Grants Management Software: Comparison Matrix

Both Foundant and Submittable make grant and submission management software for nonprofits, grantmakers, scholarship providers, and relief aid organizations. 

Submittable is best known for its easy-to-learn features and quick-to-implement solutions that have supported over 145,000 programs and 11,000 clients. 

Foundant is a deeply customizable solution, but you often need to engage their customer service to make changes on your behalf. This deep customization comes at the expense of ease-of-use.

Methodology: This analysis was compiled from publicly-available information on Foundant’s website (accessed January 23, 2024), news publications, independent software review sites, and other resources, as well as Submittable sources, including customer testimonials and data from Submittable’s annual customer survey. 

Capabilities at a glance: Foundant vs Submittable

4 reasons people choose Submittable over Foundant

Submittable and Foundant both share many of the same functionalities to enrich your grant management solutions, so here’s a brief deep dive comparing the two to save you some time. The main points we will touch on are:

1. Submittable is quick to launch
2. Submittable is built on Microsoft Azure
3. Submittable prioritizes agility
4. Submittable is innovating through full-suite funds tracking and distribution

1. Submittable is quick to launch

Submittable is an intuitive, yet powerful plug-and-play solution that allows administrators to build their programs on their own and launch quickly. In fact, 75% of Submittable customers launch their program in two weeks or less. 

Foundant is just as powerful in some areas, but not as quick to launch. It often takes months to get your program up and running and you have to lean on IT personnel or customer support for help along the way.

While Submittable is intuitive enough to be self-serve, our implementation services are on-hand to help you move even faster. 98% of Submittable clients that used it would recommend our implementation services to get up and running quickly.

Part of what makes quick implementation possible is Submittable’s two-way API, which smoothly integrates with your existing tech stack. Our drag-and-drop form builder also has a role to play. It makes it easy to build accessible applications that are simple for your applicants to fill out. 

“Implementing this product was simple. It makes it seamless to use on the administrative end, and rarely do applicants have questions when applying. Having all data and messaging in one place is especially important so that multiple admins can access this easily.”

– Maggie M. Non-Profit Organization Management. (Submittable Customer)

Foundant is known for being a deeply customizable grants management solution popular among foundations soliciting applications from other organizations. This comes with a trade-off, though, where deep customization without a simple UI can create bottlenecks and frustration. According to Foundant users, these bottlenecks become an issue when you want to dig into reports or open up your applications to individuals.  

“It’s starting to feel like you need to be a techy to use some features, especially reporting.”

–Joan S., Operations Manager NPO

“Issue we run into is when we accept applications from organizations as well as individuals, because the system is really only designed for organizations to apply.”

– Beth N, NPO Executive Manager 

These issues contribute significantly to Foundant’s time-to-launch. You need to think through all the details before you launch, otherwise you’ll create a program that’s difficult to report on, or a program that’s not user-friendly for applicants.

Both Submittable and Foundant offer customizable solutions to meet your grant management needs. With Submittable you’ll launch and already have applications before you have learned how to build your application in Foundant.

2. Submittable is built on Microsoft Azure

Organizations need to be confident that data is secure on their chosen platform. Submittable is built on Microsoft Azure and Foundant is built on Amazon Web Services, both leading cloud software providers in consumer and data privacy. 

Submittable, and more than 95% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Microsoft Azure to provide best-in-class security and compliance certifications.

Foundant is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the leading cloud computing providers. AWS is a good product, but many companies, such as Walmart, are choosing to forgo it due to its ties to Amazon. They’re going so far as to require their tech providers to build services on Azure or other AWS rivals.

Because we’re building Submittable on Azure, Microsoft’s Cloud Defender service secures and protects your data privacy against emerging threats. This security combined with Microsoft’s lead in AI development and its ecosystem of business technology makes Azure a uniquely future-proof cloud computing provider.

Foundant’s use of AWS also features strong data security. But, again, the Amazon brand name can cause issues. AWS stores data on Amazon systems which can be an issue for companies like Target and Walmart as they remove themselves from the Amazon associated platform.

