Glossary of Grant Terms

 501(c)(3): The section of the internal revenue code defining nonprofit, charitable, tax-exempt organizations. Many private foundations and other funding sponsors limit their giving to organizations with 501(c)(3) status. The Chaffey College Foundation has 501(c)(3) status. Grant applications submitted to sponsors requiring recipients to have nonprofit status must be authorized by and submitted through the Foundation office. The Foundation is the stewardship agent for these grant awards.

Agency: A branch of federal, state or local government (i.e. Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, etc.). Agencies often further their mission and programs by sponsoring programmatic or research projects.

Allowable Costs: An expenditure approved for the funded project as determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the sponsor’s requirements and/or Chaffey College policies. Only allowable funds may be requested in grant budgets and charged to the grant account. OMB Circular A-21 defines allowable costs as:

• Reasonable
• Allocable to the project
• Given consistent treatment by the use of generally accepted accounting principles
• Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth by the sponsored agreement or OMB Circular A-21

Amendment: Any change(s) made to an existing sponsored project agreement.

Annual Report: Many sponsoring agencies require grant recipients to provide an annual report documenting the progress of their award at meeting the goals and objectives detailed in the grant application. Annual reports vary in format from simple printed documents listing the year’s grants to detailed publications that provide substantial information about the sponsored project.

Application Notice: A notice published in the Federal Register soliciting applications for one or more discretionary grant or cooperative agreement competition. Application Notices give basic program and fiscal information such as total funding available for the program, maximum amount applicants are allowed to request and anticipated average award. Application Notices also provide application guidelines and submission deadline information.

Application Package: A packet, either electronic or paper, containing the application notice, information and all forms required for applying for a grant competition.

Applicant: The legal applicant for grant applications requiring 501(c)(3) status is the Chaffey Foundation. The legal applicant for all other grant applications is Chaffey College. Only designated representatives from the GDM Office or Chaffey Foundation are authorized to sign-off and submit applications on behalf of the college or Foundation.

Application: The electronic or paper document presenting a project proposal and funding request to a sponsoring agency. The application may be a letter proposal, a response to an application notice or request for proposals, or a formal application to a federal or state granting agency or foundation.

Authorizing Official (Signature): A designated representative of the college who is authorized by the superintendent/president and Governing Board to sign-off on and submit grant proposals and contracts on behalf of the college. Only designated representatives from the GDM Office or Chaffey Foundation are authorized to sign-off and submit applications on behalf of the college or Foundation.

Award: A legally binding document that notifies the recipient and others that a grant or cooperative agreement has been made. The award contains or references all terms of the award and documents the obligation of federal funds.

Basic Agreement: A formal written document between the funding source and the university specifying the scope and work of a project to be completed within a specified time frame. Basic agreements may take the form of a grant or contract.

Budget: An estimate of the expenditures expected to be incurred in the performance of a proposed statement of work or the financial plan or cost assessment for a grant proposal or contract. The budget represents all costs associated with the implementation of a grant project or contracted agreement.

Budget Adjustment: The act of amending the budget by moving funds from one category or line item to another.

Budget Narrative: A document included with the application package which, in narrative form, describes the budgeted expenditures and activities in greater detail. For example, a line item for travel may include $1,500.  The budget narrative will include a breakdown of those costs (i.e. $500 for rental of three school buses to transport transferring student to local college/university tours).

Budget Period: The interval of time into which a project period is divided for budgetary purposes, usually 12 months.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: An identifying number for a federal assistance program which includes a unique two-digit prefix to identify the federal agency (i.e. “84” for the Department of Education), followed by a period and a specific three-digit code for each authorized program. Alpha-designations may be added to some programs to distinguish among competitions when multiple competitions are based on the same program.

Certifications (Assurances): A written statement signed by a designated authorized representative of the college from either the GDM or Foundation Offices which certify that the college is in compliance with federal or state regulations.

Close Out: The act of completing all internal procedures and sponsor requirements to terminate or complete a grant funded project or contract agreement.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) annual edition is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. The 50 subject matter titles contain one or more individual volumes, which are updated once each calendar year, on a staggered basis.

Collaborator: An individual who collaborates with a grant’s project director in the development, implementation or activities of a funded project. A collaborator typically devotes a percentage of his/her effort to the project and is identified key personnel in the grant application.

Competing Continuation Application: A request to extend financial assistance for one or more additional budget periods for a project that would otherwise terminate. Competing continuation applications contend with other competing continuation, competing supplemental and new applicants for funds. In some cases, applicants with competing continuations receive additional points toward their applications score based on documented success of their prior year activities, or prior experience points.

Conflict of Interest: Circumstances in which an individual’s legal or moral obligations to an employer or other party conflict with or are negatively affected by his/her personal interests, financial or otherwise.

Congressional Legislative District (U.S.): Chaffey College Rancho Cucamonga is located in Congressional District CA-031. The Chino Campus is located in CA-035. The Fontana Campus is located in CA-035.

Consortium: A consortium is two or more institutions working on the same research project. Either each institution is funded directly by the supporting agency or one institution serves as the primary recipient and issues sub-awards to the other members of the consortium.

