Case Study: Manatee County achieves streamlined, outcomes-based grantmaking with Blackbaud Grantmaking

Manatee County - Customer Case Study

Manatee County Human Services Division manages millions in grant funding—more than $13 million annually for children’s programs across 50+ nonprofits and $3.6 million for adult services—but struggled with a paper-driven grant process. Annual 30–40 page paper applications, a daylong hand-delivery event, 13 volunteer reviewers, and manual Excel scoring made application, review, oversight, and reporting slow and error-prone; early technology attempts either still required printing or were inflexible and costly.

By implementing Blackbaud Grantmaking, the county moved to an online applicant portal with pre-screening and step-by-step guidance, a reviewer portal, dashboards, and robust tracking. Staff now save weeks on reporting, contract managers monitor programs in the field every 60 days instead of once or twice a year, and the county has increased transparency, accountability, and efficiency across children’s and adult grant programs.

Manatee County

Kristi Hagen

Senior Human Services Analyst