How to write a grant monitoring report: a practical UK guide

Find the approved application, budget, award terms and any agreed changes. Record the report's due date, period covered, submission route and person responsible for approval. Separate figures for this period from totals since the project began; label both if the form asks for both.

Reporting arrangements are specific to the award. The National Lottery Community Fund says its progress-update requirements can vary by UK location, programme and what was agreed with the funding officer. Trust for London's reporting guidance uses a framework for change and distinguishes grants awarded before and after June 2024. Check which instructions apply to your grant before copying a template or another organisation's timetable.

If your funder supplies a form, put your answers under its headings. Otherwise, use this suggested outline to organise your notes:

1. Report details: organisation, project, grant reference, reporting dates and contact.
2. Delivery: what you planned, what you completed and any shortfall or change.
3. Results: what changed for people, how you checked and what the evidence cannot tell you.
4. Spending: agreed budget, actual expenditure and an explanation of differences.
5. Learning: what worked, what was difficult and what you will change.
6. Next steps: remaining work, decisions needed and any support requested from the funder.

These headings give you a place for both delivery records and reflection. The Community Fund's suggested progress-update questions cover community involvement, the difference made, learning, changes and spending. It presents those questions as prompts rather than requiring an answer to every one.

Keep a simple evidence note beside each result: the source, collection dates, number of responses and any gap. For attendance, state whether you counted different people or total visits. For feedback, give the number answering the question rather than presenting a percentage without a denominator.

The Community Fund's evidence principles recognise numbers, experiences and reflection, and stress collecting evidence systematically, including negatives. They also distinguish contributing to change from proving that your project caused it. Use that distinction when writing: a participant's account can show a useful experience without proving a lasting outcome for everyone.

If you did not collect a starting measure, say so. Do not reconstruct one from memory or describe an end-of-project survey as proof of improvement. Explain what your records do show and how you plan to close the gap in the next reporting period.

This fictional example shows how to write a candid update. The numbers are illustrative, not results from a funded organisation.

“We planned 12 workshops and delivered 10 during this period. A venue closure prevented two sessions. Our register records 24 different participants and 83 attendances; several people attended more than once. Of 18 people who completed the final feedback form, 14 said they felt confident booking an appointment online. We did not ask the same question at the start, so we cannot measure the change in confidence or assume the six non-respondents had the same experience.”

Follow with a decision: “We propose two replacement sessions and will ask the same confidence question at the beginning and end of the next course. We will confirm the revised delivery timetable with the funder.” This tells the reader what happened, what remains uncertain and what you intend to do about it.

Prepare a working sheet with one row per approved budget heading: budget, actual spending, difference and explanation. Match the actuals to your accounting records, and identify unpaid commitments separately. Keep grant spending distinct from the whole project's spending where other income also contributes.

In the fictional workshop example, a £6,000 budget and £5,400 spent leave a £600 difference. Explain which activities account for it and whether costs remain to be paid. A difference from budget does not itself show that the money is free to use elsewhere. The Community Fund's progress guidance asks grant holders to discuss budget changes and unspent funding with their funding officer. For your award, check the terms and request any necessary agreement before acting.

If shared overheads are part of the approved budget, retain the calculation behind them. Our full cost recovery guide explains how to make that allocation traceable.

• Check the reporting dates, grant reference and every total against the underlying records.
• Explain missed activities and missing evidence plainly; do not turn a plan into a claimed result.
• Confirm that the spending narrative and financial figures describe the same period.
• Mark proposed changes as proposed, and keep written approvals with the award records.
• Save the submitted report, attachments and confirmation of receipt together.

Ask whether existing material can be reused before producing another report. The Community Fund's progress-update guidance allows relevant material prepared for other funders, with the relevant parts highlighted. That flexibility is not a rule for every grant: check your own funder's format and questions.

Use what you learned to make the next proposal more precise. Our grant application checklist connects evidence, delivery and budget. When looking for further funding, use OpenGrant's Charity / VCSE and Grant filters, then check each programme's eligibility and reporting terms on the funder's site.