Overview

This guide shows Program Admins how to set up approvals for awarding, disbursements, and reimbursements in an award cycle in Next.

Setting up progress report approvals? They work a little differently. See ➡️ How to Set Up Progress Report Approvals (coming soon).
Need to send items for approval instead? See ➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements.

⚠	Approvals must be enabled for your organization. If you would like this feature enabled, please contact Customer Success.

What are Approvals?

Approvals route an item through one or more groups of approvers before it moves forward:

You can require approvals for:
- Awards: Before the recipient is notified
- Disbursements: Before the disbursement is initiated
- Reimbursements: Before an awardee's expense is paid

You enable and set up each approval type you want to use separately. For each one, you choose who approves, how many approvals are needed, and what approvers can see.

Who can do this: Client Admins, Organization Owners, Program Owners, Program Managers

Any changes you make to your approvers and approval setup only apply to future items sent for approval.

To change approvers on an item that’s already in progress, see ➡️Manage Approval Assignments for an Award, Disbursement, or Reimbursement (Expense).

Before You Begin

Decide who your approvers will be:

People already in your organization (Organization Members, Organization Owners, and Client Admins) can be approvers as they are. They keep all the permissions from their current role.
People outside your organization must be invited to the program as Approvers first. They only see the approval requests assigned to them. For steps, see ➡️ Enable the Approver Role & Invite Approvers.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Enable Approvals

Open the program, then click the gear icon on the far right of the cycle to open Cycle Settings.
Follow the steps for the approval type(s) you want to enable in the cycle:

Enable Awarding Approvals

In Cycle Settings, go to Awarding > Award Approvals. Switch the Award Approval toggle to Enabled.

Enable Disbursement Approvals

In Cycle Settings, go to Post-Award > Disbursement Approvals. Switch the Disbursement Approvals toggle to Enabled.

Enable Reimbursement Approvals

In Cycle Settings, go to Post-Award > Reimbursement Approvals. Switch the Reimbursement Approvals toggle to Enabled.

Step 2: Decide How Many Approval Groups You Need

A. One Group (1 group of approvers reviews at same time)

All approvers in the group get the request at the same time and review it independently.
💡 Best when: You want a fast turnaround or the order of review doesn't matter.
- Example: Program Admins + Finance Team review together
- To Set Up: Create 1 group and add all approvers to it. This could be one person or a mix of people.

B. Multiple Groups (Multiple groups of approvers review in a specific order)

Groups review in order. Each group must finish before the next one is notified.
💡 Best when: You have a strict chain of command or earlier decisions affect later ones
- Example: Program Admins (Group 1) → Finance Team (Group 2) → Grant Director (Group 3).
- To Set Up: Create Group 1 and add the first set of approvers. Create Group 2 and add the next set of approvers. Repeat as needed.

Groups can be adjusted at any time, but changes apply to future approvals only, not to items already sent for approval.

Step 3: Add Approval Group(s) & Approvers

1. On the approvals page you opened in Step 1, click +Add group at the bottom.

Example:

2. (Optional) - Click the pencil icon to rename the group.

3. Use the “Assign approver” dropdown to select one or more approvers for this group.

If using one approval group: Add all approvers to this group.
If using more than one approval group: Add only the Group 1 approvers. You'll add the other groups after you finish this one.

Don't see someone in the list? If they're outside your organization, they need to be invited as an Approver first.

To expand or collapse a group, click the dropdown arrow in the upper-right corner. To delete a group, click the trash can icon in the upper-right corner.

Step 4: Choose a Completion Rule and Minimum

The Completion Rule decides what counts toward the group’s decision: only approvals, or any response (approve or reject). The Minimum Required sets how many are needed.

