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Free grant tracking spreadsheet template
A free grant tracker for Excel and Google Sheets, with tabs for grants, deadlines, budget vs actual and a summary that fills itself in. No email needed to download it, and no macros.
Published 2026-10-25 · Last updated 2026-10-25
What's in it
Four tabs, plus a "Start here" tab with instructions. Three example rows show how each tab works. They are made up and marked EXAMPLE, so delete them before you add your own.
Grants
One row per grant, from first look to closed. The status column says where each one is.
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Grant name | EXAMPLE – Youth reading program 2026 |
| Funder | EXAMPLE Community Foundation |
| Status | Active |
| Amount requested | $50,000.00 |
| Amount awarded | $45,000.00 |
| Start date | 01/01/2026 |
| End date | 12/31/2026 |
| Application deadline | (blank) |
| Report deadline | 01/31/2027 |
| Program area | Education |
| Grant number | CF-2026-014 |
| Notes | Example row |
| Funder type | Community foundation |
| Program officer | Jordan Lee |
| Contact email | jordan.lee@example.org |
Deadlines
Every LOI, application, report, invoice and renewal, with an owner. Overdue rows turn red. Rows due within 14 days turn yellow. Marking a row Submitted or Done clears the color.
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Grant | EXAMPLE – Youth reading program 2026 |
| Deliverable | Interim report |
| Due date | (a date) |
| Days left | -3 |
| Owner | Dana (ED) |
| Status | In progress |
| Notes | Overdue, shows red |
Budget vs actual
Each budget line of an awarded grant: the budget, what you have spent, what is left and the percent spent. A line that goes over turns red.
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Grant | EXAMPLE – Youth reading program 2026 |
| Budget line | Books and materials |
| Budget | $8,000.00 |
| Spent to date | $8,600.00 |
| Remaining | -$600.00 |
| % spent | 108% |
| Notes | Over budget, shows red |
Summary
Fills itself in: grants, amount requested and amount awarded for each status, plus how many deadlines are overdue and how many are due in the next 14 days.
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Grants | 1 |
| Amount requested | $50,000.00 |
| Amount awarded | $45,000.00 |
On the Grants tab, the first 12 columns are the ones FundMesa imports. Funder type, program officer and contact email stay in your sheet.
How to use it
- Download the file and open it. In Google Sheets: Drive → New → File upload, open the file, then File → Save as Google Sheets.
- Delete the example rows (gray, italic, marked EXAMPLE) on each tab.
- Add each grant on the Grants tab, including the ones you are only considering. Pick a status from the list: Prospect, Applying, Submitted, Awarded, Active, Reporting, Closed, Declined or Withdrawn.
- Put every due date on the Deadlines tab with an owner. Mark a row Submitted or Done when it is finished, and the color clears.
- When a grant is awarded, enter its budget lines on the Budget vs actual tab, and update spending each month from your accounting system.
When a spreadsheet stops working
A spreadsheet is a good grant tracker for many small organizations. These are the signs you are outgrowing it, and what FundMesa does instead.
- More than one person edits it
- Copies drift and nobody knows which one is current. In FundMesa everyone works in one place, with roles that decide who can change what.
- Deadlines are missed because nobody opened the file
- A date in a cell notifies no one. FundMesa emails reminders before each deadline and syncs deadlines to Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar.
- Budget tracking becomes a second set of books
- FundMesa tracks budget vs actual for each award and produces funder reports as PDF or CSV. On Team and above, expenses can come straight from QuickBooks Online.
- Federal awards
- Reporting periods, an activity history on every grant and, on Team and above, time and effort certification under 2 CFR 200.430.
- Someone leaves
- When the tracker lives in one person's files, it leaves with them. In FundMesa the grants, deadlines, documents and history stay with the organization.
Moving this tracker into FundMesa
The Grants tab uses the column names FundMesa's import recognizes, so there is nothing to match up by hand:
- Open the Grants tab and save it as CSV (Excel: File → Save As → CSV. Google Sheets: File → Download → Comma-separated values).
- In FundMesa, go to Grants → Import and upload the file. Funders you have not added yet can be created in the same step.
- The application and report deadline columns become deadlines, with email reminders.
FundMesa is free for 30 days with no credit card, then from $129 a month billed annually. The live demo needs no signup at all.
Frequently asked
What should a grant tracker include?
At minimum: each grant with its funder, status, amounts and grant period; every deadline (LOI, application, interim and final reports, invoices, renewals) with a person responsible; and, once a grant is awarded, its budget by line next to what has been spent. Program officer contact details and a grant number save time when the funder calls.
How do I track grant deadlines?
Give every deadline its own row with a due date, a deliverable type and an owner, and sort by date. In a spreadsheet, conditional formatting can color overdue and near-due rows, as this template does. A spreadsheet cannot email anyone, though, so someone has to open it. Grant management software sends the reminders for you.
How do I track grant budget vs actual?
List each line of the awarded budget, then record spending against the same lines. Remaining is the budget minus spending to date, and percent spent is spending divided by the budget. Restricted and federal awards need spending to match the approved lines, so record expenses in the same categories the funder approved.
Excel or Google Sheets for grant tracking?
Either works. Google Sheets is easier when more than one person edits, because everyone works in the same copy. Excel is fine for one person or a shared network drive. This template works in both: upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive and save it as a Google Sheet.
Is this template really free?
Yes. No email or signup is needed to download it, and you can copy, change and share it. It has no macros.