commonly used terms in grant seeking
Administrative Costs: See: Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A)
Administrative Regulations: Regulations that implement (1) guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) contained in circulars that apply to the administration of all federal grants and cooperative agreements; (2) Presidential Executive Orders (where regulation is necessary); and (3) legislation that affects all applicants for or recipients of federal grants and cooperative agreements.
Allowable Costs: An approved expenditure for the funded project, determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the sponsor's requirements and/or university policy. Only allowable funds may be requested in grant budgets and charged to the grant account.
Amended Proposal: A proposal modified after it has been submitted but prior to the time the award is made; may be initiated by either the submitting organization or the funding source.
Annual report: A voluntary report issued by a foundation or corporation that provides financial data and descriptions of its grantmaking activities.
Applicant: The entity legally responsible for the project (in most cases at UNH, the university). An applicant may also refer to an individual in the case of a fellowship or exchange program.
Application: The formal document submitted by a potential grantee seeking funds. The application is the most complete presentation of the project and is often the basis for the Grant Agreement. See also: Proposal
Application Notice: A notice published in the Federal Register that invites applications for one or more discretionary grant or cooperative agreement competitions, gives basic program and fiscal information on each competition, informs potential applicants when and where they can obtain applications, and cites the deadline date for a particular competition. See also: Request for Applications; Request for Proposals
Application Package: A package that contains the application notice for one or more programs and all the information and forms needed to apply for a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement.
Applied Research: Research that studies the relationship or applicability for theories or principles of a particular field to a particular problem; research undertaken to solve human problems, rather than simply to add to the sum of human knowledge.
Appropriations Legislation: A law passed by the Congress to provide a certain level of funding for a grant program in a given year.
Assurances: A listing of a variety of requirements, found in different federal laws, regulations, and executive orders that applicants agree in writing to observe as a condition of receiving federal assistance (grants). See also: Certification
Audit (Financial): An examination of an agency’s accounting documents by an outside expert. Upon review, the expert prepares an opinion as to consistency and conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principals. Audits generally are conducted after the end of the fiscal year. Some grant programs require an audit of grant funds at the end of the project.
Audit (Program): A review of the accomplishments of a grant-funded program by the staff of the funding agency. A program audit may be mandatory or random. Also known as Monitoring.
Audit Finding: A conclusion about a monetary or non-monetary matter related to an auditor's examination of an organization, program, activity, or function, which frequently identifies problems and provides recommendations for correction action in order to prevent their future recurrence.
Authorized Institutional Representative: A person who is legally responsible for making agreements on behalf of an organization, or has been delegated that authority by the organization leadership.
Authorized Organizational Representative: See: Authorized Institutional Representative
Authorized Signature: The signature of a person legally responsible for making agreements on behalf of an organization that must appear on an application before it can be considered an official request. It implies that if an award is accepted, the responsibility for its proper administration is assured.
Authorization: Authorization is the legal authority upon which a program is based. It sometimes is known as Enabling Legislation.
Authorizing Legislation: A law passed by the Congress that establishes or continues a grant program.
Award Letter: The written notification sent by the sponsor announcing that the project has been funded, the amount of the award, the length of the funding period, and the start/end dates.
Basic Research: Research which adds something new to the body of knowledge of a particular field.
Block Grants: Grants awarded by the federal government to the 50 similar state agencies for which the amount is established by a formula based on certain criteria (e.g., population) that are written into the legislation and program regulations. These funds are often regranted by the state on a competitive basis. Also known as Formula Grants.
Boiler Plate: Those parts of a proposal that are standard and often copied from another document, e.g., affirmative action statement, institutional profile, negotiated indirect costs.
Bricks and Mortar: An informal term for capital funds generally used for building renovation or construction.
Budget: The organization's blueprint for the coming year, expressed in monetary terms.
Budget Justification: A clarification of the budget that explains how dollar amounts were determined and why the costs are necessary to the project.
Budget Period: An interval of time into which a project period is divided for budgetary purposes, usually 12 months.
Capacity Building: Activities that will strengthen a nonprofit organization’s internal operating structure so that it can be more effective and/or more efficient in working toward fulfilling its mission.