Submittable’s partnership with Microsoft allows us to work seamlessly with Microsoft products and give us an inside track on AI developments in a way tools built on AWS can’t match at the time of writing this piece.

3. Submittable prioritizes agility 

Submittable continues to innovate and act on our clients’ requests. You can see for yourself in our public roadmap and all throughout our website.

Foundant is also moving forward, but not in the same direction. Their clients indicate that their voices are not always heard and Foundant’s roadmap is not public.   

Submittable’s commitment to innovation allows you to run your social good program exactly as you intended with software that simply works as it should. We want to make it easier for foundations to do good through simplifying the processes that bog everyone down: assigning reviewers, creating forms, and getting approvals.

“Pretty much every Submittable feature is a lifesaver. The workflows, templates, ratings, comments, etc. It’s all very well thought out and makes collection and responding to submissions of any kind super easy. The ability to collect payment for contests or other submissions is also invaluable.”

– Marketing Director

Foundant offers a community forum named Compass that provides active customers with the opportunity to share their pain points and roadblocks with other active Foundant users. While it’s a great service, some foundant users note that customer feedback is often overlooked or disregarded. 

“The continuous improvement efforts can lead you to feel out of touch with functionality if you don’t have the time to attend very frequent webinars about the changes.”

– Kristen, Grant Manager

We listen to the feedback of our customers because they are the ones doing the work. In fact, we meet with a select group of customers quarterly to get direct input. Their ideas on how to advance the platform to meet their needs not only advance their impact, but the impact of other programs we support. 

4. Submittable’s automated full-suite funds tracking and distribution

Submittable offers full-service funds tracking and delivery tools. Program administrators can distribute payments directly to recipients with the click of a button all from within the platform. Along the way, you can report on your budgets, transactions, funds, and more.

Foundant also offers a tool that allows you to distribute or receive grant funding, however the process of accepting or distributing money is not automated like it is in Submittable. They focus on the funds accounting with automated balance sheets and tracking based on the inputs you add to the software instead.

Rather than writing checks and wrangling tedious paperwork, you have more time to focus on your important mission-driven work with Submittable.

 “Submittable is the only platform out there that can truly manage a grant from the beginning to the end without headaches and disorganization. We are so grateful for this program and it has saved us literally thousands of hours.”

– Emily L. Vice President of Marketing & Promotions

If you need grant management software that allows you to track, manage, and disburse funds from one spot, Submittable is your best bet.

Learn more about Submittable

Want to learn more? Check out our other comparison articles or contact one of our product experts to see how Submittable can simplify and improve your application process. 

Editor’s note: We have an updated version of this blog post on our main website. It is up to date as of November 2024. Check it out here: submittable.com/fluxx-alternatives 

Submittable and Fluxx Grantmaker are both software that foundations, governments, nonprofits and corporations use to manage their grantmaking. Each has tools to create grant applications, automate workflows, and ultimately distribute funding to awardees. 

But there are also key differences. Here’s what you need to know when comparing Submittable vs. Fluxx.

Features at a Glance

The top reasons to choose Submittable

1. Submittable is more user-friendly 

Submittable is an easy-to-use platform that can accomplish complex things. 

Customers—including those who self-identify as less than tech-savvy—consistently rave about how intuitive Submittable is. 

Form creation was easy to figure out. I was a little filled with dread the first time, but as soon as I started working in the form builder, it was just really intuitive. Same with the response templates—it’s simple to find everything I need. As only a semi-technical person, that’s empowering.

Mariah McPherson, Executive Director, New Belgium Family Foundation

Crucially, there is no coding whatsoever in Submittable—all tools within the platform are designed for non-technical users. 

It’s so user friendly. I struggled with a lot of other form builders before finding this and I’m so impressed.

Fellowship Director in the entertainment industry

In Fluxx, on the other hand, administrators may use “liquid code”. In fact, within the Admin Basics section of Fluxx’s help library, there are lessons on “Letters & Liquid Code” and “Coding and Conditional Logic,” implying liquid code can be used to achieve basic administrative functions.  

