Submission Software for Foundations, Non-Profits & Charities | Dapple

What is grant and funding application software?

Grant and funding application software is a platform that lets foundations, charities and non-profits collect, review and decide on funding applications in one place. It replaces email inboxes and spreadsheets with a single workflow covering everything from the application form to the funding decision.

How does grant application software work?

Most foundations and charities follow the same five-step workflow below when using grant application software.

1. Build your application form. Use a template or describe what you need and let AI generate the form for you.
2. Applicants apply. They submit through your branded form, with any required documents attached.
3. Applications are screened. Eligibility questions flag ineligible or incomplete applications early.
4. Reviewers score and discuss. Trustees or assessors review, score and comment within dedicated panels.
5. Decisions go out. Approve, decline, or move applicants through further stages — and notify them in bulk or individually.

Customisable application forms

Get up and running in no time with an account that can be created in seconds, complete with a number of

• Pre-built templates: Grant and bursary-ready templates to duplicate or tweak.
• AI-powered form builder: Describe the application form you want in plain language and Dapple will generate it for you — fields, structure and all, ready to customise.
• Eligibility-ready: Build in screening questions so ineligible applications are flagged early, saving reviewer time.
• One-link pages: Add all your funding rounds and resources to one branded URL page for applicants to find everything in one place.
• Specific: Set up application windows, visibility and multiple funding rounds where needed.
• Any file type or size: Accept any file type, any size and give applicants the option to withdraw their application at any point.

Review at speed

Cut your admin time by viewing each application within the platform without the need to download.

• View attachments: Use the in-platform viewer and toggle through supporting documents at speed.
• Download: Keep those approved applications by downloading files.
• History: See an applicant's previous submissions and tags.
• Reviewer scores: View, rank and sort applications by reviewer scores to quickly surface priority cases.
• Accept/Decline: Send an application to a customised stage (like approve or decline) in one click.
• Automate: Send an application to assessors, trustees or a review panel using stage automations.

Create review panels

Managing trustees, assessors or grant committees can get complex. Ditch the shared spreadsheets and Google Docs — simplify the process by creating different dedicated panels of reviewers for different funds and stages, all within Dapple.

• Multiple panels: Create multiple review panels, with clear instructions on how to evaluate.
• Personal dashboards: Give every reviewer their own dedicated, customisable dashboard — easy, visual and quick to use.
• Scoring & votes: See reviewer scores, comments and decisions in real time in one intuitive dashboard.
• Review settings: Set deadlines and minimum/maximum review requirements per panel.
• Stages: Assign review panels to different funds and different stages of an application cycle.
• Transparency: Keep applicants up to speed on the status of their application with real-time, customised stage messages.

Communication is key

Give your applicants the timely response they deserve! No more frustration, angry chase emails or enquiries as you can keep applications in check.

• Templates: Use fully customisable message templates to speed up responses.
• Personalisation: Use 1:1 messaging through built-in messaging. Limit whether applicants can respond.
• Broadcast: Communicate decisions in one go using pre-built templates rather than multiple individual messages.
• Draft reminders: Automate reminder messages to those with draft applications, nudging them to finish.

Built for lean teams and tight budgets

Dapple offers discounted pricing for registered charities and non-profits, so more of your funding goes towards your mission, not your admin tools.

• Charity & non-profit discounts: Get reduced platform fees as a registered charity or non-profit.
• Low fees: Where funding rounds include an application fee, Dapple's fees are considerably lower than other platforms.
• Immediate payments: Using our Stripe integration, any fees collected appear in your Stripe account immediately. No need to wait 30+ days for a payout.
• Fee waivers: Create private links for any fee waiver requests, ensuring funding stays accessible.

Manage the journey

Manage your applications thanks to a number of intuitive features to help cut the admin time.

• List View: See all your applications across all funds in one, easily navigable list view.
• Manage: There are filters, tags, ranking, average scores, voting and a one-click export.
• Project Hub: See all your funding rounds and their status at a glance.
• Stages: Create an unlimited number of rounds from application to decision and create bespoke actions and automations for each.
• Advanced filtering: Filter by your fund, tags, stages, status and even individual form fields and answers.

What's next: from decision to disbursement

Dapple currently supports the full pre-award journey — from application through to funding decision. We're building Grant Management, a post-award add-on that will bring AI-assisted eligibility scoring, Stripe-based disbursement, variance reporting and contracts into the same platform, so the record that decides an award is the same one that pays it.