CommunityForce vs OpenWater Grant Management

CommunityForce is a web-based awards management platform for grants, scholarships, fellowships, and research funding. It supports programs from funding discovery and applications through review, awards, disbursement, compliance, reporting, and closeout. Application tools include conditional forms, eligibility screening, shared applications across opportunities, and applicant dashboards. Reviewers can collaborate using scoring and rubrics, while administrators can manage bulk awards, renewals, and post-award requirements. Phoenix searches Grants.gov, IRS Form 990 filings, and a curated list for opportunities matching an organisation’s funding profile. Its AI features can summarize applications, suggest reviewer scores, flag AI-written essays, and answer questions using live platform data. The platform provides ad hoc reports, dashboards, exports, and embedded Microsoft Power BI dashboards. Integrations include Salesforce, DocuSign, Stripe, Twilio, SendGrid, SMTP email, and Google Translate. The company says each organisation has a separate database and file storage in a private Microsoft Azure environment. It states that it is FedRAMP certified and SOC 2 Type II, and supports Section 508, FERPA, and PCI-DSS requirements. Pricing is available on request; the product pages direct prospective buyers to request a demo or speak with an expert.

OpenWater Grant Management gives grantmaking organizations tools to manage applications, review rounds, communications, and program data. A drag-and-drop form builder supports conditional logic and file attachments of any size. Reviewers can access submissions assigned to them and submit scores through multi-round workflows. Dashboards track decisions and reports, while fund tracking records amounts, payment dates, and program budgets. Reporting and analytics help administrators examine program data and monitor outreach and follow-ups. OpenWater lists more than 65 integrations across association management, CRM, directory, and payment gateway products, including iMIS, Salesforce, Higher Logic, Stripe, and PayPal. Safeguards include SSO, app encryption, two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA, password strength requirements, and GDPR support options; integrated payment gateways must be PCI-compliant. Submission pages are mobile-responsive, administrative and review functions are available through the OpenWater app, and the platform supports WCAG compliance. It is designed for grant administrators at foundations, government agencies, associations, and higher education institutions—not grant recipients. Pricing is available by request and varies by usage. Recommendation requests are not supported directly within the platform.