Sometimes setting up features on the back end [of Fluxx] can be difficult for someone without a technical background.

Reviewer on software review site Capterra

On the other hand, we’ve specifically designed Submittable to make it easy for administrators to make edits to any part of their programs at any time—no coding required. 

I’ve worked with different application softwares over the years for both grant management and for other purposes in the office. Submittable provides quick turnaround when you can edit your own forms—and it doesn’t require a lot of training to learn how to do that.

Angie Nelson, Senior Budget Analyst, State of Montana

Many reviewers on software review sites call out the complexity of Fluxx. Multiple reviewers even highlight this fact in the title of their reviews:

Fluxx was not intuitive

Title of review on software review site Capterra

[Fluxx has] Great features – not user friendly

Title of review on software review site Capterra

Submittable is more highly rated for ease of use on software review site Capterra.

2. Submittable can launch a new program faster

Emerging trends in philanthropy favor agile, responsive programs that can pivot and move quickly. For modern organizations looking to emulate these qualities, Submittable is a great fit.  

Submittable was awarded the Fastest Implementation for Grants Management Software by software review site G2 in Spring of 2020.

The average time to launch a new grant program on Submittable is 14 days. Even robust grants programs can be up and running in weeks.

The State of Montana, for example, chose Submittable as their grant management platform to distribute 1.25 billion in CARES Act COVID relief funding. Their application was up and running smoothly within a matter of weeks.  

By contrast, many reviewers point out that implementing Fluxx is a time-consuming process.

The implementation [of Fluxx] is intense. It takes a lot of time for the point person on your staff who will be heading the project, so you should allot for that. It took us 3 months or so, and we are a small organization.

Review of Fluxx on software review site Capterra

Another Capterra reviewer recommends to other Fluxx buyers that it is “invaluable” to have “a dedicated grants manager (at least part time) to devote themselves to learning Fluxx and becoming the site administrator.”

A third recommends that buyers “Allow time to fully engage with Fluxx’s discovery and design process.”

If agility and speed are important to you and your organization, Submittable is probably the best bet.

3. Submittable provides technical support to applicants  

Submittable provides technical support to all applicants. This can make a world of difference for grantmakers and their applicants alike. 

In fact, a recent survey found that 40% of grantmakers using Submittable say they now spend “Less time spent answering technical questions from applicants (which are diverted to Submittable’s support team).” 

The same survey found that 97% of Submittable customers are satisfied with Submittable’s customer support. Submittable’s technical support team answers 74% of questions on their first response. 

Your support folks are so friendly and fast! If our users are having issues, we can just refer them to support and know the issue will be resolved ASAP.

Aja Bain, Program and Publications Manager, American Association for State and Local History

Fluxx does not provide technical support to applicants.

4. Submittable is mobile-responsive for applicants

Submittable offers applicants a fully mobile-friendly experience. In fact, roughly 80% of Submittable submissions come from mobile devices.

This is an important part of providing an inclusive experience. Not everyone has access to wifi, including certain communities in the United States, such as some rural areas. 

What’s more, public health concerns can make it impossible or unsafe for many people to use a computer with internet access at their public library or other public places. The ability to apply from a mobile phone is not only convenient, but necessary for these communities. 

By contrast, Fluxx is only partially mobile-friendly. Applicant instructions in the LOI, or pre-screen, phase of a Fluxx application are not mobile-responsive. Instead, they run off the screen—and it’s not possible to resize the window or scroll over in order to read them. Being unable to read all of the instructions makes this phase of the application process not only confusing, but difficult or impossible for an applicant to successfully follow all guidelines correctly. 

5. Submittable applications auto-save every few seconds

Submittable applications auto-save every few seconds. This ensures that applicants will never lose their work should they accidentally close a browser or lose internet connection. It’s small way to provide greater peace of mind to grant applicants.

Fluxx applications do not auto-save.

Learn more about Submittable

If you’re interested in a custom demo to see how Submittable could improve your grant management, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today.

