Welcome to Grant Warehouse

Feb 6, 2026

This is a list of grant terms and definitions that are generally used among grant funders.  Most grantors use the same definitions and terms.  However, there may be times when the definitions vary- especially regarding federal grants. If you aren't sure, then check the definition. If you remain confused contact the grant funder. 

Category: General

                                                                         Terms / Definitions Related to Grant Development, Management and Monitoring
 
Active Grant – Is a grant that meets the following criteria:
            1.Today's date is between the budget start and end dates.
            2.The grant has application status code of "Awarded.
 

Administrative Expenses are expenses incurred for the support of activities relevant to the award of grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements and expenses incurred for general administration of programs and activities supported by a grant.
 

Allowable Cost is a cost incurred by a recipient that is: (1) reasonable for the performance of the award; (2) allocable; (3) in conformance with any limitations or exclusions set forth in the Federal cost principles applicable to the organization incurring the cost; (4) consistent with regulations, policies, and procedures of the recipient that are applied uniformly to both federally supported and other activities of the organization; (5) accorded consistent treatment as a direct or indirect cost; (6) determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and (7) not included as a cost in any other federally supported award (unless specifically authorized by statute).
 

Animals Research- Any live, vertebrate animal used for research, research training, biological testing, or related purposes.
 

Applicant- Organization or person who actively applies but has not yet been awarded a grant.
 

Application is a request for financial support of a project or activity submitted to a funder in accordance with that funder’s instructions.
 

Appropriation: Legislation enacted which establishes a Federal or state activity—these are the actual amounts of funds made available by a legislative body to be spent under a certain program area.
 

Approved Budget -The financial expenditure plan for the grant-supported project or activity, including revisions approved by the funding agency, as well as permissible revisions made by the grantee. The approved budget consists of Federal (grant) funds and, if required by the terms and conditions of the award, non-Federal participation in the form of matching or cost sharing.
 

Assurance is a certification by an applicant, normally included with the application, indicating that the organization is in compliance with, or that it will abide by, a particular requirement if awarded a Federal grant.
 

Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) is the individual, named by the applicant organization, who is authorized to act for the applicant and to assume the obligations imposed by the Federal laws, regulations, requirements, and conditions that apply to grant applications or grant awards. Usually the President /CEO is always be the AOR, if possible.  If the President is not available, any of the Vice Presidents do have authority to sign.  Responsibilities include: Submitting the grant on behalf of the company, organization, institution, or Government. Signing grant applications and the required certifications and/or assurances necessary to fulfill the requirements of the application process.
 

Award- means financial assistance that provides support or stimulation to accomplish a public purpose. Awards include grants and other agreements in the form of money or property in lieu of money, by the Federal Government to an eligible recipient. The term does not include: technical assistance, which provides services instead of money; other assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies, or insurance; direct payments of any kind to individuals; and, contracts which are required to be entered into and administered under procurement laws and regulations.
 

Budget: A budget identifies the types of costs and the estimated amounts needed to complete the project. The budget must be approved by the funding agency and the applicant. This budget will be the basis for authorizing any expenditure on the project and the basis for seeking payment from the funding agency.  Generally, funding agencies recognize that there may be differences between the estimated and the actual expenditures for different elements of a project. The degree to which these variances are allowed may depend on federal regulations or on the specific terms of an agreement.
 

Budget Period is the intervals of time (usually 12 months each) into which a project period is divided for budgetary and funding purposes.
 

Capital or Capital Campaign provides support for the purchase of property, the construction of a facility, remodeling, expansion of a facility or purchase of equipment.
 

Capital Expenditure- is the cost of an asset (land, building, equipment), including the cost to put it in place. A capital expenditure for equipment includes the net invoice price and the cost of any modifications, attachments, accessories, or auxiliary apparatus to make it usable for the purpose for which it was acquired. Other charges, such as taxes, in-transit insurance, freight, and installation, may be included in capital expenditure costs in accordance with the recipient's regular accounting practices consistently applied regardless of the source of funds.
 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) is a database which helps the Federal Government track all programs it has domestically funded. Federal programs are assigned a number in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) which is referred to as the "CFDA number."
 