Capital Grant: A grant usually made to established organizations to meet future service demands. It can include funding for land acquisition, building construction, and/or equipment purchases.
Case Statement: A centralized documentation of information describing an agency: its needs, goals, objectives, strategies, and tasks. Writing this statement is a major undertaking, but is crucial for many large corporation grants.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: The publication and database produced by the General Services Administration that lists the domestic assistance programs for all federal agencies and gives information about a program's authorization, fiscal details, accomplishments, regulations, guidelines, eligibility requirements, information contacts, and application and award process; also called the CFDA.
Certification: A statement, signed by an applicant or recipient as a prerequisite for receiving federal funds, that it (1) meets or will adhere to certain conditions and/or (2) will undertake or not undertake certain actions. See also: Assurances
CFDA Number: Identifying number for a federal assistance program composed of a unique two letter prefix to identify the federal agency followed by a period and a unique three-digit code for each authorized program.
Challenge Grant: A grant that must be matched with money raised by the recipient.
Classified Research: An activity in which project-related information is restricted to individuals with security clearances and a need to know, and publication of results is restricted or prohibited, pursuant to established federal government classification procedures.
Closeout: The process during which the grantor and/or the grantee’s administrative unit (1) determines that the recipient has performed all required work of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement and (2) undertakes all necessary administrative actions to make any final fiscal adjustments to a recipient's account.
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): Compilation of all final regulations issued by federal agencies. It is published annually by the National Archives and Records Administration and divided into numbered "Titles."
Cognizant Officer: The official within the grantee institution with the legal authority to enter into agreements or contracts. See also: Authorized Institutional Representative; Authorized Signature
Collaborator: An individual who partners with the principal investigator in the scientific development or execution of a project.
Common Grant Application: A standardized grant application format that has been adopted by many nonprofit sponsors. See: http://www.commongrantapplication.com/index.php
Competitive Review Process: The process used by grantors to select applications for funding in which applications are scored by subject-area experts and the most highly scored applications are recommended for funding. See also: Peer Review
Concept Paper: A brief document that contains key elements of your proposal, such as a description, target population, explanation of the need, description of goals and outcomes, key components and identification of partnerships and collaborations. See also: Preliminary Proposal
Conditional Grant: A grant in which the grantee must satisfy some condition other than matching funds.
Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA): An agreement that protects unpublished, research-critical or commercially valuable information from unauthorized disclosure or use.
Confidential Information: Information that is not generally known to the public and is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain secrets.
Conflict of Interest: Circumstances in which an individual’s legal or moral obligations to an employer or other party conflict with, or may be negatively affected by, the individual’s personal interests, financial or otherwise.
Consortium: A group of organizations sharing in the finances and/or administration of a single grant.
Consultant: A person with special expertise that contributes to a project during one or more brief periods of time.
Continuation Grant: Additional funding awarded for budget periods following the initial budget period of a multi-year discretionary grant or cooperative agreement.
Contract: A binding agreement between two or more parties (or persons); a procurement agreement.
Cooperative Agreement: A type of federal assistance, essentially, a variation on a discretionary grant, awarded when the agency anticipates having substantial involvement with the recipient during the performance of a funded project.
Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI): An investigator who shares equal responsibility with the Principal (Primary) Investigator for the direction of a research project .
Cost-sharing: Financial contribution by an institution to a project supported primarily by a grant or contract. See also: Matching; In-Kind Contributions
Deadline: The due date of a proposal. Can be one of two types: a receipt deadline or a postmark deadline.
Demonstration Project: Small scale program or project that can be used as a model for others to follow. If the project has merit, other grantors may provide funding for continuation.
Direct Costs: The specific, identifiable costs of operating a grant-supported project, such as personnel, travel, equipment purchase and lease, consumable supplies, computer time, and rent.
Discretionary Funds: Grants that are allocated according to a funder’s judgment rather than according to a pre-established guideline or set of criteria.
Discretionary Grant: An award made in accordance with legislation allowing the funding source to exercise reasonable freedom in selection of the project and the grantee and in determining the amount of the award.
Drawdown: The method by which a successful grantee requests payment from a Federal funding agency. Frequency of drawdowns (also known as draws) range from weekly electronic wire-transfers to a single lump sum payment at the end of the project. Quarterly drawdowns are very common.
