] FundingDisbursement tranches are children of the correct FundingAward (not separate awards)
• [ ] Requirement status convention (Status and ApprovalStatus) is documented and automation follows it
• [ ] Gating requirements reference their tranche through FundingDisbursementId, and a Paid tranche cannot bypass them
• [ ] No OFM API names (outfunds__) appear in automation built for Grantmaking, and vice versa
• [ ] Reports and dashboards reference the correct object set for the chosen platform

Salesforce-Specific Gotchas

The full list with sources is in references/gotchas.md. The ones that most often break a grants setup:

Output Artifacts

Related Skills

• npsp-vs-nonprofit-cloud-decision — Use this skill first if the org has not yet decided between NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud; this grant skill assumes the platform path is already determined
• npsp-program-management — For tracking program delivery funded by grants (PMM Service Delivery vs. grant award records are separate data stacks)
• gift-entry-and-processing — For donor gift processing in NPSP; grant awards are not the same as donor gifts and use different objects

Package files

• references/examples.md
• references/gotchas.md
• references/llm-anti-patterns.md
• references/well-architected.md
• templates/grant-management-setup-template.md
• scripts/check_grant_management_setup.py