Consortium Agreement: A collaborative arrangement in support of a grant project in which some portion of the project is carried out through a formal agreement between the college and one or more outside partner organizations/institutions.

Consultant: A person paid to work on an externally funded project who is not an employee of the college. A consultant is an expert in the field participating in a short-term, limited and specifically defined role to deliver services consistent with the goals and objectives of the grant or contract. A consultant is not paid as an employee but as an independent contractor with the college. In some cases, a granting agency may specify consulting rates or limitations on the amount of service that can be performed.

Continuation Award: Additional funding awarded to the same grant for a budget period following the initial budget period of a multi-year grant or cooperative agreement.

Continuation Proposal/Renewal Proposal: Additional funding increments for projects beyond the original grant period. See specific sponsor guidelines for submission requirements.

Contract: An oral, written or otherwise manifest agreement between two or more parties in which an offer is made and accepted and each party benefits.

Cooperative Agreement: An application for funding which, if awarded, will require the substantial involvement of personnel from the grant-funding agency. This type of award is commonly used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Corporate Giving Program: A grant-making program established and administered within a profit-making corporation or company. The amount of a corporate giving program is usually tied to the previous year’s profits and sometimes tied to company-sponsored foundations. Corporate giving programs often have a specific focus (i.e. youth and the arts, community health, etc.).

Cost Reimbursement: A sponsored project agreement that requires the funding recipient to invoice the sponsor after-the-fact for reimbursement of allowable costs incurred in the performance of a project.

Cost Sharing: The College’s support of a project through cash or in-kind services. Cost-sharing requirements vary, but they generally represent a percentage of the total project costs. Some grants have specific requirements for cost sharing on grant projects, others do not. When cost sharing is included in a grant proposal or funding agreement, those costs must be documented and tracked for auditing purposes. Acceptable cost sharing must include the following:

• Must be verifiable by Chaffey financial records
• Must be allowable, allocable, reasonable and necessary for proper and efficient achievement of project-specific objectives
• Must not be used for cost sharing on other federally funded projects, except where authorized by federal statute
• Must not be included as contributions for any other project
• Must be directly identifiable with the sponsored project as outlined in the proposal budget and/or budget narrative and therefore incorporated in the award notice.
  
  

Deadline: The published date and/or time that a grant application is to be either postmarked or received by the sponsoring agency.

Direct Costs: Direct costs charged to the sponsored project must be allowable, allocable and reasonable.

Direct costs can be identified specifically with the activities and services of a specific sponsored project with a high degree of accuracy. Direct costs to not include overhead or other indirect costs. Examples of direct costs include:

• Salaries, wages and/or fringe benefits for employees performing work for the project
• Costs of materials and supplies used in the performance of work
• Other items of expense incurred for the project provided the costs are consistently treated in like circumstances

Disallowed Costs (Unallowable Costs): Charges to an award that the awarding agency determines to be unallowable in accordance with the applicable federal cost principles or other terms and conditions contained in the award.

Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR): Is Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CRF) of the codified general and permanent rules governing grants and contracts issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

Effective Date: The date specified in an award document signifying the official start of an award.

Effort: The amount of time, generally expressed as a percentage of the total, that a faculty or staff member spends on a sponsored project. No employee is allowed to spend more than 100% total time on all academic activities, including grant-funded projects, teaching, administration, advising and other duties.

Entity Identification Number (EIN): Chaffey’s EIN number is 956000558.

Equipment: Articles of non-expendable, tangible personal property with a useful life of more than one year and costing $5,000 or more for a single unit. Equipment does not consist of a replacement part or component that returns a piece of equipment to its original condition.

Extramural Funds: Funding for research, training or public service programs provided by federal, state or private sources outside the college.

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs: Also referred to as indirect costs, overhead, overhead costs or administrative costs. Reimbursement for actual college expenses that support extramural activities but cannot be directly charged to a specific grant or contract. F&A costs result from shared services such as libraries, plan operations and maintenance, utility costs, general department and sponsored projects administrative expenses and deprecation or use allowances for buildings and equipment. Chaffey College has a federally negotiated F&A Cost rate of 30%. When developing a proposal budget, this rate should be applied to the Modified Total Direct Cost (MTCD) and included as a line item. A lower rate may be applied if the sponsor specifically limits the amount of F&A costs an applicant can request.

Federal Register : The official government daily journal that reports all legislative actions of Congress, including the appropriation of funds to special programs and the guidelines and regulations used to award those funds to award recipients. Program guidelines and requests for comments on proposed guidelines and regulations are also published in the Federal Register.

Financial Report: A report generated by the college’s Business Services Office which is sent to the funding agency to report the actual expenditures on a grant or contract annually and at the end of the project.

Final Report: The final technical or financial report required by the sponsor at the end of a project.

Fiscal Year: any 12-month accounting period. The fiscal year for Chaffey College and California begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th. The Federal Government fiscal year begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th. The first day of the calendar year is often the beginning of the fiscal year for corporations and foundations. Most external grants are awarded based on the fiscal year of the sponsoring agency.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): A federal statute that requires full or partial public disclosure or information and documents controlled by the U.S. government. FOIA applies to federal agencies and does not create a right of access to records held by Congress, the courts or by state and local government. Under FOIA, a prospective applicant to a grant opportunity can request a copy of a successfully awarded proposal from the program office.