DUNS Number (Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number): A unique, site specific, nine-digit identification number provided by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) for the organization submitting the proposal that must be provided on all federal grant and cooperative agreement applications.
Earmark Grants: Grant funds appropriated by Congress without peer review. The awards are written into the appropriation legislation specifically stating the grantees’ names, activities, and award amounts. Also called federal set-asides.
Effective Date: The date on which allowable project costs may begin to be charged to the project.
Effort Reporting: After-the-fact reporting to certify the amount of effort that faculty and their employees spent on federally-sponsored project activities. Individual effort is expressed as a percentage of the total amount of time spent on work-related activities (instruction, research, patient care, administration, etc.) for which the University compensates an individual.
Employer Identification Number (EIN): A unique number the Internal Revenue Service assigns to each employer.
Enabling Legislation: See: Authorization
Endowment: A body of funding that generates investment or interest income for an organization. Usually the organization distributes or spends the income generated by the endowment fund while leaving the principal untouched.
eRA Commons : An interactive real-time electronic application and reporting system used to conduct National Institutes of Health (NIH) business over the Web.
Evaluation: A quantitative assessment of what was, or was not, accomplished by a project by making a systematic comparison of the project objectives and the actual project outcomes.
Evaluation Plan: A plan for determining if the objectives and performance outcomes of a project have been met.
Expanded Authorities: A policy implemented by some federal granting agencies that delegates certain prior approval authority to grantee institutions. Expanded authorities allow for internal university approval of some administrative and spending actions without consulting the funding agency, thus avoiding delays in project progress. See also: Prior Approval
Expiration Date: The last date on which charges can be made to a sponsored project.
Export: Any oral, written, electronic or visual disclosure, shipment, transfer or transmission of commodities, technology, information, technical data, assistance or software codes to: (1) anyone outside the U.S. including a U.S. citizen; (2) a non-U.S. individual wherever they are (deemed export); or (3) a foreign embassy or affiliate.
Export Control Regulations: Federal laws that prohibit the unlicensed export of certain commodities or information for reasons of national security or protections of trade. Export controls usually arise for one or more of the following reasons: (1) the nature of the export has actual or potential military applications or economic protection issues; (2) government concerns about the destination country, organization, or individual; or (3) government concerns about the declared or suspected end use or the end user of the export.
Facilities and Administrative Costs (F & A): Those costs not readily identifiable as costs generated by a specific project, but which occur in the general operation of the project. These costs include the expense of operating and maintain buildings and equipment, depreciation, administrative salaries, etc. F & A costs usually are calculated as a flat percentage of either the budget or the personnel category alone. Formerly known as Indirect Costs, Administrative Costs and/or Overhead.
Facilities and Administrative Cost (F & A) Rate: A predetermined rate for F & A costs that can be charged by an institution. These rates are negotiated with individual agencies. Formerly known as Indirect Cost Rate.
Fastlane: An interactive real-time electronic application and reporting system used to conduct National Science Foundation (NSF) business over the Web.
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR): A codified system of uniform policies and procedures for acquisition by executive agencies. These regulations govern all aspects of federal procurement.
Federal Earmarks: See: Earmark Grants
Federal Register: The official government document, printed and published online daily,that compiles federal regulations and legal notices, presidential proclamations and executive orders, federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, requests for comments on proposed guidelines, rules and regulations, and other federal agency documents of public interest.
Federal Set-Asides: See: Earmark Grants
Fellowship: An award made directly to an individual in support of specific educational or research activities.
Final Report: A summary of the project’s implementation, including an evaluation of the degree to which objectives have been met that is required by most funding sources (and appreciated by all others). It may be programmatic, technical, financial, or any combination thereof.
Financial Report: A document the recipient sends to the funding agency showing the amounts and/or types of expenditures made under a grant or cooperative agreement.
Fiscal Year (FY): A 12-month accounting period during which money is spent on an organization’s program. Different funding sources use different fiscal years - October 1 to September 30 for the Federal Government; July 1 to June 30 for many others.
501(c)(3): The section of the tax code that defines nonprofit, charitable (as broadly defined), tax-exempt organizations. Institutions of higher learning can be 501(c)(3) organizations, as can public charities, private operating foundations, and private non-operating foundations.
