Productivity Tools to Stay on Top of Proposal Management Tasks
January 01, 2017
Last updated: January 16, 2023
Since this post was originally published, we’ve added the project management tools Teamwork and Wrike to our list. Slab is another recent addition. You can read all these tools under “Team and Knowledgement Management Tools.”
The last few posts in our proposal development series have looked at start-up tasks associated with identifying and tracking potential funders. Once you have identified an opportunity to respond to, you'll need to start assembling the people, information, and materials required to write the proposal.
Even for a relatively simple proposal, proposal work requires the work of many hands. This means that before you start working on a proposal, you'll want to have systems in place to track the status of tasks, delegate work assignments, and communicate with team members.
There are lots of software programs and phone-based apps that can help you track tasks and organize your project communications. Some are easier than others to master, and not all the tools are free.
If you have access to project management tools like Microsoft SharePoint, you might have everything you need for your proposal management work, especially in combination with Outlook. If you do not have access to Outlook and need an easy way to share updates and collaborate, you may want to try a Cloud-based tool designed to facilitate productivity.
The list below is a collection of tools to manage tasks, email, notes, and workflow. All of the products on the list offer a free trial period so you can test them out to see if they work for you. Several also offer free versions.
TASK MANAGEMENT & EMAIL TOOLS
Nozbe: Michael Sliwinski, Nozbe's founder, was inspired by the methods of David Allen, the productivity expert who wrote the book Getting Things Done. Nozbe can be used to track tasks and collaborate by sharing project files and delegating tasks. Nozbe allows you to work with people who do not have a Nozbe account, which is a nice feature. Many popular tools—including Dropbox, Box, Evernote, and Google calendar—integrate with Nozbe, making it possible to pull files from different places to attach to tasks or projects. Nozbe works with Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPad, and iPhone and syncs across devices. Nozbe is free for up to 5 people and 5 projects. The premium version price depends on the team size and begins at $19 user/month. Nozbe maintains its main servers in Europe and is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliant.
Sanebox: Sanebox uses a smart filtering process to remove unimportant email messages from your inbox and place them into a folder labeled "SaneLater." Sanebox also has a "SaneBlackHole" folder that works as a one-click unsubscribe. If you drag an email to the SaneBlackHole, any future emails from that sender will go directly to your trash folder. Other features include response tracking: SaneBox will notify you if an email you sent was not replied to so you can follow up. SaneBox also has a snooze feature for non-urgent emails that will return emails back to your inbox at a specified time and will send you a summary (the "Sane Summary") of your day's activity. You can view and process unimportant emails and reminders directly from the summary. Sanebox works with any email client or service, including Microsoft Exchange, and on any device. Sanebox offers a free 14-day trial. After the free trial, you'll have the option of three pricing points: Snack, Lunch, or Dinner. Snack is $7/mo. and offers priority filtering and one optional feature such as advanced filtering or SaneSnooze; Lunch is $12/mo., and offers priority filtering and five optional features; and Dinner is $36/mo. and includes priority filtering and all features. Sanebox also has a business product (contact Sanebox for pricing).
TEAM & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Asana: Asana is designed to take team communication out of the email inbox and into a system specifically designed to manage conversations and tasks. With Asana, conversations and tasks show up in one place, eliminating the need to go back and forth between email and a task management system. Some of its features include the ability to create tasks for yourself or others, organize tasks into shared projects, link conversations with tasks, and receive automatic updates about tasks you're watching. Like a more traditional task management tool, Asana can be used to create tasks and schedule due dates for your personal work as well as track your team's progress through a high-level view. Asana works with several popular storage services including Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive, and integrates with a diverse list of tools from Mailchimp to Wordpress. Asana can be accessed through the Web, iOS, and Android and has both free and premium options. The free basic version allows you to collaborate with up to 15 teammates. The premium version begins at $10.49/month, paid annually. There’s also a business plan ($24.99 user/month, paid annually) and an enterprise plan (contact Asana for details).
Basecamp: Basecamp is a project management tool to manage tasks and projects. While individuals can use it to manage personal tasks and projects, it is designed for team management. Basecamp's features include a dashboard that provides a snapshot of your conversations, tasks, files, events, etc. Basecamp works with more than 80 third-party tools. Basecamp offers a free, limited-feature personal version. Basecamp for business is $99/month, flat fee (unlimited projects, users, and no per-user fees). Basecamp is free for teachers and students and Basecamp offers a discount for non-profits.
Flow: Flow is about making chats “actionable." Using Flow, you can create a task list from a chat thread and then add next steps to develop your project. You can also direct-message people on your team for private conversations, receive alerts when your name comes up in a chat, and share files. Flow's Dashboard allows you to manage your personal tasks and calendar, view team conversations and to-do lists, and assign tasks to team members. The Dashboard offers different view options. You can see your tasks as a traditional list or in a calendar layout. Flow can be accessed on Android, iOS, and Mac. For Android and iOS, there are two apps, Flow Chat and Flow Tasks. Task and chat functions are integrated for the Mac version. Flow has a free trial period that apparently doesn't have a fixed end date. Flow offers a 30-day free trial period. Flow offers three pricing tiers: Basic, Plus, and Pro. If paid yearly, Flow costs $6 user/mo. for the Basic plan, $8 user/month for the Plus plan, and $10 user/month for the Pro plan. Flow offers discounts to educators and nonprofits (contact Flow for more information).
