How nonprofits can master federal grant compliance
Grant uncertainty is reshaping nonprofit finance. Learn how leading nonprofits are strengthening compliance, improving reporting, and building resilience in today’s evolving grant landscape.
Federal grantmaking is changing fast. If you’re a nonprofit finance leader, compliance is no longer a checkpoint—it’s a daily discipline that determines your ability to sustain funding, demonstrate impact, and maintain public trust.
On August 7, 2025, the White House issued an executive order titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking.” This directive has paused funding cycles, centralized grant reviews under political appointees, and introduced stricter compliance requirements.
For nonprofits and government organizations—especially those heavily reliant on federal grants—this marks a turning point.
Grants can now be terminated mid-cycle if they no longer align with agency priorities.
Indirect cost recovery is under scrutiny, and drawdown rules are tightening. These changes make compliance not just a regulatory requirement but a strategic necessity.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Compliance is the cornerstone of financial leadership
In this new environment, finance leaders must build systems that support continuous compliance, safeguard funding, and clearly demonstrate impact.
This means shifting from reactive reporting to real-time oversight, automating your controls to reduce risk, and aligning every financial decision with grant terms and agency expectations.
Responding effectively requires a multi-pronged approach. Below are four areas where your finance team should focus their efforts to stay compliant, agile, and mission-ready.
1. Visibility enables agility and accountability
When agency priorities shift, your organization must be able to pivot quickly while maintaining compliance.
Sage Intacct’s dimensional reporting allows your finance team to tag every transaction by grant, program, location, or agency priority.
This makes it easy to adjust reporting and demonstrate alignment with evolving federal goals.
Action step:
Set up executive dashboards that show real-time grant performance, spend vs. budget, and compliance status. This empowers leadership to make informed decisions and respond to changes with confidence.
2. Scenario planning is no longer optional
With FOAs paused and mid-cycle terminations on the table, finance teams must prepare for multiple outcomes.
What happens if a grant is delayed? If indirect cost recovery is reduced? If a program loses funding overnight? Your ability to model these scenarios will help your organization stay proactive and resilient.
Action step:
Build contingency plans for your most vulnerable programs. Use scenario modeling tools within your cloud financial management software to identify funding gaps and explore alternative revenue sources before disruptions occur.
3. Compliance is a daily discipline
Gone are the days of annual audits as the primary compliance checkpoint.
Today’s environment demands continuous monitoring, automated controls, and defensible documentation that ties every dollar to grant terms and outcomes.
Sage Intacct for nonprofits automates approval workflows, enforces cost controls, and tracks allowable vs. disallowed expenses at the transaction level—helping protect funding and ensure you’re ready for increased oversight.
Action step:
Implement real-time compliance dashboards and automated drawdown controls. Ensure every request is backed by defensible documentation and pre-approved workflows to stay audit-ready every day.
4. Cash flow is a strategic lever
Restricted vs. unrestricted funding, allowable vs. disallowed costs—these distinctions now carry greater weight.
As a finance leader, you must forecast cash flow with precision and manage drawdowns with confidence, especially as federal oversight tightens.
Sage Intacct’s cash flow management tools help nonprofit finance leaders project inflows and outflows based on grant schedules and compliance status.
Action step:
Use real-time visibility to manage drawdowns with precision and protect program continuity. Monitor which funding streams are at risk and plan accordingly.
Why now is the time to invest
It’s natural to hesitate when budgets are tight and funding is uncertain. But in reality, uncertainty is the strongest case for modernization.
The cost of inaction—missed funding opportunities, compliance risks, and program disruptions—is far greater than the cost of transformation.
Sage Intacct is built to support you in this moment. It helps nonprofit and government organizations:
- Stay audit-ready with defensible documentation.
- Adapt quickly to changing agency priorities.
- Automate compliance and drawdown controls.
- Forecast funding gaps and protect cash flow.
- Connect spending to outcomes and impact.
Explore how Sage Intacct empowers organizations to lead with confidence through digital transformation in finance.
Take the next step toward stronger grant management
Learn how leading nonprofits are strengthening compliance, improving reporting, and building resilience in today’s evolving grant landscape.
7 Proven Grant Management Best Practices for Growing Nonprofit Funding
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Final thoughts
As a nonprofit finance leader in today’s shifting grant landscape, you need the ability to pair compliance with agility to safeguard your missions.
The federal oversight framework demands continuous monitoring, real-time visibility, and proactive scenario planning.
Finance teams that automate controls, strengthen documentation, and forecast cash flow with precision will be best positioned to weather uncertainty and sustain funding.
Now is the time to modernize—by embracing digital tools like Sage Intacct, you can align every dollar with grant terms, prove accountability, and demonstrate impact.
When you turn compliance into a daily discipline, your organization can stay confident, compliant, and ready to thrive through change.
