Welcome to our three-part series on federal grants. From application and matching to reporting, we’ll walk you through what you need to know about your grant.
- Part 1: Understanding Your Federal Award Requirements
- Part 2: How to Build Your Federal Award Budget
- Part 3: (You are here!) Reporting on Your Federal Award
Get Report Ready
This stage is where all the prep from the application phase can really pay off, as long as you keep accurate records, save your receipts, and pay close attention to all the requirements and expectations of the grant.
Your organization got a federal grant, and your arts project is off to the races. Congratulations on this exciting accomplishment!
Believe it or not, it’s already time to start thinking about the reporting stage, when you’ll carefully document how you spent every dollar and report that information back to the grantor (in our case, Arts Midwest).
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice, and uniform compliance guidelines for federal grants are subject to change. Be sure to consult your attorney for the most up-to-date interpretation of federal law.
Accessing Your Grant Funds
Once you’ve signed your grant letter, you can start requesting your grant money. For each federal grant offered by Arts Midwest, you’ll be able to access 90% of the funds you’ve been awarded right away. The final 10% will be automatically disbursed after your final report has been submitted and verified. So if you were awarded a $10,000 grant, you can receive $9,000 of it up front, and the final $1,000 will come through after the project is complete and Arts Midwest has verified your report.
Know Before You Press Go
As soon as you’ve signed your grant letter, you can preview in the grants portal all the information you’ll need to keep close track of. This includes reporting your “actuals” (how much you actually spent on the goods, services, and items in your budget). But it also includes other things, like retaining proof of proper crediting, tracking attendance figures, and community testimonies. We’ll look at all of these up front so you can keep them in mind while planning your programming.
Follow the Money: Keeping Track of Expenses
Using your budget as a guide, log every purchase you make for your project. Use whatever bookkeeping system works best for your organization, as long as it clearly describes what was purchased, how much it cost, and where those funds came from (the grant, your match, in-kind gifts, etc.).
Arts Midwest won’t request to see your receipts, but in the event of an audit, you’ll have all your records ready to go to safeguard your organization from ambiguities or inconsistencies.
Keep an eye on those unallowables! Even if you weeded out any prohibited costs in your budget, they could still creep back into your actual spending in the rush of making your project happen. (This often happens in the form of simple things like audience refreshments, which are food and therefore unallowable.) Make sure you’re regularly cross-referencing your spending with your budget and keeping those federal guidelines in mind so you don’t have to problem-solve after the purchase.
Some divergence from your initial budget is normal and expected. If something costs a little more or less than you budgeted for, or you’re shifting your spending within established line items (e.g., spending less on the venue and bumping up your artists’ fees), that’s not a problem as long as you’re clearly showing your costs. Things can fluctuate as much as 20% without too much fuss.
But keep an eye on the match versus the grant money. Remember, whatever you spend in federal funds must be matched dollar-for-dollar from other sources, and you don’t want to have grant money left over or unmatched.
What If My Budget Is Off?
If you’re noticing that what you’re actually spending on your project is dramatically different than what you proposed in your budget—by a margin of 20% or more—it’s a good idea to send Arts Midwest a budget amendment notice. Call or email us about what’s changing, and we can catalogue that so there are no major surprises when it’s time to report.
Make Sure You’re Crediting Correctly
In your grant letter, you’ll find specific rules about how to properly credit the granting organizations (i.e., Arts Midwest and the National Endowment for the Arts [NEA]). These rules will vary depending on which program your grant fits under (e.g., the NEA Big Read or Shakespeare in American Communities). It’s important to understand them from the beginning so you know what you have to include on any marketing materials, programs, social media posts, and more.
In your final report, you’ll be asked to show proof of proper credit using the logos that are provided to you in your grant letter. The main criteria for proper credit are simply that the logos be present and not distorted, warped, or significantly altered in some way. Take photos or screenshots, or save digital or hard copies of all materials, so you can submit them as proof.
![A headshot of a smiling person in a blue top against a dark background, alongside biographical text. Text reads, "Artist in Residence: Jasmin Cardenas. [biographical text describing her work as a Colombian-American storyteller, theatermaker, actress, and activist]. Disposable: A Staged Reading. May 1, 2026, 7:00 PM. Wirtz Center Chicago, Theater 203, 710 N. Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL. Disposable & Theater of the Oppressed. May 9, 2026, 3:00 PM. Wirtz Center, Room 201, Clare, Lu, 'n' Em Theater, 1949 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL. Pivot Arts. National Endowment for the Arts Big Read. Northwestern Wirtz Center Chicago."](https://artsmidwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Residency_Poster_-_Jasmin_Cardenas-768x1024.png)
Share Testimonials (and Cue All the Feels!)
In your final report, you’ll have the chance to share feedback about how your federal grant helped your organization serve its mission. It can be as brief (or not) as you’d like—no word limits!
The feedback portion also includes audience testimonials. Gathering these statements takes some advance planning, so make sure you’re building opportunities for that into your programming.
An easy way to fulfill this requirement is a basic online survey. So long as you have an email list of attendees, you can send a brief survey using free tools like Google Forms. Keep it short and sweet, with a few thoughtful questions and plenty of room for people to write about their experience of your project.
Other tried and true ways include hard-copy surveys handed out at your event (don’t forget pencils!), QR codes, or short-form video interviews, “red carpet” style.
Your sample size doesn’t have to be huge, just a good representation of your audience’s experience. Not only will you share that in your report, but you’ll also have a supply of ready-to-go testimonials for your own use as well.
Common Pitfalls (and Solutions)
Most hiccups that federal grantees run into in the reporting stage can be worked through. If an unallowable expense accidentally worms its way into your spending, or you underspent your grant, Arts Midwest will work with you to try to reallocate some of your federal funds to cover other costs and keep you in good standing. As long as it’s resolvable, you’ll stay in good standing with us and be eligible to apply for future grants.
In the unusual event that an issue is not resolvable—if you’ve underspent to such a degree that you can’t make up the difference with other costs, or if you can’t replace an unallowable expense with something else—that may lead to “bad standing.” This means your organization will be ineligible for future Arts Midwest grants for one fiscal year.
If you have not properly credited Arts Midwest, the NEA, or the grant, you may get a note from us bringing that to your attention. That won’t necessarily put you in bad standing, but if there are opportunities to fix it, you’ll be asked to do so then. If not, that will be an important point to address in any future grants you receive.
When in doubt, triple check your requirements throughout the process, ask us any questions, and do your best. We’re here to help!
Save, Save, Save!
Did we mention it’s essential to save all your records? Keeping track of all your spending, documenting your marketing and archival materials, and holding onto feedback forms won’t just come in handy in the event of an audit. A rock-solid (and timely) final report can set you up to get recommended for future grants as well. Plan to hold onto secure digital copies of all receipts (and hard copies, if you like extra security) for at least three years. Future you will thank you!
Speaking of “Future You”
Federal funding comes with requirements that can feel overly complex, but none of them are meant to throw you off. Every step in this guide—from tracking your actuals to gathering testimonials—is designed to help you close out your federal grant with confidence and set you up for smoother approvals down the road.
That’s a wrap on our three part series on applying for federal grants! The habits you build now (clean records, timely reporting, and thoughtful budgeting) are exactly what future risk assessments look for, so consider this your head start on your next federal grant.