History of Grant Tracker

Grant Tracker began back in 1999 when a Grant Tracker Advisory Group was formed to ensure the needs and expectations of potential grant tracker user groups were taken on board. Today Grant Tracker is a fully integrated and interactive website.

As a resource it is viewed by on average over 5,000 visitors a month and a large proportion of NICVA's members (67%) had used the site to access funding. Over three quarters of NICVA members stated the website was a valuable resource and information was easy to find.

A major part of the Advisory Group's work centred on the development of the classification system, software options and funder research. With support originally from Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Northern Ireland there was considerable consultation, research and testing of the the Grant Tracker software until its celebrated first launch in June 2001.

The development of the website is very much an ongoing process responding quickly to user feedback and technical developments in Information Communications Technology (ICT). NICVA's Member Services has ambitious hopes for the future development of Grant Tracker.

Grant Tracker was first launched in the summer of 2001 as a CDROM only version. All members of NICVA received the trial version 1.1 at this time. The CDROM was then updated 3 times until March 2002 when the development of the website and complementary CDROM began. The completely revamped web version (Version 2.0) was launched ahead of schedule in February 2003. Much more was made possible than was originally envisaged because of technical advancements in software and internet access.

The development of the website version was first funded by Belfast Regeneration Office (BRO) to assist in building the capacity of local groups to become self-sustaining. Version 3 was launched in July 2005 with further enhancements added to the site. Version 4, the latest and most current was launched in 2008 a further significant improvement in the service.

Grant Tracker now receives no direct grant support for the service it provides to the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland, hence the need to make a modest charge for subscription to contribute to the costs of maintaining and developing the service. NICVA continues to offer the best service we can with the limited resources available. www.grant-tracker.org

The outcomes we aim for with Grant Tracker:

  1. More Money - Groups will be better resourced to carry out their organisation's purpose (content)
  2. More diverse and secure sources of income - Groups will use more strategic approaches to fundraising - and consider options to diversify their funding sources
  3. Better informed fundraisers - Fundraisers will have access to good quality information on funding sources
  4. Better funding policy - Groups will be more engaged, empowered and informed to lobby on funding policy issues
  5. Better pitches for funding - Fundraisers will spend less time searching for funding sources and more time on the researching, planning and making the approach to funders
  6. Funders fund better projects - Funders will receive better quality, more relevant approaches and be better informed to develop their criteria. Funders will have a vehicle to promote their funding schemes directly to the voluntary and community sector .
  7. Funders are better at funding - Funders will develop better funding policy and practices Funding Advisors are better at their jobs
  8. Funding advice workers will be better resourced to carry out their jobs