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Today, nonprofits must repeatedly provide the same information to apply for grants from different funders. Previous efforts to address this problem have focused on creating a common grant application, an approach that has been slow to catch on, given funders’ differing approaches to grantmaking. This new project takes a different approach, creating a common repository of data about nonprofits and then using Web services to bring this information into foundations’ grants management systems. The project does not require foundations to agree on a common format for their proposals—instead they simply pull relevant data as needed. The project draws on existing nonprofit profiles on GuideStar Exchange, thereby minimizing additional effort on the part of nonprofits.

This is the third time that the Foundation will have provided support for the Consumer’s Guide to Grants Management Systems report. Because new software vendors enter the market every year and existing vendors change, it is important to update the report every two years. The 2013 report will be expanded to review thirty systems, an increase from the twenty-two reviewed in 2011. COLLABORATIONS AND OPPORTUNISTIC GRANTMAKING