Performance report
The narrative and data report on what a funded project achieved against what it promised. On a multi-year award it is what the next budget period’s continuation decision is made on.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Progress report · Programmatic report
In detail
Funders vary from a two-page form to a full evaluation submission. What is consistent is that the report is compared against the objectives in the application, which is why objectives written to be unmeasurable make the report harder rather than easier.
A report that explains a missed target and what changed is generally received better than one that omits it. Agencies notice the omission at the next report.
Against a financial report
A performance report covers activity and results. A financial report covers money. Both are usually required, on schedules that do not always align, and neither is anything a catalogue of opportunities holds. Our records describe what a funder published before applications, not what a recipient owes afterwards.
How GrantTrove stores it
- We hold no reporting fields and ship no empty columns for them, because an empty column reads as a fact about the programme rather than about our coverage.
- `application_effort` records the weight of a submission where a notice indicates it, which is the nearest thing we hold to a signal about the administrative load of a programme.
Common questions
Who reads performance reports?
The programme officer, and they inform continuation decisions.
What if we missed a target?
Report it and explain the change. Omitting it is worse.
Do you hold report requirements?
No. They are award terms.