A foundation wants to give you money. Congratulations! What’s next?
First, you need to determine whether or not the award is a gift or a sponsored program, if this was not already considered at the proposal stage. If there is no agreement letter that needs to be signed, this is a gift. The foundation may want information on where to send the check or wire the money. That can be found here. They may also need confirmation of the University’s tax exempt status. That letter is here.
I have received a grant agreement letter that needs to be signed, what do I do?
Faculty are not authorized signatories of the University so please do not sign it yourself. The terms in the letter will indicate how the award needs to be processed, either as a gift or a sponsored program, which in turn indicates who needs to sign the letter. You can start by reading this policy. The funder may use the term gift or grant in the letter but that has no bearing on how it should be treated under the University’s policy.
If you think this is a gift letter or if you are confused by the policy, please contact our office, [email protected] for further instructions. We can help you determine who best to sign it and get the proper accounts set up so you can access your funds.
I think my award is a sponsored program.
If you submitted a proposal through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), someone in that office was most likely copied on the agreement. They will review it and sign it. To make sure they received it and/or to get an update on the process, please contact the person who helped you get the proposal processed. It is always a good idea to let the foundation know how long you think it will take to process the paperwork and to keep them updated if the timeline changes.
If you did not submit your proposal through the Office of Sponsored Programs, that’s alright! Before they can process your agreement letter and award, you will need to fill out their ePRF form (electronic proposal routing form) with some basic information you likely provided in your application. Either a research administrator from your school or someone from OSP can help you gain access to and complete this form. A list of who to contact by school can be found here. Please let them know this is an after-the-fact submission. If you are having trouble reaching someone or don’t know who to contact, please contact out office, [email protected] and we can help you.
I’m worried that my award won’t “count” if it’s processed a certain way.
Whether something is treated as a gift or a sponsored program is a processing decision for the University that helps to ensure that the University can honor the terms of an agreement, isn’t opening itself up to undue liability, and that we can be the best stewards possible of any award.
If a philanthropic award is processed through OSP, it is also counted in the University’s donor database. This allows us to “count” the funds for development purposes and, more importantly, to ensure that the donor is appropriately thanked and included in other stewardship efforts.
In turn, the University is making every effort to ensure that gifts that support research are counted for the HERD survey and other institutional surveys and reports that track research dollars. In either case, the award can be included on your CV and will be considered as part of tenure review. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our office, [email protected] and we can work with you directly.
The next step is to properly manage your grant to completion. See our recommendations on the Stewardship page.