Form 990-PF: The public record information reporting form that all private grantmaking foundations are required by law to submit annually to the Internal Revenue Service. Information provided includes the foundation’s trustees, sources of funds, and grantmaking and charitable contributions during the year.
Formative Evaluation: A method of identifying areas for improvement or adjustment as the project is in the planning stage or being implemented. Formative evaluation compares the plan of action in the proposal to what is actually happening by using information collected from a variety of sources such as interviews or focus groups of "experts" or members of the target audience. It also looks at the administrative, organizational, or other operational processes to ensure successful implementation and coordination.
Formula Grant: A grant that a Federal agency is directed by Congress to make to recipients.
Formula Grants: See Block Grants
Foundation: A nonprofit organization created for the purpose of establishing or maintaining charitable, educational, religious, social, and other activities for the common good. There are two general categories of foundation: private foundations (general purpose, special purpose, family and operating) and public foundations (synonymous with community foundations).
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): A federal statute that requires full or partial public disclosure of information and documents controlled by the United States government, including grant-making agencies. Each state has its own public access laws that should be consulted for access to state and local records
Fringe Benefits: Payments made by an employer to employees in addition to base salary, e.g., life and health insurance, retirement, unemployment compensation.
FTE (Full-time Equivalent): The amount of time spent in an activity or position that is calculated as a percentage of a full-time position on an annual basis. For example, a person who is hired for a 12-month period on a half-time basis is considered to be 0.5 FTE.
Funder: See: Grantor
Funding Agency: See: Grantor
Funding Cycle: The time during which a funding source accepts new proposals and makes new awards. A typical cycle includes the announcement of the availability of funds, followed by a deadline for submission of applications, review of applications, award of grants, issuance of contract documents and release of funds. If funds are reappropriated or remain on hand after the first funding round, the cycle starts again.
Funding Priorities: Activities, identified by the funding agency in advance of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement competition, which the grantor seeks to fund, or to which the grantor will give preferential consideration when making funding decisions.
General Support: Funds that may be used for a broad range of organizational needs, including general operating expenses, usually at the discretion of the recipient. Also known as an Unrestricted Grant.
Grant: An award of funds to an organization to perform a specified set of functions for an agreed upon dollar amount during a specified period of time.
Grant Agreement: A contract entered into by a grantee and a grantor. Typically based on the application submitted by the grantee, the Grant Agreement commits the grantee to carry out certain activities, within a stipulated time frame, for a specific amount of money. The Grant Agreement often refers to, or incorporates, regulations that govern the use of grant funds. It is important to note that the Grant Agreement may include more restrictive conditions than were proposed by the grantee or are required by law. The Grant Agreement also may be for less money than originally sought.
Grant Application Reviewer: An individual with expertise in the field of interest who serves the funding agency by reviewing grant and cooperative agreement applications; also referred to as "field reader" or "peer reviewer."
Grant Award Notification: Official document signed by the grants officer stating the amount and the terms and conditions of an award for a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement.
Grantee: The recipient of grant funds. Also known as Recipient. See also: Sub-Grantee
Grants.gov: A web-based portal to find and apply for grants from the 26 federal grant-making agencies. See: http://www.grants.gov
Grantor: The agency, foundation, or governmental unit that awards grants; also known as Funder or Funding Agency.
Guidelines: The procedures set forth by the funding source for approaching a grant maker, preparation of the proposal, and, sometimes, the administration of the grant.
Hard Money: A dependable, long-term source of funding.
Indirect Costs: See: Facilities and Administrative Costs (F & A)
Indirect Cost Rate: See: Facilities and Administrative Cost (F & A) Rate
In-Kind Contributions: Project support, usually services, facilities, equipment, supplies, or other tangible resources, as opposed to monetary grants. See also: Matching
In-Kind Funds: A type of matching fund contributed by an institution. These are not actual cash amounts, but cash equivalents in wages, rents, and supplies.
Intellectual Property (IP): Creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. IP is divided into two categories: (1) Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and (2) Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.
Investigator Initiated Research: A funding mechanism that supports projects designed by an investigator and then submitted to an agency for consideration for support.
