Compliance Beyond the Public Sector: Challenges for Research, NGOs and International Development
When we think about compliance in grant management, most attention falls on public sector obligations like the AI Act, Data Act, Procurement Act, or NIS2. But for research councils, charities, and international development agencies, sector-specific compliance frameworks are just as critical — and sometimes more complex.
Research Sector
- Framework programme rules: Initiatives like Horizon Europe require cascade funding (FSTP) controls, eligibility checks, and multi-tier reporting.
- Open Science & FAIR data: Funders must ensure research outputs are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable — driving integrations with repositories and metadata capture.
- National funder policies: Bodies like UKRI, NWO and DFG mandate ORCID IDs, open access, and equality, diversity & inclusion (EDI) monitoring.
- Research integrity: Ethics approvals, conflicts of interest, and export-control checks must be built into workflows.
NGOs & Charities
- Fundraising compliance: In the UK, the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Practice sets governance expectations.
- Charity Commission/OSCR reporting: Fund accounting requires transparency between restricted and unrestricted funds.
- Safeguarding: Especially in youth, education, or humanitarian contexts, safeguarding checks and evidence logs are essential.
- Donor-imposed compliance: Major foundations often impose bespoke reporting and audit requirements.
International Development
- IATI reporting: Bilateral and multilateral donors increasingly require reporting to the International Aid Transparency Initiative standard.
- AML/CTF checks: Screening against sanctions lists and ensuring financial traceability are vital in fragile states.
- Safeguarding & protection policies: Agencies such as FCDO mandate strict safeguarding standards and evidence of compliance.
- Cross-border data protection: GDPR and Schrems II make hosting and transfer choices critical when handling beneficiary data.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Across these sectors, three compliance themes stand out:
- Data sovereignty and security — ensuring sensitive data is managed lawfully and transparently.
- Equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) — increasingly central to reporting and accountability.
- ESG and social value — funders are being asked to evidence the broader impact of their grantmaking.
At AIMS, we design grant management systems that are configurable to these diverse compliance needs — from IATI reporting in international development, to EDI data capture in research, to safeguarding logs for charities. Future-proofing isn’t just about regulation; it’s about aligning with sector realities.
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Compliance Across the Grant Management Landscape: Different Sectors, Different Challenges
Compliance in grant management isn’t one-size-fits-all. While public funders face statutory regulations like the AI Act, Data Act, or Procurement Act, other grantmakers — from medical charities to family foundations — operate under different governance, ethical, and regulatory pressures. Understanding these variations is key when selecting or configuring a grant management system (GMS). Education & […]
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Reliability by Design: How AIMS Stayed Online When Others Went Down
In recent months, major outages have been reported across some of the world’s leading cloud platforms, including Azure and AWS, affecting thousands of organisations worldwide. Systems went offline, websites froze, and essential grant workflows were disrupted — reminding everyone how dependent modern operations have become on large-scale cloud providers. At AIMS, we took note — […]
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Future-Proofing Compliance in Grant Management: What Funders Need to Know for 2025–2027
Compliance, particularly in the Public Sector, is no longer a background task. For funders in the UK and EU, regulations around artificial intelligence, data, procurement, accessibility, and cybersecurity are reshaping how grant management systems (GMS) must be designed, delivered, and governed. Choosing the right system today is about future-proofing for tomorrow’s obligations. Artificial Intelligence Act […]
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Making End-of-Year Reporting Easier for Grantmakers
As we enter Q4, grantmaking organisations everywhere are busy compiling reports, analysing outcomes, and preparing for annual reviews. End-of-year grant management reporting can be one of the most time-consuming parts of the grant cycle, but it’s also one of the most valuable. It’s the moment when data turns into insight, helping funders measure impact, identify […]
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Buy vs Build in Grant Management
When organisations plan new grant management systems, one question surfaces time and again: should we buy a proven solution, or build one on existing platforms? Clear policy direction Governments across Europe have set out strong guidance on this choice. In the UK, the Technology Code of Practice emphasises buying commodity software where it exists, and only building bespoke solutions when there […]
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Beyond Features: How Process Scope Shapes a Successful GMS Tender
When grantmaking organisations begin looking for a new Grant Management System (GMS), the starting point is often a long list of functional requirements. Features matter, of course – from online applications to reviewer portals and reporting dashboards. But experience shows that it’s the process scope – the way applications are received, reviewed, approved, paid, and monitored – […]
