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title: SmartyNews UK - October 2026
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System and policy updates for SmartyGrants UK system users ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­    ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

| View in browser October 2026 Hi there,   Here is your latest SmartyNews - a regular newsletter provided exclusively to active SmartyGrants users, through which we provide important system updates and policy notifications. Program and Round Fields are almost here 🎉 New default and custom Program and Round fields, plus accompanying report templates, will be available from October 14.   These fields let you capture and store information about your Programs and Rounds inside SmartyGrants. You can also report on the data in those fields via our new report templates and Analytics.   Default fields We've added 22 default round fields across five categories: Funding, Process, Eligibility, Merit Assessment, and Reporting Requirements. You'll find them on a new Design screen when creating a Round. At the Program level there are 8 default fields, covering data such as programme overview, objectives, and risk rating. Two of these fields record your programme owner and approver. These are for your records only and don't affect permissions or workflow.   Our default fields have been shaped by customer feedback and careful analysis by our in-house grants experts. They're deliberately flexible, and optional. You can make individual fields mandatory if that suits your governance, and you can archive the ones you don't need.   👉 See the full list of Program default fields 👉 See the full list of Round default fields   Custom fields Administrators can also create their own Program and Round fields.   Like with Standard Fields, once created, they appear across every Program and Round in your account. For this reason we recommend you talk with your team about who creates and owns those fields to prevent the list ballooning.   New report templates Also landing on October 14; the new Program and Round report template type that pulls straight from these fields. This allows you to populate board papers and internal reports, extract audit evidence, and build applicant guidelines directly from the Round record.   We've also built a generic guidelines template that pulls in the new fields, with placeholders for additional information that we recommend you include in your guidelines. You can download the template and adapt it to your needs.   👉 Download the guidelines template   You'll also find a new default Round Listing Excel template, which gives you a full list of Rounds across one or more Programs, including key details such as opening and closing dates and status.    Read-only reference fields for forms New default and custom fields will also be available as reference fields to include as read-only fields in forms.     Public contact details fields Round Settings now includes three new fields for your public contact details: a phone number, an email address, and an optional public contact name. You'll need to provide either a phone number or an email address on every new Round. Unlike the fields above, these are new default settings and can't be archived. Applicants often contact our support team because they can't find anyone to contact about a funding call. If we can't find the details either, we can't direct them to the right person. Requiring one reliable contact point per round solves this problem. These details can be inserted as merge fields into your Round Webpage Message and mailout templates straight away, and when the new Applicant Site launches next year they'll appear on a new submission page, so applicants can still find you after a round has closed. When populating these fields, we recommend using a monitored team inbox or a shared phone number, rather than an individual's details.    Next steps for your team Review the default field lists above and decide which ones your organisation will use. Archive what you don't need. If a field isn't useful, an administrator can archive it in Settings so it stays out of sight. Agree your public contact point(s) before the new compulsory fields launch on October 14. Decide who owns custom fields to keep data standardised. Please note that any existing Programs and Rounds will have the new fields available when you edit them. Any Round default or custom fields marked as 'required' under settings will be mandatory before a Round can be published.   You can learn more via the learning modules and help articles below:   Learning modules: Creating and managing Program and Round fields Program and Round-based reports   Help articles: Program and Round fields  Program and Round-based reports New decision field: Original Amount Approved From October 14, you'll see a new field on your decision records: Original Amount Approved. This field allows you to capture initial and additional funding decisions separately.   Why it's handy: Information about the 'total amount allocated' can move over time, but many grantmakers still want to see and report on what was approved originally. With both fields available, you will be able to report on what was approved, what was actually allocated, and the gap between them.   This field was originally built for customers using our optional Variations feature. It's now switching on for everyone, whether you use Variations or not. There's nothing to set up at your end.   Learn more at Record decisions and funding on the Help Hub.   Not using Variations yet? This module provides a tidy way to handle formal changes to a grant agreement, whether that's scope, budget or timelines. Read up on the Help Hub, or email service@smartygrants.co.uk to have it switched on at no extra cost. New UK format for bank accounts A UK-specific bank account format is now available in SmartyGrants. This field comes with validation and formatting already built-in, and if your account's location is set to United Kingdom, this format is pre-selected when adding a Bank Account field into new forms. Note that any existing forms remain unchanged.   The UK format collects: Account name: unchanged Sort code: 6 digits, entered and displayed as three pairs of two digits separated by spaces, for example 00 00 00 Account number: 8 digits, entered as a single string with no spaces, for example 00000000   Existing forms Any current and open forms will not change.   However, you can change the Bank Account Layout in the form editor in an existing form, and then review and apply your changes. If you have forms you plan to use for upcoming rounds, now is the ideal time to switch them over.   Reporting You can continue to report on details captured in a Bank Account field.   If you've updated your forms to use the new format, any existing reports will also need updating so they show the new sort code field. This can be done by generating a new report template. From there, you can then run and use this new report as-is, or download the new template, copy the sort code tag, and paste this into your existing template.   If you need help in customising reports, visit our Help Hub articles below: Create a template Customise report templates 'Change User' update We've made improvements to the Change User action on applications.   Where an application has been submitted on behalf of a SmartyFile Organisation, you'll now see clear detail on whether the new user is associated with that organisation (and has the permissions needed to work on the application) before the change is made rather than after.   For more detail, see our Help Hub documentation here.   Coming soon... Customisable account-wide Round Webpage Message Administrators will soon be able to create a default Round Webpage Message at account level. This lets you set the default wording you want applicants to see every time you create a new round without needing to copy and paste from existing rounds. This feature is in development now, and we will let you know as soon as it's ready to use. As a reminder, the current system default message was updated recently to include a pre-fill of your account's Public Display Name, information on collaborating with SmartyFile, and a note on session timeouts. If you have not had a look yet, give it a read before you publish your next round to make sure it still reads well for your applicants.   A fresh new Help Hub Your Help Hub is getting a makeover. We're putting the finishing touches on a refreshed version built for SmartyGrants Manage users, with updated articles, clearer navigation and a quicker path from question to answer. We look forward to launching in November - keep an eye on future SmartyNews for updates! A friendly reminder… SmartySkills 2.0 is live SmartySkills 2.0 - our online training system - has been live since July, with a cleaner interface, structured learning paths (SmartyStarter, SmartyPlus and SmartyMaster), downloadable progress and test reports, admin training reports, and LinkedIn certificate sharing.   To access SmartySkills, log in via Education and Training from the Help button on the Manage Site.   For more information, please visit our article on SmartySkills via the Help Hub. Missed any previous editions of SmartyNews? Catch up on all news here. You're receiving this email because you are a registered user of SmartyGrants, a product of Our Community International in the UK. All SmartyGrants users are advised to remain on this subscription list to receive important system and policy updates.  Our Community International, 5th Floor, 167-169 Great Portland Street, London, London W1W 5PF, United Kingdom Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
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