Key Personnel: All senior researchers, including the PI and Co-PI, with major responsibility for administering and/or implementing project activities and others without whom the research/program would not be possible.
Land-Grant System: The U.S. state and territorial institutions of higher learning that receive federal support for integrated programs of teaching, research, and extension for agriculture, food, environmental systems and rural communities. Five historic Acts of Congress undergird this national system and the resultant state/federal partnership for conducting these activities.
Lead Agency: The agency with the primary responsibility for approving or funding a project that is supported by funds from more than one agency. The lead agency conducts the review, notifies other involved agencies, and issues the grant award.
Letter of Determination: The official document stating that an organization has been granted nonprofit status by the US Internal Revenue Service. See also: Nonprofit Status
Letter of Inquiry: A brief letter outlining an organization's activities and its request for funding that is sent to a potential grant maker (particularly foundations) to determine whether it would be appropriate to submit a full grant proposal. Many grant makers prefer to be contacted in this way before receiving a full proposal. See also: Letter of Intent; Preliminary Proposal
Letter of Intent: The initial submission sent to a grantor to indicate that a proposal will be forthcoming. It may range from a simple statement that a proposal will be submitted to a brief description of the intended project. Some grantors use the Letter of Intent as a screening tool to reduce the number of full proposals submitted, requesting proposals for only those projects that matach the grantors mission and program goals most closely. See also: Preliminary Proposal
Letter of Support: A letter from a collaborator or other interested party that states his/her/its support of the project and/or commitment to participate as described in the proposal.
Leveraging Ratio: The proportion of grant funds to funds or non-cash donations from other sources. For example, a leveraging ratio of 1:1 means that for every grant dollar awarded to a project, the grantee will secure one dollar from another source. The term implies that grant dollars are used to "leverage" other dollars. See also: Matching Funds
Logic Model: A tool, often utilized by charitable foundations, for developing a project plan that ensures that the rationale, suitability, sustainability and evaluation of a project are considered during the planning stages and included in the project proposal.
Matching Funds: A portion of the total cost of a project that must be supplied by the grantee to “match” the funds provided by the grantor. Usually anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the total request, matching funds include money and/or non-cash donations from other sources.
Material Transfer Agreement: A contract under which one party (the provider) makes a tangible product, material, or resource available to another party (the recipient) for use in a research project free of charge or for the cost of preparation and shipment.
Memorandum of Agreement: A written agreement between two or more parties that delineates the tasks, jurisdiction, standard operating procedures and/or other matters that the agencies or units are duly authorized and directed to conduct. Sometimes referred to as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Memorandum of Understanding: See: Memorandum of Agreement
Modular Budget: A simplified NIH budget format in which applicants request budgets in multiples (modules) of $25,000 up to $250,000 in annual direct costs rather than by providing a detailed budget for the exact amount of funds requested.
Monitoring: Activities undertaken by funding agency staff members to review and evaluate specific aspects of a recipient's activities under a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement. They may include (1) measuring a recipient's performance; (2) assessing a recipient's adherence to applicable laws, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the award; (3) providing technical assistance to recipients; and (4) assessing whether a recipient has made substantial progress. See also: Audit (Program)
Negotiation: Pre-award discussions between the funding agency and the grantee to establish the conditions and amount of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement, usually based on recommendations from the cognizant Program Officer, a cost analysis of the applicant's budget, and a review of proposed activities.
New Start: A project that is funded for the first time.
No-Cost Extension: Permission from a sponsor to extend the period of time allowed to accomplish project goals.
Nonprofit Status: A legal designation by the US Internal Revenue Service that an organization is a charitable, tax-exempt organization and that contributions to the organization are tax-deductible. To receive IRS nonprofit status [usually under IRS code 501(c)(3)], an organization must apply directly to the IRS and secure a "Letter of Determination," a copy of which often is required by sponsors as part of a grant proposal.
Non-responsiveness: Failure to comply with all the rules, regulations, and requests of grant guidelines. It is a major reason for proposal rejection.