Challenge or Matching is a challenge or matching grant helps a nonprofit organization leverage additional dollars through a fundraising campaign.
Change in Scope- An activity whereby the objectives or specific aims identified in the approved grant application are significantly changed by the grantee after award
 

Clinical Research with Human Subjects is:
1. Patient-oriented research. Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects. Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues that cannot be linked to a living individual.

It includes:
◦mechanisms of human disease
◦therapeutic interventions
◦clinical trials
◦development of new technologies
2. Epidemiological and behavioral studies.
3. Outcomes research and health services research.
 

Closeout means the process during which time it is determined that all applicable administrative actions and all required work of the award have been completed by the College and awarding agency.
 

Co-funding is a funding arrangement through which two or more funders share in the funding of a grant.
 

Conference Grant- A grant whose purpose is to support activities related to the conduct of a conference(s) or defined set of conference-related activities.
 

Conflict of Interest is a cross-cutting issue that affects many policy areas such as peer review, financial conflict of interest, and responsible conduct of research. It generally means that a competing personal interest could affect, or could appear to affect, an individual's judgment or could cause the individual's impartiality to be questioned. Conflicts of Interest (actual or potential) may arise in the objective review process or in other activities or phases of the financial assistance process. See also Financial Conflict of Interest for a specific definition covering that policy area.
 

Congressional District- A territorial division of a state from which a member of the United States House of Representatives is elected.
 

Consortium Agreement is a formalized agreement whereby a research project is carried out by the grantee and one or more other organizations that are separate legal entities. Under the agreement, the grantee must perform a substantive role in the conduct of the planned research and not merely serve as a conduit of funds to another party or parties. These agreements typically involve a specific level of effort from the consortium organization's PD/PI and a categorical breakdown of costs, such as personnel, supplies, and other allowable expenses, including F&A costs. The relationship between the recipient and the collaborating organizations is considered a relationship. Roles and Responsibilities of each Consortium member should be specifically spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding or Contract.
 

Co-Investigator (Co PI)- Is an individual involved with the PD/PI in the development or execution of a project. The co-investigator (collaborator) may be employed by, or be affiliated with, the applicant/grantee organization or another organization participating in the project under a consortium agreement. A co-investigator typically devotes a specified percentage of time to the project and is considered senior/key personnel.
 

Consultant is an individual who provides professional advice or services for a fee, but normally not as an employee of the engaging party. In unusual situations, an individual may be both a consultant and an employee of the same party, receiving compensation for some services as a consultant and for other work as a salaried employee. To prevent apparent or actual conflicts of interest, grantees and consultants must establish written guidelines indicating the conditions of payment of consulting fees. Consultants also include firms that provide professional advice or services.
 

Contract: Contracts differ from grants in that the funding agency has a service it wants
performed. The college may submit a bid for performing the service. Contracts are usually awarded to bidders on the cost of the service and the bidder’s ability to perform the service.
 

Contract: In this context, a contract is generally an agreement to provide a product or service which is of direct benefit to the awarding agency. Contracts provide for payments to the College which cover allowable project costs or payment of a fixed price for satisfactory completion of the project.
 

Contract means a procurement contract under an award or subaward, and a procurement subcontract under a recipient's or subrecipient's contract.
 

Cooperative Agreement: A cooperative agreement is like a grant except that the federal government will be closely involved in the activity that is being funded, perhaps bringing government  personnel to campus to work on the project.
 

Coordinate Grant Submissions: Final submission of grants must be coordinated by the Grants Office. Most large federal grant requests are submitted by the Grants Office to ensure that forms are accurately completed, all required documentation is included and that submission deadlines are met. All grant applications submitted with JALC as a lead agency or partnering agency must be routed through the Grants Office
 

Cost‐Reimbursement Contracts and Grants: The sponsor will reimburse the College for any Actual, Approved Project Costs, within whatever variances the funding agency allows.
 

Cost- Sharing: This refers to costs that the funding agency doesn't pay. It may be Cash Cost Sharing, In‐Kind Cost Sharing, Third‐Party Cost Sharing or Indirect Costs. These costs are generally borne by the College. In some cases, a third party may provide cost sharing support.
 

Date of completion means the date on which all work under an award is completed or the date on the award document, or any supplement or amendment thereto, on which Federal sponsorship ends.
 