Use the Completion Rule dropdown to select an option (Only available once the group has more than one approver):

Minimum Approvals Required: The item moves forward once a set number of approvers approve it.(minimum is set in Step 5 below).
💡 Best when: You need a set number of approvals before the item moves forward. (Example: With 5 approvers and a minimum of 3, the item moves forward only after 3 people approve it).
Minimum Decisions Required: A decision is any response, approve or reject. Whichever reaches the set number first decides the outcome. ( minimum is set in Step 5 below).
💡 Best when: You want a quick decision, whichever way it goes. (Example: With 5 approvers and a minimum of 1, the first person to respond decides, whether they approve or reject).

2. Use the Minimum Required dropdown to set how many approvals or decisions finish the group's review.

In setups with multiple approval groups, the next group is notified as soon as this minimum is reached.

💡Need help choosing a minimum? Use this table:

If you select…	Minimum Approvals Required	Minimum Decisions Required
1	Any one approval moves the item forward. It's rejected only if every approver rejects it. (Example: 4 approvers; Min = 1 → Any one of the four must approve).	Any one response decides it (rejected or approved). (Example: 4 approvers; Min = 1 → the first approval or rejection decides.)
A number in between (example: 2 of 4)	This number of approvals is required to move the item forward. It's rejected if enough people reject that the minimum can't be reached. (Example: 4 approvers; Min = 2 → Any two must approve).	Whichever reaches this number first, approvals or rejections, decides the outcome. (Example: 4 approvers → Min. = 2 → Two approvals move the item forward. Two rejections reject it. 📌 Note: If approvals and rejections are tied, the item stays pending until either one reaches the number you set.
The maximum value (example: 4 of 4)	Everyone must approve. One rejection rejects the item. (Example: 4 approvers; Min = 4 → All four must approve)	Everyone must respond. (Example: 4 approvers → Min. = 4 → The item waits until all four people have responded.

Step 5: Select Fields to Show the Approver(s)

Show Fields controls what approvers see when they review an item.

1. In the approval group, click Show Fields to open the pop-up.

2. In the Show application fields to approver pop-up, select the checkboxes next to the fields approvers need to make a decision.

For every approval type, you can select fields from the profile form, intake form(s), and custom review feedback form(s).
Each approval type also has its own options:

A. Awarding:

Approvers always see the awardee name, award name, award amount, due date, and status.
To show approvers the award agreement, select the checkbox next to "Show the award agreement to approvers" (Available once the cycle has an award agreement set up). Approvers will see it as a link to a read-only preview.

B. Disbursements:

Approvers always see the awardee name, award, disbursement name, amount, due date, status, and uploads.
Select any additional disbursement fields they need.

C. Reimbursements:

Approvers always see only the awardee name, award, due date, and status.
Select the reimbursement fields they need.

3. Click Show fields in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up to save your selections.

What approvers see:

When approvers view their approval requests, the fields you selected appear in a single row for each awardee.
For awarding approvals, if you opted to show the award agreement, it appears in an Agreement column as a link to a read-only preview.

Step 6 (Optional): Require a Certification Statement at Approval

Require approvers to agree to a statement before they approve, for example, confirming a reimbursement meets your program's rules.

To require a certification statement:

Select the checkbox next to "Require approvers to acknowledge a certification statement before approving."

2. Enter your statement in the text editor.

Each group has its own statement. If you want a statement in another group, add it there too.

What approvers see:

After they click Approve, approvers must check the box next to your statement before the Approve button in the pop-up turns on. Their agreement is saved with the approval.

Step 7: Save Changes

➜ If you only need one approval group: Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.

➜ If you need multiple approval groups: Repeat the steps 3-6 above for each group, then click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.

Next Steps

To send items to approvers, see ➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements.
To change approvers on an item that's already in approval, see ➡️Manage Approval Assignments for an Award, Disbursement, or Reimbursement (Expense).

➡️Enable the Approver Role & Invite Approvers.
➡️How to Request Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements
➡️How to Set Up Progress Report Approvals

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Related to

Approvals

How to Set Up Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements

Contents

Overview

What are Approvals?

Before You Begin

Step-By-Step Instructions