Not-For-Profit: An incorporated organization in which stockholders and trustees do not share in profits. Nonprofits usually are established to accomplish some charitable, humanitarian, or educational purpose, but this is not the same as being accorded "nonprofit status" as a charitable, tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service. See also: 501(c)(3); Nonprofit Status
Notice of Funds Availability: A public announcement that a sponsor has funds available to support the type of project outlined in the announcement; a request for proposals.
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: An announcement published in the Federal Register of proposed new regulations or modifications to existing regulations; the first stage in the process of creating or modifying regulations.
NSPIRES: An interactive real-time electronic application and reporting system used to conduct National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) business over the Web.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars: Administrative policy documents that give instruction to federal agencies on a variety of topics, including the administration of federal grants and cooperative agreements.
On spec: An informal abbreviation for "on the speculation." Consultants, including grant writers, architects, lawyers, and others, may do preliminary work "on the speculation" that if the project is funded more work will be forthcoming. The on spec portion may be done for free or at a reduced rate in the hopes of securing the additional work. This arrangement may raise ethical concerns with funding agencies.
Operating expenses: The costs internal or administrative operations critical to keeping an organization operating rather than the costs associated with the conduct of specific projects or provision of specific programs or services.
Overhead: See: Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A)
Pass Through: The act of a grantee receiving grant funds and dispersing those same funds to a sub-grantee. It is common for the Grantee to perform the Program Audit of the Sub-Grantee. A portion of the grant funds are often retained by the Grantee to cover the cost of administration. See also: Audit (Program); Grantee; Sub-Grantee
Payment Identification Number (PIN): A number associated with a recipient's entity number which enables the recipient to draw down cash payments authorized by a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement award.
Peer Review: A process whereby experienced investigators in the same research area or with the necessary expertise review submitted applications and make funding recommendations to the sponsor. See also: Competitive Review Process
Performance Report: A report of the specific activities the recipient of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement has performed during the budget period or the project period.
Pilot Program: See: Demonstration Project
Planning Grant: A grant intended to support activities necessary to the design and plan of a particular program of project. A planning grant often underwrites the production of a subsequent grant request.
Postmark Deadline: The date by which a mail application must be postmarked.
Preliminary Proposal: A brief, early draft of the proposal used to elicit feedback from the prospective grantor so that the proposal may be more closely tailored to meet the grantor’s needs. It often is used by grantors to determine which applicants will be invited to submit a full application. Also known as a concept paper, discussion paper, pre-application, pre-proposal, or white paper
Principal Investigator: A person authorized to assume responsibility for the administrative and programmatic aspects of a project that utilizes extramural support, including ensuring funds are spent in accordance with institutional and sponsor guidelines. This person also may be called the project director.
Prior Approval: Written documentation, before the action is taken, of permission to alter any aspect of a funded project, including programmatic and fiscal changes. It may be obtained within the grantee organization or from the sponsor, depending upon the case in point and sponsor policy. See also: Expanded Authorities
Pro forma: Latin for "as a matter of form." A pro forma is a projected, proposed, or hypothetical set of numbers for a project, typically the budget.
Program Income: Gross income or revenue generated by a project. This may include sale of real estate or equipment, rental income, fees, interest on loans, proceeds from the sale of loans, interest earned, and funds collected through special assessments. Program income may be subject to all of the conditions of the original grant award.
Program Officer: Funding agency staff person responsible for any or all of the following: (1) developing program regulations, application notices, and application packages; (2) serving as the main point of contact for program questions or clarifications, (3) overseeing the review and ranking of applications submitted under their programs; (4) providing detailed funding recommendations; (5) participating in negotiations, as necessary; (6) providing technical assistance to applicants and recipients; (7) monitoring funded projects; and (8) making recommendations about recipients' requests for revisions to project activities and budgets.
Program Regulations: Regulations that implement legislation passed by Congress to authorize a specific grant program. They include applicant and participant eligibility criteria, nature of activities funded, allowability of certain costs, selection criteria under which applications will be selected for funding, and other relevant information.
Progress Report: A periodic, scheduled report required by the sponsor summarizing research progress to date. Fiscal and invention reports also may be required.
Project Director: See: Principal Investigator
Project Grants: The funding, for fixed or known periods, of specific programs or activities. Project grants can include fellowships, scholarships, research grants, training grants, traineeships, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants, planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, and construction grants.
