Dear Foundant Development Team,

I am writing to request an enhancement to the follow-up functionality in Foundant that we believe would better support both grantmakers and grantees.

Our organization intentionally uses soft deadlines for grantee follow-ups because we recognize that our nonprofit partners are focused on meaningful work in the community, and we do not want to create unnecessary pressure through rigid reporting requirements. The soft deadline reflects our philosophy of being flexible and supportive while still gathering important information about project progress and community impact.

However, we have encountered an unintended consequence of this functionality. Because the follow-ups are assigned soft deadlines, Foundant does not generate a past due notification when a follow-up has not been submitted. While we do not want to enforce a hard deadline, we do need grantees to complete their follow-ups within a reasonable timeframe, and automated reminders after the requested due date are an important part of that process.

We would appreciate the ability to configure follow-ups so that:
• A deadline can remain a soft deadline, without the restrictions or implications of a hard deadline.
• Once the soft deadline has passed, the system will still trigger past due notifications and reminders until the follow-up is completed.

This enhancement would allow organizations like ours to maintain a supportive, grantee-centered reporting process while also ensuring timely collection of progress and impact information without requiring manual follow-up from staff.

We appreciate your consideration of this request and would welcome the opportunity to discuss it further if additional context would be helpful.

Thank you for your continued support and for your ongoing work to improve the Foundant platform.

Warmly,

Heather Wittman
Heather@lwfsl.org