Foundation Management System
Manage every grant in one place, on a server you own.
Organizations, grants, payments, requirements and board meetings, linked and tracked from first request to final report. Free and open source.
Product walkthrough
A guided tour from the home page to approving a grant, with a full history of changes and a clear view of who can do what. Captions are available: press CC in the player.
- 0:00Opening
- 1:22The big picture
- 2:13Finding things
- 2:53Organizations and contacts
- 4:16Programs and initiatives
- 4:59A grant from start to finish
- 6:26Payments and requirements
- 7:34Fiscal years and board meetings
- 8:36The history of every change
- 9:07Who can do what
- 10:43Why it is built this way
- 12:40Seven questions, answered
- 14:47How hosting works
- 15:59Beyond the free starter
- 18:05Try it yourself
Chapter links open the video on Vimeo at that point.
Try the live demo
Choose a role. The demo opens in a new tab, already signed in.
See everything and decide on grants: approve or decline, and record the decision.
Try as ManagerButtons not working?
Open the sign-in page and use one of these emails with the password VscDemo@2026!:
staff@ownfms.example, manager@ownfms.example or demo@ownfms.example.
Five things to try in the demo
- Open any grant in Grants. Its organization, contacts, payments and requirements are on one page.
- As Staff, add a grant and leave the reference number blank. It numbers itself within about two minutes.
- As Staff, add an organization named Summit Literacy Alliance, or one with the EIN
00-0001106. The duplicate is refused. - As Manager, open a grant under Grants awaiting a decision on Home. Approve it, enter the amount and a note, then open its History tab.
- Open Fiscal Periods to compare budget with awards. On Home, Needs attention flags overdue requirements in color.
Get started on your own server
OwnFMS.works runs on Corteza, an open-source platform, on any host you choose. We estimate about 30 minutes to install the free starter, with no code.
The free starter
- Included: nine linked areas, three roles, a dashboard, a full change history and optional sample data
- Install: about 30 minutes, with a video and written steps
- Cost: the software is free, with no licence fee and no per-user fee. You pay only for hosting. A server of about $13 a month handles about 8,000 records comfortably, for example 1,000 grants with their payments, requirements, organizations and contacts
- Growth: if pages slow down, add processing power. In our test, a two-processor server (about $40 a month) stayed fast for five people working at once on 5,000 grants, while extra memory alone did not help. Hosting prices are Elestio's and can change
- Ownership: your data stays yours. Open source (Apache 2.0), provided as is
Talk to us
OwnFMS.works comes from Value Stream Consulting, who help grantmakers streamline their processes and put grant management technology in place. We can run a private trial, install it with your records, or adapt it to the way you work. Help is optional: any consultant who knows Corteza can do the same.
Consultations are optional. The software is free, and any consultant who knows the platform can help too.
Extend it as you grow
The free starter covers the core. Because OwnFMS.works is open source and built on Corteza, it can be extended. Extensions are built to order, with scope and price agreed with you.
Access and privacy
- More roles and users, with exact permissions
- Sign-in with Google or Microsoft, and multi-factor authentication
- Privacy controls for sensitive information
- Other languages
Connect and automate
- Workflows for reminders, approvals and routine steps
- Decision e-mails and reminders
- Connections to other systems
- Letters and board reports generated from your records
Grantmaking extensions
- Online applications, where applicants sign in and see only their own
- Committee review and scoring
- Moving records in from spreadsheets or another system