Developmental Research: Putting information gained from research to use to create new products or processes.
 

Direct Costs: Expenses which are directly attributable to a project and which can easily be identified and associated with a particular budget line item. Examples are salaries, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, etc. These are direct costs in the proposal.
 

Direct Costs: These can be specifically identified with a particular project with a high degree of accuracy. If, for example, a person spent 50% of her time on a project, 50% of her salary and benefits would be direct costs. Travel, equipment, supplies or services used specifically for a project are examples of direct costs.
 

Disallowed costs means those charges to an award that the Federal awarding agency determines to be unallowable, in accordance with the applicable Federal cost principles or other terms and conditions contained in the award.
 

Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) is a nine-digit number established and assigned by Dun and Bradstreet to uniquely identify a business entity.
 

Duration: Every agreement should have specified beginning and ending dates. All expenditures must be incurred or encumbered during this period. If expenditures fall outside this period, they cannot be reimbursed or used as cost sharing. In some cases, pre‐award costs may be approved by the sponsor or the Vice President for Research. Some aspects of this rule do not apply to fixed‐price contracts.
 

Endowment -Some nonprofit organizations have an endowment fund, which is a permanent annual source of income for the operating or project expenses of the organization.
 

Employer Identification Number  Is an Identification of a business to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; also known as a Federal tax identification number (TIN). The TIN forms the basis for the Entity Identification Number.
 

E-Business Point of Contact (POC)- An E-Business POC for an organization is designated during organization registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) and is the person responsible for the administration and management of grant activities in his/her organization. E-Business POCs give representatives of their organization the privilege to submit grant applications through Grants.gov by designating Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) authority.

 

Equipment means tangible nonexpendable personal property including exempt property charged directly to the award having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5000 or more per unit. However, consistent with recipient policy, lower limits may be established.
 

Eligibility is the status an entity must possess to be considered for an award, as specified by authorizing legislation and programmatic regulations. Generally, eligible entities are usually public and nonprofit private organizations and institutions, including faith-based and community-based organizations, State/local governments and their agencies, Federally-recognized Indian Tribes or tribal organizations, and occasionally individuals. For profit organizations are eligible to receive awards under financial assistance programs specifically when authorized by legislation
 

Excess property means property under the control of any Federal awarding agency that, as determined by the head thereof, is no longer required for its needs or the discharge of its responsibilities.
 

Exempt property means tangible personal property acquired in whole or in part with Federal funds, where the Federal awarding agency has statutory authority to vest title in the recipient without further obligation to the Federal Government. An example of exempt property authority is contained in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act (31 U.S.C. 6306), for property acquired under an award to conduct basic or applied research by a non-profit institution of higher education or non-profit organization whose principal purpose is conducting scientific research.
 

Facilities and Administrative Costs are costs that are incurred by a grantee for common or joint objectives and cannot be identified specifically with a particular project or program. These costs are also known as "indirect costs."
 

Federal Awarding Agency means the Federal agency that provides an award to the recipient.
 

Federal Documents

 

Federal regulations require Colleges to be consistent in the handling of costs, regardless of the type of funds involved. Therefore, any college must apply the guidelines cited in these Office of Management and Budget circulars to all contracts and grants from all funding sources:

 

OMB Circular A‐21 establishes the principles for determining costs applicable to grants, contracts and other agreements with colleges and Colleges. These principles are to be used as a guide in the pricing of fixed price agreements and apply to direct costs and indirect costs

OMB Circular A‐110 provides a public declaration of the standards to be used by federal agencies and colleges and Colleges in the administration of grants and other agreements. This does not include contracts that are administered under procurement laws and regulations.

OMB Circular A‐133 states audit requirements and provides policy guidance to federal agencies and colleges and Colleges regarding the institutions' financial records, internal control structure, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
 
Federal Funds Authorized means the total amount of Federal funds obligated by the Federal Government for use by the recipient. This amount may include any authorized carryover of unobligated funds from prior funding periods when permitted by agency regulations or agency implementing instructions.
 
Federal Share of real property, equipment, or supplies means that percentage of the property's acquisition costs and any improvement expenditures paid with Federal funds.
 