Methodology

This analysis was compiled from publicly-available information available on Fluxx’s website, Help Center, and other resources. Additional resources include information obtained from the Fluxx marketing team and independent software review sites, as well as Submittable customer testimonials and customer surveys conducted by Submittable.

If you’ve looked into purchasing SurveyMonkey Apply or you’re a current customer, here are the top reasons why you should consider Submittable.

Foundations, universities, and businesses of all sizes have discovered that application management software can save enormous amounts of time and hassle. 

Submittable and SurveyMonkey Apply are both robust platforms that offer an easy-to-use online application process, collaboration tools for your review team, streamlined workflows, and fund management features. They make accepting, reviewing, and awarding grants, scholarships, fellowships, and other opportunities more cost-effective and efficient. 

But there are clear distinctions between the products. Here’s everything you need to know if you’re comparing SurveyMonkey Apply to Submittable. 

Features at a Glance

While Submittable and SurveyMonkey Apply share many key features in common, there are a few key differentiators that can help you make your decision. 

1. Submittable is more intuitive 

One of the most frequent pieces of feedback we hear from customers who choose Submittable over SurveyMonkey Apply is that Submittable’s software is significantly easier to use. 

As a reviewer of SurveyMonkey Apply put it on the G2 software review site:

“The learning curve for SurveyMonkey Apply is steep to say the least.”

Review on software review site G2

Another SurveyMonkey Apply user wrote on software review site Capterra: 

Without someone on the foundation payroll who has a high degree of technology knowledge, [SurveyMonkey Apply] would be a very tough go for small foundations with few to no staff.

Reviewer on software review site Capterra

Contrast that with Submittable: our average customer time-to-launch is only 14 days after signing up, which speaks to how simple it is to get things up and running. 

Customers—even the self-identified, less-than-tech-savvy among them—rave about how easy the platform is to use:

“[Submittable] is one of the only computerized experiences where I know how it works, don’t have to call my kids for help, etc.”

Barrett Warner, Editor and Publisher, Free State Review / Galileo Press

Form creation was easy to figure out. I was a little filled with dread the first time, but as soon as I started working in the form builder, it was just really intuitive. Same with the response templates—it’s simple to find everything I need. As only a semi-technical person, that’s empowering.

Mariah McPherson, Executive Director, New Belgium Family Foundation

It’s so user friendly. I struggled with a lot of other form builders before finding this and I’m so impressed.

Fellowship Director in the Entertainment Industry

This difference in ease of use between the platforms may be partly due to SurveyMonkey Apply’s complicated automated workflows. Some customers need highly-automated, complex workflows. They don’t mind investing extra time, energy, and resources into learning and implementing a new platform. For those customers, SurveyMonkey Apply might be the better option.

But many Submittable customers find the comparative simplicity of Submittable, including the ease of use of the Advanced Reporting and analytic tools, more appealing. 

In fact, as Shana Melnysyn, the Research Grants Manager at University of California Humanities Research Institute, put it: 

“That’s why I chose Submittable in the first place,” since she could tell Submittable would be “easier to work” than SurveyMonkey Apply.

Submittable’s ease of use is rated more highly on both Capterra (4.7 to 4.3) and G2 (9.2 to 8.7).

G2 offers additional Ease of Setup and Ease of Admin ratings, where Submittable wins again, 6.2 to 6.1 and 6.5 to 6.3, respectively.

2. Submittable gives you more bang for your buck

Nearly 50% of grantmakers using Submittable have found a completely new use for the platform since purchase.

Because Submittable’s pricing is based on the number of users, there’s no limitation to how you can use the platform. From awards and contests to internal processes, every time you use your software for an additional program, your dollars stretch further. 

At Submittable, it’s all included.

On the other hand, SurveyMonkey Apply charges customers per program. That means you pay extra every time you want to use Apply in a new way.  

On Capterra, customers rate Submittable‘s “Value for Money” more highly than SurveyMonkey Apply (4.6 to 4.4).

