CATALYST vs Common Grant Application
CATALYST
omnipress.comCommon Grant Application
commongrantapplication.comSide by side
| Figure | CATALYST | Common Grant Application |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $175/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Scholarship Management Software | 7.2 (#11) | 7.6 (#6) |
| Founded | 1976 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Madison, Wisconsin, USA | Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Integrations | The product page lists YourMembership, Abila/NetForum, iThenticate, Authorize.Net, and BluePay integrations. | The maker says there is no DocuSign integration or general online payment mechanism; it offers a Bill.com integration to generate an invoice for online payment. |
| Intended users | The platform is designed for program managers, applicants, reviewers, judges, and organizations running awards, grants, or scholarship programs. | The maker lists private, public, community, operating and corporate foundations, government agencies, giving circles, faith-based or fraternal organizations, and scholarship providers as its audience. |
| Purpose | CATALYST collects, reviews, and manages applications for awards, grants, and scholarships. | The product is a customizable online system for managing grant and scholarship lifecycles, including online and paper-based applications. |
| Support | Every CATALYST project includes a dedicated Omnipress project manager for setup, training, day-to-day questions, and ongoing support. | The maker lists setup help, ongoing support, online help, and email and phone support; its pricing page says setup, ongoing support and training have no additional charge. |
Plans
Common Grant Application
- Low Complexity$175 a month
- Medium Complexity$250 a month
- High Complexity$450 a month
In their own words
CATALYST
CATALYST is a web platform for collecting and administering applications to awards, grants, and scholarships. Applicants can answer eligibility questions, upload supporting files, save applications to finish later, and receive automated email reminders. Review teams can use automated reviewer assignments, custom or blind scoring, and multiple rounds of review. Organizations can run multiple programs with configurable workflows, role-based permissions, dashboards, and real-time reporting. Omnipress configures workflows around each program’s structure, and each project includes a dedicated project manager for setup, training, everyday questions, and continuing support. Payment collection through a gateway is available, including nomination fees where applicable. Listed integrations include YourMembership, Abila/NetForum, iThenticate, Authorize.Net, and BluePay. The product page describes GDPR-compliant functionality, fraud prevention for payments, and secure system data backup. CATALYST is designed for program managers, applicants, reviewers, judges, and organizations managing these programs. It is paid, with pricing available by quote; prospective customers can request a quote and schedule a demo.
Common Grant Application
Common Grant Application is a customizable web system for managing grant and scholarship lifecycles, including online and paper-based applications. Grantmakers can create reusable forms for applications, recommendations and reports with text, document and media fields. Review workflows support evaluation steps, reviewer groups, scoring or ranking, notes and controls over evaluation visibility. Grantmakers can manage agreements, reports and payment amounts, then export payment information to a spreadsheet. Each application can contain up to two grant agreements and eight grant reports. Applicants pay nothing; grantmakers pay a monthly subscription starting at $175 a month. The Low Complexity plan covers one to two administrative users and 1–50 applications annually. Medium Complexity costs 250.00 USD monthly, and High Complexity costs 450.00 USD monthly. The browser-based service requires no installation and supports Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Setup, support and training are included.