Every audit and spot check produces findings, but their value depends on one thing: follow-up through to closure. This guide gives funders a complete method — a single register, contractualised corrective action plans, portfolio-level consolidation and a feedback loop into partner risk and CSO capacity strengthening.
The 2026 aid cuts force funders to revise entire portfolios of signed agreements, often within weeks and on stale data. This article sets out a triage method built on five written criteria, a rigorous split between reversible and irreversible commitments, and negotiation conducted before notification. It also explains why cutting the smallest CSOs first is the costliest reflex a donor can have.
The supervision cost of a grant portfolio is rarely calculated, yet it decides how many partners you can follow — and which ones you exclude for lack of capacity. This article breaks the cost down item by item and shows why reinforced control makes it worse without reducing exposure. It sets out three concrete levers to bring it down structurally, from the funder's seat.
Organisational strengthening is the poor relation of sector funding: everything is earmarked for projects, and the structure lives on what remains. This article maps the levers a French NGO can actually mobilise — FRIO and the emergency FRIO, DLA, FDVA, indirect costs, foundations and sponsorship, programme capacity components — and proposes a sequence to combine them: funded diagnosis, implementation, anchoring through tooling.
Coordination SUD's FRIO fund co-finances up to €35,000 of external consultancy to strengthen French international solidarity NGOs. This article covers eligibility, amounts, the application procedure and the new emergency modality — then shows how to extend the support by embedding the strengthening in tools, so it survives staff turnover.
A disbursement schedule decides far more than a transfer date: it allocates cash-flow risk, conditions who can realistically apply to your facilities, and determines the quality of the data you receive. This article compares the four disbursement models from the funder's seat and shows why reimbursement against receipts mechanically excludes the least capitalised CSOs. It sets out five concrete steps to speed up payments without weakening assurance.
Indirect costs for local partners fund exactly the functions you require of them at appraisal: accounting, internal control, audit trail, reporting. This guide takes the funder''s seat to review the rates actually applied across the sector (from 4 % to 25 %), the four cost-sharing models available, and what under-funding really costs a portfolio of agreements. It sets out how to configure an indirect cost policy within the contractual cascade and verify its application without adding burden on partners.
The appraisal of a CSO call for proposals determines the quality of your entire portfolio: the partners selected, the risks accepted, the cost of supervision. Yet classic grids mechanically exclude the local actors best placed to deliver. This guide proposes proportionate appraisal that measures real risk and turns findings into a contracted strengthening plan.
Consolidating reports from dozens of partners drains funders' teams and delays the detection of difficulties. From the Grand Bargain's 8+3 template to structured data on a shared platform, this guide details the three levels of harmonizing partner reporting. With concrete steps to cut your supervision cost while equipping the CSOs you support.