Fiscal Year (FY) is the annual period established for Government accounting purposes. A Fiscal Year begins on October 1 and ends September 30 of the following year. Example: FY2011-Started October 1, 2010 and ends September 30, 2011.  Please Note: John A. Logan College’s fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30.
 
Fixed‐Price Contract: Payment for this type of contract is based on satisfactory performance. Payment is set and cannot be adjusted because of how much it costs to meet the terms of the agreement, whether more or less than the contracted amount.
 
Fringe Benefits: Personnel costs, other than salaries, which must be paid by an employer. Examples include employer’s share for medical insurance, unemployment insurance, retirement, social security, etc.
 
Funding period means the period of time when Federal funding is available for obligation by the recipient.
 
Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is a publicly available document by which a Federal Agency makes known its intentions to award discretionary grants or cooperative agreements, usually as a result of competition for funds. Funding opportunity announcements may be known as program announcements, requests for applications, notices of funding availability, solicitations, or other names depending on the Agency and type of program. Funding opportunity announcements can be found at Grants.gov

Funding Priorities and/or Preferences and Special considerations may come from legislation, regulations, or a Federal Agency’s program leadership decision. They are not the same as review criteria.
 
Funding preferences are any objective factors that would be used to place a grant application ahead of others without the preference on a list of applicants recommended for funding by a review committee. Some programs give preference to organizations that have specific capabilities. Funding priorities are factors that cause a grant application to receive a fixed amount of extra rating points - which may similarly affect the order of applicants on a funding list.

Special considerations are other factors considered in making funding decisions that are neither review criteria, preferences, nor priorities, e.g., ensuring that there is an equitable geographic distribution of grant recipients, or meeting requirements for urban and rural proportions.
 
Grant: A grant is a set amount of funding given to the College by an external funding agency to carry out an agreed upon project or activity. Most grants are competitive, which means that many colleges and organizations are competing for funds. Some grants are not competitive and are allocated according to a formula or entitlement.
 
Grant: A grant is an agreement to accomplish something for the public good in exchange for money, property or services. Most federal agencies use a grant document for research awards to Colleges.
 
Grantee: The recipient agency, organization, or individual of grant funds.
 
Grantor: The public or private agency, organization or individual providing the financial support awarded in the grant.
 
Grant Compliance Review is an evaluation by grants management staff to assess an institution's business and financial management systems to ensure that regulations and policies are being followed.
 
Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/) has been designated by the Office of Management and Budget as the single access point for all grant programs offered by 26 Federal grant-making agencies. It provides a single interface for agencies to announce their grant opportunities and for all applicants to find and apply for those opportunities.
 
Grants Administration: The Grants Office plays a limited role in the administration of funded projects. The Grants Office can help grant Project Directors solve problems, interpret funding guidelines, offer advice on interacting with the funding agency’s program officer, and provide feedback on reports.
 
Historically Black College or University (HBCU)- Any historically black college or university established prior to 1964 whose principal mission was and is the education of black Americans, and is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting Agency or Association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an Agency or Association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.
 
Hospital is a non-profit or for-profit hospital or medical care provider component of a non-profit organization (for example, a foundation). The term includes all types of medical, psychiatric and dental facilities, such as clinics, infirmaries, and sanatoria.
 
Human Subject- is a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with the individual or obtains identifiable private information. Regulations governing the use of human subjects in research extend to use of human organs, tissues, and body fluids from identifiable individuals as human subjects and to graphic, written, or recorded information derived from such individuals. Anyone under the age of 18, must have verified permission from his/her parent or guardian in order to participate.
 
Indirect Costs: Cost incurred in carrying out a project but which cannot readily be attributed or charged directly to a specific budget line item. Such costs generally provide for supportive services (janitorial, administrative, library, accounting, and record keeping) and incidental expenditures (space utilization and heating) incurred but not specifically requested in the project. Indirect costs, then, are usually requested in a lump sum and the amount is either a fixed rate specified in the guidelines or an institutional rate negotiated with the granting agency.
 
Indirect Costs: These are general costs that cannot be clearly identified with a specific project, but are nonetheless necessary to the project. For example, costs of maintaining a building, administrative expenses, or library expenses are types of indirect costs. Indirect costs, based on rates approved by the federal government, should be included in the approved project budget. These are then charged to specific contract/grant accounts in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
 
Informed Consent is a person's voluntary agreement, based upon adequate knowledge and understanding, to participate in human subjects research or undergo a medical procedure.In giving informed consent, people may not waive legal rights or release or appear to release an investigator or sponsor from liability for negligence.
 