Slab: Slab is a knowledge management tool that helps companies create, store, and share information about internal practices and procedures (think HR policies, customer service protocols, and company values). Slab is a wiki, meaning that it allows a group of people to manage content collaboratively through an open-editing system. If you’ve ever collaborated with others to write something using Google Docs, the collaborative aspect of working on a post in Slab will feel very familiar to you. As team members jointly work on a post in Slab, each person’s edits and comments are visible instantaneously to the other contributors to the post. If recent edits to a post have introduced errors, the team can review or restore an earlier version of the post to get it back on track. While Slab was developed with companies in mind, Slab’s capabilities are also relevant to nonprofits and universities. Nonprofits, just like companies, have to onboard staff, and onboarding is one of the highlighted use cases for Slab. Additionally, just as for-profit companies have to manage internal content such as company communications, reporting hierarchies, and work flows, nonprofits—particularly larger nonprofit organizations—have similar needs. The intuitive, uncomplicated design of Slab makes it potentially a very good tool for adoption by nonprofits, which often lack the capacity to provide extensive training to employees. Slab so straightforward, most people will be able to master its core features using just built-in tutorials, no additional training required. In terms of pricing, Slab has three tiers. For teams of up to ten people, Slab is free forever. For teams larger than 10 and to have access to more of its features, Slab offers three tiers of paid plans: Startup ($6.67 user/month, billed annually); Business ($12.50 user/month, billed annually); and Enterprise (custom, contact Slab for information).
Teamwork: Teamwork is a project management tool that incorporates a range of features—such as time-tracking, billing, and workload management—that often can only be accessed through third-party integrations in similar tools. Teamwork allows you to assign tasks, add due dates, set milestones, upload files, and view a project in the form of task lists, a Kanban board, or a Gantt chart. Teamwork also has a portfolio view that shows you all your projects, the status of each and when they are due, and the name of the client (for nonprofits, the client might be a project’s donor). Teamwork’s collaboration features include a built-in chat function and the ability to assign and monitor the work of teams and sub-teams. If you are using tools such as Toggl Track, Dropbox, or Google Drive, you can integrate these tools with Teamwork. In terms of cost, Teamwork offers several pricing options depending on your organization’s size and the number of projects you need to manage. For a basic plan, there is Teamwork’s “free forever” plan for up to 5 users and 2 projects. The next tier is the pro plan, which allows you to manage up to 300 projects with free, unlimited client users. The pro plan costs $10 user/month, billed annually. The third tier is the premium plan, which includes everything in the pro plan and enables you to manage up to 600 projects. The pro plan costs $18 user/month, billed annually. Lastly, Teamwork offers an enterprise plan for organizations that want additional features such as premium support and advanced security. There is also discount pricing available for nonprofit organizations (contact Teamwork for details). All Teamwork plans include a 30-day free trial.
Trello: Trello is a visual task and project management tool that works on multiple devices, including Android phones and tablets, iPhone, iPad, and Kindle Fire. Trello integrates with a wide array of third-party tools, including Box, Dropbox, and Evernote. Because it is visual and creates a virtual bulletin board, conceptually Trello has some similarities to Pinterest. To use Trello, you start a project by opening a card and adding comments, attachments, checklists, etc. You can share your board with others. You can also create teams and have shared boards with your teammates. To assign tasks, you drag and drop people to a project's card. Trello has a notification system that will send you updates via email, mobile notifications, browser, or from within the app. Other features include being able to create cards by sending an email to Trello. You can also add comments to a card via email (each card has an email address). Trello has free and paid versions. The basic version, which is meant for individuals, is free. Trello Business Class is a shared space for teams to collaborate and share information. It includes added privacy and other admin controls and costs $9.99 per user/month when paid annually. There is also an Enterprise plan that starts at $17.50 user/month when paid annually.
Wrike: Wrike is a project management and resource management tool that has several features relevant to proposal management, including templates, configurable workspaces, Gantt charts, calendar and board views, time tracking, file storage, and approval flows to streamline sign-offs on documents. Wrike integrates with Microsoft Teams, which is very helpful for organizations using Microsoft 365. While Wrike and similar project management tools are a necessity for larger organizations working on multi-million dollar proposals and projects, even small organizations focusing on grants from private foundations could benefit from Wrike’s ability to consolidate information and establish workflows. Wrike has a free plan for teams just getting started, a $9.80 user/month plan for growing teams, a business plan at $24.80/month for those organizations needing a customized platform, and an enterprise plan for large teams that require advanced security and scalability. For organizations with complex work needs, there is a “Pinnacle” plan (contact Wrike for information).
The free trial periods offered by each company should be enough time to see if a tool will work for you. If you experiment and decide to stick with Microsoft Word, Excel, and OneNote, set aside some time to learn what each can do and master the features you'll need during the proposal process.
Microsoft's products are more than adequate to manage a proposal's development. The downside is that they are not always intuitive to use. This is the main advantage offered by the tools above. Many of them have a simple interface, focus on one thing like email sorting or task lists, and do that one thing well.
If you are interested in exploring other productivity tools and approaches for managing your work, Lifehacker is one resource. Once you choose a tool, head over to LinkedIn Learning to see if there is a course on how to get started.
