Grant-funded organizations often underestimate how quickly staff time becomes a governance issue. When grant-related work cannot be charged to a grant, it does not disappear. It shifts to overhead.
Overhead is commonly understood as office rent, internet and phone service, or utilities such as water and electricity. It is far less often understood as staff time. Yet this is a real cost, and when grant-related work cannot be charged to a grant, it accumulates there.
In many nonprofits, grant tracking lives in individual inboxes, reporting timelines are held in memory, and onboarding focuses on expectations rather than systems. Staff spend hours locating data, chasing updates, and reconstructing records that were never centrally managed. That time must still be paid, even when it cannot be billed.
Over time, this quietly weakens organizations. Overhead absorbs work that should have been supported by systems, not individual effort. Leaders are left explaining budgets that reflect structural gaps rather than performance issues.
Effective grant management requires more than compliance. It requires governance attention to how time is tracked, allocated, and supported. When systems are absent, staff absorb the cost. When systems are present, organizations protect both their mission and their people.