In-Kind Contributions: Goods or services having monetary value made available to the project as a contribution. Use of equipment already owned by the institution is an in-kind contribution; purchase of the same equipment would represent a cash contribution.
 
Letter of Intent - Some funders require prospective applicants to submit letters of intent prior to the submission of a grant application. The letter usually includes the name, address and phone number of the PI, identifies other key personnel and participating institutions, and the RFA or PA identification. Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application, the information that it contains allows institute staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan for the application.
 
Matching Share or Cost Share: This is the portion of funds or services provided by the College that go to support the grant project. These are funds committed for the project that are not budgeted from grant funds. Some examples include equipment, personnel effort, and tuition. If there are cost-share commitments, contact the departments or colleges that have committed funds.
 
Cost sharing is auditable and must be allowable under cost principles and verifiable to records. The College must ensure that cost sharing requirements of sponsored agreements are proposed, accounted for and reported in a manner consistent with the requirements set forth in federal regulations, primarily Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars A-110 and A-21. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/
 
Monitoring is a process whereby the programmatic and business management performance aspects of a grant are assessed by reviewing information gathered from various required reports, audits, site visits, and other sources.
 
Multi-Year Funding (MYF) awards are where the project period and budget period are the same and are longer than one year. A no-cost extension of an existing grant does not constitute Multi-Year Funding.
 
New Application (award, grant) Refers to an application not previously proposed, or one that has not received prior funding. Also known as a Type 1 on a Federal SF424.
 
New Investigator - A PD/PI who has not previously competed successfully as a PD/PI for a substantial independent research award is considered a New Investigator.
 
NO-COST EXTENSION REQUESTS-While sponsors expect Principal Investigators (PI) to complete projects by the stipulated end date, occasionally extra time is needed. A no-cost extension (NCE) gives the PI extra time to complete the scope and objectives of the project without additional funds being provided by the sponsor. Although requests may not be made for the sole purpose of spending remaining funds, you may expend remaining funds during the no-cost extension period. In the event your request is not approved, costs incurred after the end date would be considered unallowable and should be removed from the award.
 
Non-Profit Organization -Any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purposes in the public interest; is not organized for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operations of the organization. Non-profit organizations include institutions of higher education, hospitals, and tribal organizations (that is, Indian entities other than federally recognized Indian tribal governments).  Please Note:  JALC is not a 501 (c) 3, however the JALC Foundation is a 501 (c) 3.

Notice of Award (NoA) Is the official, legally binding document, signed (or the electronic equivalent of signature) by a Grants Management Officer that: 1. Notifies the recipient of the award of the grant; 2. Contains or references all the terms and conditions of the grant and Federal funding limits and obligations; and; 3. Provides the documentary basis for recording the obligation of funds in the Federal Agencies accounting system.

Obligations means the amounts of orders placed, contracts and grants awarded, services received and similar transactions during a given period that require payment by the recipient during the same or a future period.
 
On-time Submission- For a Federal Grant application to be considered on-time, all registrations must be completed and an error free application must be submitted to and accepted by Grants.gov with a timestamp on or before the “designated” local time of submitting organization on submission deadline date.
 
NOTE:
•For both paper and electronic submissions, when these dates fall on a weekend or holiday, they are extended to the next business day.
•Requests for Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements with Special Referral Considerations (PARs) with special receipt dates always must be received (by Grants.gov for electronic applications and the Center for Scientific Review for paper applications) on the dates designated in the announcement to be on time.
 
Open Date- First date an applicant can submit an electronic grant application to a Federal Agency through Grants.gov. Many Federal Agencies typically allow applications to be submitted up to 30 days in advance of a submission deadline.
 
Operating or General Support provides support for the day-to-day costs of running the nonprofit organization.
Organized Research: All research and development activities of an institution that are separately budgeted and accounted for by project.
 
Other Support - Includes all financial resources, whether Federal, non-Federal, commercial or organizational, available in direct support of an individual's research endeavors, including, but not limited to, research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, or organizational awards. Other support usually does not include training.
 
