Time tracking for nonprofits: how to report grant hours without the hassle
When you receive a grant for a project, accountability comes with it. You need to be able to show that the funds were used for their intended purpose, and in most cases that means being able to provide a breakdown of hours worked per project or activity.
For many nonprofits, that's easier said than done, especially when you're running multiple projects at once or when team members split their time across different activities.
What funders expect from you
Municipalities, foundations, and other funders almost always ask for a breakdown of hours spent per activity or objective as part of the final report. If you can't provide that, you can't fully account for the grant, and in the worst case you may have to pay part of it back.
It's not just about the total number of hours either — it also matters who did what. A project manager's hours carry different weight than a volunteer's, and you want to be able to make that distinction.
Where it tends to go wrong in practice
The problem isn't that people don't want to track their hours, it's that it takes too much effort to do it consistently. Time tracking works best when it's part of something you're already doing, not a separate task you have to remind yourself of every week.
On top of that, many nonprofits run several projects at once, each with their own grant and their own reporting requirements. Keeping track of that in separate files per project tends to lead to mistakes or gaps sooner or later.
How Heartsome keeps track
In Heartsome, team members log their hours per day and per category in a clear weekly overview. You set up the categories yourself, for example per project, grant, or activity, and give each one a name and colour.
You choose who tracks hours: everyone, or only the team members it's relevant for. Anyone else won't see it at all.
Via Reports, you get an overview of all logged hours, per category or per person, over a period you set yourself. Export it to Excel with one click, ready to submit to your funder.
Or read more about Heartsome for nonprofits →
Frequently asked questions
Can team members add notes per entry? Yes, you can add a note per category per day. Useful when you need to provide more context than just the number of hours for your report.
Can we track multiple projects separately? Yes, you create a separate category per project or grant. That way you can see in the report exactly how many hours were logged per project.
Do all team members need to log hours? No, you choose who sees and uses the time tracking feature. You can enable it for everyone, or only for specific team members.
What format can I export the hours in? You export the overview to Excel, which is the most commonly requested format by funders.
Does this work for companies that track hours per client? Yes, time tracking per category works just as well if you want to keep track of hours per client or project. You create a category per client and export the overview at the end of the month or project.