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Congratulations on your recent grant award!
Getting Started
As you prepare to begin the project you proposed, please keep in mind the
following guidelines. The agency or foundation providing your support considers
the grant award to be a contract with responsibilities and obligations. The
award letter you received should outline most of them, including deadlines for
reports and policies for acknowledging the funder’s support of your work. It is
important to follow the guidelines, and to contact the program or grants officer
if any requirements are unclear or troubling to you.
In addition to the guidelines contained in the award letter, please be sure the
following items are in place before you begin your project. As a project
director/PI, you should be prepared to:
- manage the project as outlined in the proposal and approved budget;
- do not use funds for unallowable, unauthorized, or unreasonable purposes
(including but not limited to entertainment, first-class air travel, alcohol
purchases, and per diems or stipends in excess of funder-established
maximums—please ask if you’re unsure);
- designate (and inform the Business Office of) one principal staff contact who
will be responsible for submitting invoices and other financial documents of
grant expenditures;
- sign all requests for payment/reimbursement from the grant award yourself (or
designate one staff person who is authorized to sign on your behalf);
- document any required cost-sharing, if asked to do so by the Business Office;
- prepare and submit narrative program reports in a timely manner, according to
the schedule provided by the funding agency; and
- monitor the program performance of any sub-awardees for this grant.
Making Changes
As your project takes shape, you may find you need to change activities,
staffing, or timetable. Such changes may be possible, but certain modifications
to program or budget must be reviewed with the funder before you make them.
Please notify the Associate Dean of the College, Assistant Controller, and
Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations as soon as possible if you
encounter any of the following situations:
- the project undergoes or anticipates a significant change in personnel or
scope;
- you need to extend the grant period to complete the project;
- you expect that there will be cost overruns or an unexpended grant balance at
the end of the grant period;
- it becomes necessary to shift 10% or more of the total award between budget
categories;
- the principal staff contact who submits invoices, or the person authorized to
approve requests for payment, changes; or
- you encounter any problems or need to make changes in connection with a
sub-award or sub-contract that is part of this grant.
In such cases, the offices listed above will work with you to obtain any
required approvals from the funding agency. Please be aware that many funders
take the expiration dates of grants very seriously. If you need an extension you
should be prepared to request it well before the grant period ends—or risk
returning unspent funds.
These grant guidelines are an important way to maintain your own—and
Pomona’s—relationships with funding agencies. As competition for academic grants
becomes ever more intense, our compliance with funder requirements will come
under ever closer scrutiny. Your efforts to follow funder guidelines will help
ensure funding for you and for others in the future.
Grants Management Staff Contacts
Associate Dean of Faculty
Cynthia Selassie
(909) 621-8328
cynthia.selassie@pomona.edu
Assistant Controller
Brenda Briggs
(909) 621-8276
brenda.briggs@pomona.edu
Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations
Martina Ebert
(909) 621-8141
martina.ebert@pomona.edu
Director of Donor Relations
Don Pattison
(909) 621-8430
donald.pattison@pomona.edu
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