Outlays or expenditures means charges made to the project or program. They may be reported on a cash or accrual basis. For reports prepared on a cash basis, outlays are the sum of cash disbursements for direct charges for goods and services, the amount of indirect expense charged, the value of third party in-kind contributions applied and the amount of cash advances and payments made to subrecipients. For reports prepared on an accrual basis, outlays are the sum of cash disbursements for direct charges for goods and services, the amount of indirect expense incurred, the value of in-kind contributions applied, and the net increase (or decrease) in the amounts owed by the recipient for goods and other property received, for services performed by employees, contractors, subrecipients and other payees and other amounts becoming owed under programs for which no current services or performance are required.
 
Outreach sponsored programs and projects can include:
a. Non‐credit instruction, training, and continuing professional education.
b. Credit instruction outside of the "traditional" academic setting, such as distance learning.
c. Cooperative Extension offerings.
d. Public presentations, professional meetings, community interest offerings, and youth activities.
e. Technical assistance and consultation.
f.  Any other work that is not instruction or research.
 
Overlap of Support- Other support duplicating research or budgetary items already funded by a grant. Overlap also occurs when any project-supported personnel has time commitments exceeding 12 person months.
 
Peer Review- A form of objective review required by statute. It is an assessment of scientific or technical merit of applications by individuals with knowledge and expertise equivalent (peer) to that of the individuals whose applications for support they are reviewing, that is, reviewers who are the professional equals of the PD/PI for the proposed project and who often are engaged or were previously engaged in comparable activities.
 
Personal property means property of any kind except real property. It may be tangible, having physical existence, or intangible, having no physical existence, such as copyrights, patents, or securities.
 
Person Months is the metric for expressing the effort (amount of time) PD/PI(s), faculty and other senior/key personnel devote to a specific project. The effort is based on the type of appointment of the individual with the organization; e.g., calendar year, academic year, and/or summer term; and the organization's definition of such. For instance, JALC defines the academic year as a 9-month appointment while other colleges define it as a 10-month appointment.
 
Pre-application is a statement in summary form of the intent of the applicant to request funds. It is used to determine the applicant's eligibility and how well the project can compete with other applications and eliminate proposals for which there is little or no chance for funding.
 
Pre-Award Costs are any costs incurred prior to the beginning date of the project period or the initial budget period of a competitive segment (under a multi-year award), in anticipation of the award and at the applicant's own risk, for otherwise allowable costs.
 
Preliminary Planning: Please make the Grants Office aware of any grant-seeking activities before beginning work on a proposal. The Grants Office is available to coordinate planning meetings to discuss project ideas, assist with preliminary program and budget development and to analyze proposals for consistency with college priorities and strategic fit with the requirements of the funding source. To initiate grants planning, please contact the Grants Office.
 
Prior approval means written approval by an authorized official determining prior consent. Note that written approval from the designated Grants Management Officer (GMO) is required for specified post award changes in the approved project or budget. Such approval must be obtained before undertaking the proposed activity or spending grant funds.
Procurement is the acquisition of property or services for the direct benefit or use of the Government, generally via a contract.
 
Program income means gross income earned by the recipient that is directly generated by a supported activity or earned as a result of the award (see exclusions in paragraphs ___.24 (e) and (h)). Program income includes, but is not limited to, income from fees for services performed, the use or rental of real or personal property acquired under federally-funded projects, the sale of commodities or items fabricated under an award, license fees and royalties on patents and copyrights, and interest on loans made with award funds. Interest earned on advances of Federal funds is not program income. Except as otherwise provided in Federal awarding agency regulations or the terms and conditions of the award, program income does not include the receipt of principal on loans, rebates, credits, discounts, etc., or interest earned on any of them.
 
Program Income: This is income earned by the College that is directly generated by a supported activity or earned as a result of the contract or grant. Examples are registration fees for sponsored workshops or conferences and the sale of items fabricated under an award. See policies and procedures on Program Income associated with sponsored projects.
 
Progress Reports are periodic, usually annual, reports submitted by the grantee and used by the funder to assess progress and, except for the final progress report of a project period, to determine whether to provide funding for the budget period subsequent to that covered by the report. This report may also be called the non-competing continuation progress report.
 
