3. Pre-contracting

When you are awarded a provisional grant we will allocate you a Grants Manager and Grants Officer. They will be your point of contact throughout the life cycle of your grant.

At the same time as the due diligence process takes place you will work closely with your Grants Manager to ensure your project design is robust, with appropriate monitoring and evaluation measures in place to deliver results and impact. We expect pre-contracting to take between two and four months, depending on the requirements. Finalisation of this stage will lead to the disbursement of funds.

The pre-contracting process involves the following steps:

1. Meeting with your Grants Manager to discuss Milestones and Indicators, workplan and budget and any outstanding requirements based on the due diligence process
2. Changes and suggestions from the meeting to be incorporated and resubmitted to AmplifyChange
3. Documentation approval
4. Grant agreement signature
5. Sending your first payment

The meeting with your Grants Manager is the first step. In this meeting, the technical design of your project, outlined in your Application Form, will be reviewed alongside financial compliance.

The key topics for discussion during the design meeting are:

• Aim of your project
• Intended outcomes (Milestones and Indicators)
• Project workplan
• Project budget
• Recommendations following the financial management assessment (Financial Special Conditions)
• Bank details confirmation

Following the meeting, you will work with your Grants Manager to finalise the above key documents. Once your project design and supporting documentation has been approved, and a grant start date agreed, you will move to the signing of your grant agreement. Your Grant Officers will support you with this process.

Following signature of your grant agreement, your first disbursement will be processed according to the agreement: this is usually the first 6-month tranche plus a float consisting of 2 months of your average monthly funding (grant amount divided by grant duration in months).

For more information on selecting Milestones and Indicators, and ensuring your project delivers impact, please see User Guide film 1 below.