Gartner has reviewed every major CRM offering on the market and identified 232 distinct use cases. Not one of them natively includes grant management. So why do some organisations still try to force a CRM into this role, and what does it cost them?

The real cost of making a CRM do grants work

CRM platforms are designed for sales pipelines, customer service queues, and marketing campaigns. When an organisation needs grant management functionality, the typical CRM approach is to bolt on custom extensions: additional objects, workflows, and screens layered on top of a data model that was never intended for this purpose.

These bolt-ons carry hidden costs that compound over time:

• Maintenance falls on the client: CRM vendors do not support third-party extensions, and when the vendor releases a new core version, the responsibility to keep bolt-ons compatible sits with the client or a paid service provider.
• Bespoke development is unavoidable: Each grant program has distinct workflows (competitive rounds, invited applications, multi-phase assessments) that require custom design, build, and test cycles on the CRM.
• Costs escalate unpredictably: Gartner reports that CRM service-provider fees typically run between 3.5 and 10 times the licence cost. Some vendors, such as Salesforce, have complex pricing structures where API call limits, memory thresholds, and report template caps trigger additional charges.
• Grant workflows are not transferable: Because each CRM-based grants implementation is inherently bespoke, extensions built for one organisation rarely transfer to another, even when both run similar grant programs.

A USA Data Foundation report found that widespread CRM-based grant implementations created significant barriers to meeting the requirements of the US DATA Act, precisely because each implementation stores data in different formats and structures.

What grant management actually requires

From the funder’s perspective, grant management demands a platform that can handle the full lifecycle: program design, application intake, eligibility screening, assessment and scoring, award decisions, contracting, milestone tracking, financial acquittals, and audit trails.

Each of these stages involves multiple stakeholders (applicants, assessors, administrators, auditors) and must satisfy requirements around fairness, transparency, accountability, and legislative compliance.

A CRM addresses none of these natively. Its data model is optimised for contacts, leads, and opportunities, not for application forms, assessment panels, orders of merit, or milestone-based payment schedules.

How OmniStar approaches the problem differently

OmniStar is a purpose-built grants management platform architected for both grant makers (funders) and grant takers (grantees). Rather than extending a generic CRM, OmniStar provides pre-configured features that cover the full grant lifecycle out of the box.

Grant program design and workflow configuration

OmniStar supports competitive, non-competitive, and closed or invited rounds. Programs can use multi-phase application processes with configurable eligibility checks, budgeting requirements, and applicant guidance, all set up through no-code configuration rather than custom development.

Assessment and decision-making

The platform includes configurable assessment processes that accommodate subjective, quantitative, and qualitative scoring methods. Conflict of interest declarations, assessor assignment rules, and panel-based review workflows are built in. Assessment comparisons can surface inconsistencies in scoring, and all decisions and reasoning are recorded for accountability.

Post-award management

Once a grant is awarded, OmniStar tracks milestones (both financial and non-financial), manages contracts, and supports ongoing reporting. This post-award functionality is often the most difficult and expensive phase to replicate on a CRM, yet it is available as standard in OmniStar.

CRM functionality within OmniStar

OmniStar also includes CRM capabilities for managing stakeholder relationships, communications, and contact history. This means organisations get their relationship management functions alongside grants management in a single platform. Where an organisation already operates a CRM for outgoing marketing, engagement campaigns, or other interaction with its cohort, OmniStar can synchronise with that system. The two platforms serve different purposes and are designed to work together: the existing CRM continues to manage broader stakeholder outreach while OmniStar handles the grants-specific relationship and communication functions.

Integration and data exchange

OmniStar supports APIs for secure data exchange with existing enterprise systems, allowing it to operate within a broader technology landscape without requiring the organisation to replace other tools.

Total cost of ownership: CRM vs. purpose-built

The total cost of ownership comparison is stark. With a CRM-based approach, organisations invest heavily in business process analysis, custom development, and ongoing maintenance of bolt-on functionality, all before achieving what a purpose-built platform provides from day one.

Gartner’s own analysis of CRM project costs illustrates the risk:

• CRM implementation costs for projects completed between 2014 and 2017 ranged from under $20,000 to over $100 million.
• Service provider fees are often the largest cost component and are frequently underestimated.
• Over three years, service provider costs can run from less than 1x to 10x the software licence fees.

OmniStar’s licensing is predictable and transparent. Because the grants functionality is pre-built and configurable, organisations avoid the consulting-heavy implementation cycles that drive CRM project costs. Configuration changes are maintained by F1 Solutions, which means forward compatibility is managed as part of the service. This removes the version-upgrade burden that CRM bolt-on clients face.

Choosing the right tool for the job

CRM platforms are good at what they are designed for: managing customer and citizen relationships, supporting sales processes, and coordinating service delivery. Attempting to stretch them into grant management introduces cost, risk, and complexity that a purpose-built platform avoids, while directly addressing clients’ grant-specific requirements and pain points.

OmniStar provides the full grants management lifecycle (program design, application management, assessment, award, post-award tracking, and audit) together with CRM capabilities for stakeholder and communications management. For organisations that manage grant programs, this combination means fewer systems, lower cost of ownership, and a platform that matches the work from the start.

References

Gartner, “Select the Best-Suited CRM Solution with Gartner’s Evaluation Model.”

Gartner, “How to Get an Approximate Initial Estimate of the Cost of a CRM Project.” (Document 350994)

Data Foundation, “Managing Grants in a Time of Transformation: Purpose-Built Solution or CRM?”