Project costs means all allowable costs, as set forth in the applicable Federal cost principles, incurred by a recipient and the value of the contributions made by third parties in accomplishing the objectives of the award during the project period.
 
Project Grant supports a specific activity.
 
Project period means the period established in the award document during which Federal sponsorship begins and ends.
 
Property means, unless otherwise stated, real property, equipment, intangible property and debt instruments.
 
Proposal Writing and Editing: The Grants Office reviews and edits, if necessary, all
proposals submitted by the college to ensure that proposals are well-written and complete. For most large government grants, the Grants Office serves as the primary writer of the proposal and/or edits sections written by grant development team members. Sufficient lead time for proposal review is required prior to submission and faculty and staff should inform the Grants Office of a pending grant submission as soon as possible.
 
RFP: Request for Proposals—an announcement by a funding agency that it is accepting proposals to accomplish a specific objective.
 
Real property means land, including land improvements, structures and appurtenances thereto, but excludes movable machinery and equipment.
 
Recipient means an organization receiving financial assistance directly from Federal awarding agencies to carry out a project or program. The term includes public and private institutions of higher education, public and private hospitals, and other quasi-public and private non-profit organizations such as, but not limited to, community action agencies, research institutes, educational associations, and health centers.
 
Request for Applications (RFA)- An RFA is a formal statement that solicits grant or cooperative agreement applications in a well-defined programmatic area to accomplish specific program objectives. An RFA indicates the estimated amount of funds set aside for the competition, the estimated number of awards to be made, whether cost sharing is required, and the application submission date(s). For cooperative agreements, the RFA will describe the responsibilities and obligations of the funding agency and awardees as well as joint responsibilities and obligations.
 
Request for Proposals (RFP)- An RFP Announces that the funder wants to award a contract to meet a specific need. RFPs have a single application receipt date and are published on grants.gov.
 
Research: Systematic study that is undertaken in order to gain a fuller scientific knowledge or understanding of a subject:
Basic Research: Research for the purpose of gaining a fuller knowledge or understanding of a subject without seeking specific ways to put that knowledge to work in new processes or products.
 
Applied Research: Research that seeks knowledge or understanding so that recognized and specific needs might be met.
 
Research: Grant funding sources can be identified in several ways. The Grants Office
conducts ongoing research on grant opportunities and informs faculty and staff about grants that become available. Also, faculty and staff may identify potential funding sources and request that further research is conducted. For assistance in identifying funding sources to support a specific project, contact the Grant Office.
 
Research and Development do not include training of scientific personnel, mapping and surveys, routine product testing, quality control, experimental production, and collection of general‐purpose statistics that aren't part of a specific research and development project.
 
Research and Development means all research activities, both basic and applied, and all development activities that are supported at Colleges, colleges, and other non-profit institutions. "Research" is defined as a systematic study directed toward fuller scientific knowledge or understanding of the subject studied. "Development" is the systematic use of knowledge and understanding gained from research directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes. The term research also includes activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the instruction function.
 
Resubmission is an application that has been previously submitted, but was not funded, and is being resubmitted for new consideration. Applicants must make significant changes to the application and can only resubmit once the summary statement is available. Additional policies on resubmissions can be found in the applicable Application Instruction Guide.
 
Review Criteria- General review criteria for Federal programs usually include:
•Need: The extent to which the application describes the problem and associated contributing factors to the problem.
•Response: The extent to which the proposed project responds to the “Purpose” included in the program description. The clarity of the proposed goals and objectives and their relationship to the identified project. The extent to which the activities (scientific or other) described in the application are capable of addressing the problem and attaining the project objectives.
•Evaluative Measures: The effectiveness of the method proposed to monitor and evaluate the project results. Evaluative measures must be able to assess 1) to what extent the program objectives have been met and 2) to what extent these can be attributed to the project.
•Impact: The extent and effectiveness of plans for dissemination of project results, and/or the extent to which project results may be national in scope and/or the degree to which a community is impacted by delivery of health services, and/or the degree to which the project activities are replicable, and/or the sustainability of the program beyond Federal funding.
•Resources/Capabilities: The extent to which project personnel are qualified by training and/or experience to implement and carry out the project. The capabilities of the applicant organization, the quality and availability of facilities and personnel to fulfill the needs of both the program and requirements of the proposed project. For competing continuations, past performance will also be considered.
•Support Requested: The reasonableness of the proposed budget in relation to the objectives, the complexity of the activities, and the anticipated results.
•Specific Program Criteria: Additional specific program criteria, if any, are included in the program description and in the individual guidance material provided with the application kit. The specific review criteria used to review and rank applications are included in the individual guidance material provided with the application kits. Applicants should pay strict attention to addressing these criteria, as they are the basis upon which the reviewers will judge their applications
 