Project Period: The total amount of time (sometimes several years) during which a grant recipient is authorized to complete the approved work of the project described in the application and expend grant funds. Project periods of more than one year are divided into budget periods.
Proposal: A written statement/document establishing project objectives, need, methodology, qualifications of investigator(s), and budget plan for a funded project that is presented in a format outlined by the grantor. See also: Application
Receipt Deadline: The date and time by which an application must be received.
Recipient: See: Grantee
Regulations: Federal rules of general applicability that are authorized by federal laws or other federal authority and contained in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Request for Applications (RFA): A solicitation by a grantor for proposals from individuals or institutions to perform specific tasks.
Request for Proposals (RFP): See: Request for Applications
Research: According to the Code of Federal Regulations: "...a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or to contribute to generalized knowledge."
Reviewer: See: Grant Application Reviewer
Query Letter: See: Letter of Inquiry
Scope of Work: A description of the work to be performed and completed during the project’s award period.
Seed Money: Funds awarded to start up a project with the purpose of developing the project enough to be able to find larger, longer-term funding from other sources.
Senior Personnel: Professional personnel who are responsible for the scientific or technical direction of project. See also: Key Personnel
SF-424 R&R: The common application form adopted by all Federal research and related (e.g., education and extension) grant-making agencies used to collect required information about the applicant, the project personnel, and the project itself.
Soft Match: Service, facilities, equipment - in short, anything but money. See also: In-Kind; Matching Funds
Solicited Proposal: A proposal submitted in response to a request from the granting organization.
Statement of Work: See: Scope of Work
Sub-Grantee: A recipient of pass-through grant funds from a grantee and not directly from the Grantor. A sub-grantee is held to all of the regulations of the original grant plus any conditions added by the Grantee; also known as Sub-Recipient. See also: Pass Through; Grantee; Grantor
Submission Window: A designated period of time during which proposals will be accepted by the sponsor.
Summative Evaluation: A method of looking at the results or outcomes of a program to determine the extent to which the program or product met the stated goals and objectives. It also looks at the extent to which the program's accomplishments are the result of the activities provided or of the product's use. This can require the use of control groups or other statistical analysis to measure correlation among different variables.
Sub-Recipient: See: Sub-Grantee
Supplemental Grant: An award made to cover expenses incurred beyond those requested at the time the original proposal was submitted.
Target Population: The intended beneficiaries of a grant-supported service project; also known as client population.
Tax Exempt: A legal status, bestowed by the IRS, which states that organizations have adequately demonstrated their charitable, education, religious, scientific or literary nature. Tax-exempt organizations include nonprofit corporations, trusts and benevolent associations, foundations, institutions of higher learning, etc.
Termination date: See: Expiration Date
Terms and Conditions: The legal requirements imposed upon a grantee as conditions for accepting an award. Also known as Terms of Award.
Terms of Award: See: Terms and Conditions
Training Grant: Funds to conduct programs that provide instructional or professional training activities for participants.
Unrestricted Grant: See: General Support
Unsolicited Proposal: A proposal submitted to a funding agency that is not in response to a specific request for applications/proposals. It usually must be more persuasive than a solicited proposal.
Wired: Slang for the idea that the selection of an organization to receive a grant has been decided prior to the submission of competitive proposals.
OTHER RESOURCES
Common Grant Application: Glossary
http://www.commongrantapplication.com/cga_glossary.php?priNav=cga_faq.php&secNav=Glossary
Endowment for Health: Grant Center Glossary
http://www.endowmentforhealth.org/grant-center/glossary.aspx
Foundation Center: Guide to Funding Research - Glossary http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/gfr/glossary.html
Grants.gov: Glossary
http://www.grants.gov/help/glossary.jsp
NIH Grants Glossary
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/glossary.htm
NIH Acronym List
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/acronym_list.htm
NOAA: Glossary of NOAA Grants Terms and Acronyms
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ost/grants/FPO%20101%20Glossary%20of%20NOAA%20Grants%20Terms%20and%20Acronyms.pdf
USDA CSREES: CSREES Glossary
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/glossary.html
US ED: Grantmaking at ED -- Glossary
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/about/grantmaking/glossary.html
Last Updated: 2/4/09 lwh
