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A free grant writer client tracker (template and scripts)
Your grant software tracks the grants. This tracks the clients. Copy the columns below into a Google Sheet, keep two dates current, and steal the four follow-up scripts. It is free, and it is enough until you have more nonprofit conversations than a spreadsheet can hold.
Most grant writers do not lose clients because a proposal was weak. They lose them because a promising inquiry never got a second email, or a current client drifted away in the quiet stretch between the submission and the renewal. A client tracker will not fix that on its own, but it makes the leak visible, and the scripts make the fix a copy-paste away. Here is a version you can use today.
On this page
The tracker: copy-paste spreadsheet columns
Open a blank Google Sheet, paste these ten columns across the top row, and add one nonprofit per line. The example row shows how it fills in. Do not add more columns than you will keep current; the ones below are already the ones that matter.
| Inquiry date | Nonprofit | Contact (ED / dev director) | Project | Source | Stage | Submission deadline | Last touch | Next touch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-14 | Riverside Food Bank | Maria Lopez, ED | Capacity grant, capital campaign | Referral (board member) | Discovery call done | 2026-09-30 | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-23 | Proposal sent, deciding |
The two columns that turn this from a static list into a working queue are Last touch and Next touch. Sort by Next touch every Monday and you have your follow-up list for the week. Everything else is context so the follow-up is specific.
How to actually keep it current
A tracker only helps if you update it, so keep the ritual small. When you finish a call, add the row and set a Next touch. When you send anything, update Last touch and push Next touch forward. Once a week, work the rows whose Next touch has arrived. That is the whole system. The moment updating it feels like a chore you skip, you have outgrown the spreadsheet, and the follow-up itself needs to be handled for you, which is the point of the section further down.
Four copy-paste follow-up scripts
Paste each into your email, swap the bracketed details, and replace {first_name} with the contact's name. They are deliberately plain, because a grant writer who sounds like a human beats one who sounds like a template.
1. Post-informational-interview follow-up (nonprofit still deciding)
2. Post-submission client check-in
3. Renewal and report-deadline nudge (to a current client)
4. Referral thank-you (to a nonprofit contact who referred you)
Tracking by hand vs. having it sent
The spreadsheet and the scripts get you a long way. The honest limit is that a tracker reminds you and a script waits in a document; neither one actually sends. Here is the difference once your book grows past a handful of clients.
| Compared on | The tracker and scripts | Capstone Outreach |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing who to contact | Yes, if you keep the dates current | Yes, captured from the call automatically |
| Writing the follow-up | You paste a script and edit it each time | Drafted from your note in a voice like these scripts |
| Sending it | You remember, or you do not | Sends from your own inbox after you approve |
| The second and third touch | A row you hope to notice | Scheduled, and stops the moment they reply |
| Effort as the book grows | More rows, more upkeep | Flat; capture and approve is the whole job |
Let the follow-ups send themselves. Capstone Outreach captures each nonprofit contact, drafts messages like the four above from your one-line note, and sends them from your own Gmail or Outlook on a schedule you approve, stopping the moment they reply.
Set up in minutes. You review and approve every message before it sends.
Frequently asked questions
What should a grant writer client tracker include?
Enough to know who to contact next, and nothing you will not keep current. The columns that matter are the inquiry date, the nonprofit, the contact and their role (executive director or development director), the project, where the lead came from, the stage, the next submission deadline, the last touch, the next touch, and the status. The two that do the real work are last touch and next touch, because they turn a static list into a follow-up queue.
Is a spreadsheet enough to track grant-writing clients?
A spreadsheet is fine until you have more live nonprofit conversations than you can hold in your head. It tracks who you should follow up with, but it never sends the message, which is the actual leak. When the tracker starts going stale between deadlines, that is the signal you have outgrown it and the follow-up itself needs to be handled for you.
How is a client tracker different from Instrumentl or GrantHub?
Instrumentl and GrantHub track grants: funders, deadlines, submissions, and reports for the clients you already have. A client tracker tracks the relationships that pay you to write those grants: the nonprofit prospect you have not signed, the current client whose renewal is coming, the contact who might refer you. They are complementary. Keep the grant tool for the grants and the tracker for the clients.
Can Capstone send these follow-ups for me?
Yes, that is the point of it. You capture the nonprofit contact and a one-line note, Capstone drafts the follow-up in a voice like the scripts on this page, and after you approve it, it sends from your own Gmail or Outlook. The second and third touches are scheduled, and the sequence stops the moment they reply. The spreadsheet reminds you; Capstone actually gets the message out.
Where to go next
- The full approach: CRM for grant writers
- The tooling question: Grant writing software for consultants
- The topic hub: Follow-up CRM