Using Google Sheets? Download the .xlsx, then in Sheets choose File → Import → Upload. Everything, including the client tabs, keeps working.
What's in the template
- All clients tab: one row per deadline, for every client. Columns: client, funder, type (LOI, application, interim report, final report, financial report), funder due date, inputs due, days until due, status, owner and notes.
- One tab per client: type the client's name at the top and the tab shows only their rows. Duplicate a tab for each new client.
- Inputs due, calculated for you: 10 business days before each funder deadline. Change it per client if someone needs more lead time.
- Color flags: yellow for anything due in the next 30 days, red for anything overdue and not submitted.
- Drop-down lists for type and status, so you can sort and filter cleanly.
How to use it: a 30-day Monday check
Every Monday, open the All clients tab and sort by funder due date. For everything due in the next 30 days:
- Check that the client knows the inputs-due date, and send a reminder for anything still missing (program numbers, budget lines, attachments, signatures).
- Move the status forward: not started → waiting on inputs → drafting → in review → submitted.
- Block drafting time in your own calendar for each item, working back from the inputs-due date, not the funder deadline.
Ten minutes on Monday replaces the Thursday-night realization that a report is due Friday and finance hasn't sent the actuals.
And a 90-day monthly check
On the first working day of each month, look 90 days ahead:
- Reports hide in award letters. When a client wins a grant, add every interim, final and financial report as its own row the same day. Note the page or section the date came from.
- Recurring cycles: add next year's rows for funders with annual deadlines as soon as you submit this year's.
- Capacity: if three clients have applications due the same week, renegotiate inputs-due dates now, while there's still room.
- Federal and pass-through awards: financial reports usually follow fixed windows after each reporting period (for example, 30 days after a quarter). Add the whole year at once.
Why a separate inputs-due date?
Most late applications aren't late because of the writing. They're late because a budget, an outcome number or a board list arrived the day before. A visible inputs-due date gives your client a deadline of their own, and gives you a clean reason to follow up early.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet works well for a handful of clients. It gets harder when report dates live in award letters, several people update the same file, and nobody gets a reminder unless you send it. That's the gap GrantCorral fills.