Seed Grant helps to jump-start a new organization, a new project or launch a capital campaign.
 
Small awards means a grant or cooperative agreement not exceeding the small purchase threshold fixed at 41 U.S.C. 403(11) (currently $25,000).
 
Stewardship – In general, stewardship refers to the ability of  an organization  to direct the contributed funds in accordance with the funder’s intentions.
 
Stipend- Is a payment made to an individual under a fellowship or training grant in accordance with pre-established levels to provide for the individual's living expenses during the period of training. A stipend is not considered compensation for the services expected of an employee.
 
Subaward means an award of financial assistance in the form of money, or property in lieu of money, made under an award by a recipient to an eligible subrecipient or by a subrecipient to a lower tier subrecipient. The term includes financial assistance when provided by any legal agreement, even if the agreement is called a contract, but does not include procurement of goods and services nor does it include any form of assistance which is excluded from the definition of "award" in paragraph (e).
 
Subrecipient means the legal entity to which a subaward is made and which is accountable to the recipient for the use of the funds provided. The term may include foreign or international organizations (such as agencies of the United Nations) at the discretion of the Federal awarding agency.
 
Supplanting: When an applicant shifts the support for an activity that was normally carried on by the College to the grant funding agency. Supplanting can be thought of as making a request for grants funds to do something you would do even without outside funds. It is illegal in some grant programs and discouraged in all.
 
Supplies means all personal property excluding equipment, intangible property, and debt instruments as defined in this section, and inventions of a contractor conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the performance of work under a funding agreement ("subject inventions"), as defined in 37 CFR part 401, "Rights to Inventions Made by Nonprofit Organizations and Small Business Firms Under Government Grants, Contracts, and Cooperative Agreements."
 
Suspension means an action by a Federal awarding agency that temporarily withdraws Federal sponsorship under an award, pending corrective action by the recipient or pending a decision to terminate the award by the Federal awarding agency. Suspension of an award is a separate action from suspension under Federal agency regulations implementing E.O.s 12549 and 12689, "Debarment and Suspension."
 
Technical Assistance- A contact person will be listed for each Federal program and his/her e-mail address and telephone number will be provided. Some programs may have also scheduled workshops and conference calls. If you have questions concerning individual programs or the availability of technical assistance, contact the person listed in the RFP.
 
Termination means the cancellation of Federal sponsorship, in whole or in part, under an agreement at any time prior to the date of completion.
 
Third party in-kind contributions means the value of non-cash contributions provided by non-Federal third parties. Third party in-kind contributions may be in the form of real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, and the value of goods and services directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to the project or program.
 
Total Project Costs: Direct costs plus indirect costs. This includes the granting agency's share, the College's share, and, in some cases, it may include a third party's share.
 
Underrepresented Groups- are groups underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences, such as people with disabilities, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups such as blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
 
Unliquidated obligations, for financial reports prepared on a cash basis, means the amount of obligations incurred by the recipient that have not been paid. For reports prepared on an accrued expenditure basis, they represent the amount of obligations incurred by the recipient for which an outlay has not been recorded.
 
Unobligated balance means the portion of the funds authorized by the Federal awarding agency that has not been obligated by the recipient and is determined by deducting the cumulative obligations from the cumulative funds authorized.
 
Unrecovered indirect cost means the difference between the amount awarded and the amount which could have been awarded under the recipient's approved negotiated indirect cost rate.
 
Unrestricted Grants allow nonprofits to use the funds to support the organization where most needed.
 
Working capital advance means a procedure where by funds are advanced to the recipient to cover its estimated disbursement needs for a given initial period.