3. Submittable offers in-app communication

Let’s say you receive a promising application, but realize that a key piece of data is missing, or that you’d like the applicant to clarify something. 

On SurveyMonkey Apply, you’d have to leave the platform and go to your email provider—where it’s easy to lose track of information in long threads and where that communication is only visible to people on that email chain.

With Submittable, you can simply use in-app messaging to ask a question, right within the platform, alongside the submission. That way everyone has the same information, and is on the same page. 

“The ability to communicate with applicants through Submittable has been a game changer.”

Dylan Pickus, Manager of Artistic Programs, SPACE on Ryder Farm

Plus, you can take advantage of email templates and bulk messaging for frequent types of communication, such as scheduling a site visit or for collecting quarterly reports. 

4. Submittable provides fantastic service across the board

Since the beginning, Submittable has made it a priority to hire professional, thoughtful, and attentive people. Our customers enjoy a helpful and responsive experience throughout sales conversations, implementation services, ongoing account management, and customer support—where we resolve 75% of customer questions in the very first response. 

That’s why Submittable has earned high customer support scores on Capterra (4.9, vs. 4.7 for SurveyMonkey Apply).

Submittable was also one of ten Appealie Customer Success Award winners in 2020 (SurveyMonkey Apply was not).

At Submittable, every single employee, regardless of role, strives to be exactly how customer Jim Masker, Program Manager-High School Entrepreneurship at ONE MONTANA, described us:

“The staff were wonderfully supportive and always available.” 

Jim Masker, Program Manager-High School Entrepreneurship at ONE MONTANA

Unlike SurveyMonkey Apply, which only offers support over email and phone, Submittable offers support over email, phone, and chat, which means Submittable users who run into questions can get help without having to leave the platform.

“I really appreciate the responsiveness and agility of the Submittable team, and by extension, the platform itself. Everyone is quick and helpful and I feel like the company really listens and responds to the needs of its customers.”

Shana Melnysyn, Research Grants Manager, University of California Humanities Institute

In a recent survey of nearly 750 Submittable customers, 97% reported a positive overall experience with Submittable’s technical support. 

5. All Submittable customers can integrate with Candid (formerly Guidestar)

Submittable’s custom-integration with Candid (formerly Guidestar) consists of a Charity Check form field that requests an organization’s EIN number. With just that one question, grantmakers can:

• Screen organizations for eligibility based on their IRS tax-exempt status
• Automatically pull organization data, including name, address, deductibility status, and much more
• Create a great applicant experience by saving applicants time

While SurveyMonkey Apply has a “Guidestar Integration”, since June of 2020, it is no longer available to new customers.

6. Submittable can distribute funds to awardees

SurveyMonkey Apply and Submittable both provide dashboards and tracking tools for organizations to stay on budget and on top of their capacity to give.

But only Submittable can also handle payment disbursement. Through Submittable’s Funds Distribution capabilities and partnerships with local and domestic financial partners, grantmakers can get funding to awardees as quickly as within 48 hours, all with the click of a button. 

7. Submittable has better tools to prevent bias in the review process

Submittable offers more precise tools within the platform to help prevent reviewer bias. 

In SurveyMonkey Apply, individual form field responses can’t be concealed from reviewers. This means, for example, if you’d like to capture demographic information in your application form, you won’t be able to hide that demographic information from your review team without concealing the entire form. 

Submittable, by contrast, offers you the flexibility to choose which individual questions within a form to conceal from reviewers with differing permission levels.

8. Submittable allows for rich text formatting within application forms

When you’re providing an opportunity, you want to give your applicants the chance to shine. 

Submittable provides applicants the ability to use rich text formatting, such as bold, italic, underline, bulleted and numbered lists, as well as quote blocks and hyperlinks, within the application form. 

These tools can make a big difference in an applicant’s ability to tell their story with urgency and clarity—without any extra work. And nicely-formatted applications make the review process easier for your team.

Learn more about Submittable

Ready to begin a conversation? We’d love to hear from you. Contact our team today.