Active grant count explains just 9% of the variation in portfolio complexity across 50 organizations. More grants does not automatically mean more structural friction.
Complexity comes from how grants interact — timeline overlaps, match burden compounding, cross-source convergence — not from how many there are. An organization with 5 grants on conflicting timelines carries more structural pressure than one managing 20 that do not touch each other.
Based on 50 organizations. R² = 0.089 between active grant count and portfolio complexity score.