Full Proposal: Any proposal submitted by a Chaffey employee to an outside entity that may lead directly to an award. A full proposal may be an expanded version of a preliminary or preproposal providing a detailed statement of the proposed project. The full proposal constitutes a final application to the sponsor and should be prepare with the care and thoroughness of a paper submitted for publication. All proposals require an institutional endorsement from the Vice President for Administrative Services, the appropriate Associate Superintendent or Vice President for the requested area, the Superintendent/President, the GDM Office and, in the case of submissions to a foundation, the Foundation Office.

Funding Criteria: The review criteria associated with the evaluation of a proposal for funding. For federally sponsored programs, the criteria are printed in the program guidelines or the Federal Register and often follow a specific point system.

Gift: At Chaffey College a monetary contribution of general or unrestricted support for broadly defined activities in one or more program areas constitutes a gift. To qualify as a gift, funds must meet all the following criteria:

• Detailed reports (interim, final, fiscal or technical) are not required
• No provisions (delays or advance notice) are imposed by the donor concerning publication of data and information derived from the activity
• No specific time limit to the expenditures of funds
• Rights to any patent or copyright are not retained by the donor

Gift in Kind: A non-monetary gift of personal or real property.

Grant: A grant represents a mutual joining of interests on the part of the grantor (sponsoring agency) and grantee institution (Chaffey College) in the pursuit of common objectives. The relationship of trust imposes upon the grantee institution the responsibility to ensure that the grant funds are used for the purpose for which they were awarded. A grant is distinguished from a contract in that a grant does not constitute the procurement of goods or services by the grantor.

Grants are usually awarded from federal, state, local, foundation or corporate entities. There are several specific types of grants which include the following:

• Challenge Grants are awarded and paid only if the grantee institution is able to raise a specified amount of additional funds.
• Consortium Grants are made to one institution in support of a project carried out through cooperative arrangement between or among the grantee institution and one or more participating institutions.
• Continuation Grants are awarded for the continuation of a previously funded project. It is usually not competitive with other proposals but is contingent upon successful performance in the previous year and the availability of funds from the sponsor.
• Demonstration Grants are made to establish or demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative theory, activity or approach.
• Formula or Block Grants are awarded on the basis of some formula for distribution prescribed by legislative or executive direction.

Grant Closeout: The final stage in the lifecycle of a grant or cooperative agreement. During this phase, the funding agency ensures that all applicable administrative actions and required work of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement have been completed by the grantee. The funding agency also reconciles and makes any final fiscal adjustments to a grantee’s account.

Grantee: A grantee is the legal recipient of a grant. When the college accepts a grant award on behalf of the individual(s) who submitted it, it becomes the grantee and is legally responsible for following the terms and conditions of the award including all reporting and fiscal requirements.

Grantor: The funding agency or source that has agreed to provide financial support to a grantee in the form of a grant or cooperative agreement.

Grants Officer: The official authorized to take final action on a grant. At Chaffey College the Grants Development and Management Director, Ray Cuellar Raymond.cuellar@chaffey.edu serves as the college’s Grants Officer.

Guidelines: The document that outlines program goals to be addressed in a proposal and provides specific instructions on what content to include in a proposal, the format it should take and the funding criteria.

HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): A federal statute which regulates the use and disclosure of protected health information which is defined as information about health status, provision of health care, or payment of health care that can be linked to an individual, including any part of a patient’s medical record or payment history.

Hispanic Servicing Institutions (HSIs): An accredited and degree-granting public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25 percent or greater total undergraduate students of Hispanic descent, full-time equivalent student enrollment.

Human Subjects: A living individual about whom an investigator conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with the individual which includes identifiable private information. On the federal level, the National Science Foundation sets policies regarding the use of human subjects in research.

Indirect Costs: (See Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs).

In-Kind Contribution: A non-cash commitment (i.e. time and effort, use of facilities, etc.) to share the cost of a sponsored project. This type of contribution may require written documentation and be subject to audit.

Institutional Authorized Officials: Individuals authorized by Chaffey College to sign grants, contracts and agreements on behalf of the college.

Key Personnel: All individuals who participate in and are paid from the grant for the time and effort they contribute to the implementation and execution of the project.

Letter of Inquiry: A letter of Inquiry is initiated by an applicant to determine if a proposed project is within a private agency’s fundable program areas and to request agency policy and program information including application instructions and forms.

Letter of Intent: A letter of intent notifies a funding agency that an application will be submitted in response to their solicitation. The letter may contain general program information, unofficial cost estimates and a request for application guidelines, instructions and forms.

Letter of Support or Commitment: A letter from a collaborator or other interested party which states their support of the project or lists specific and tangible commitments (i.e. use of facilities, donation of time and effort, supplies, etc.) they are willing to contribute to the project.

Lobbying Certification: (See Certifications).

Matching Funds: A cash commitment to share the costs of a sponsored project (also see Cost Sharing). Matching funds must be supplied by the grantee as cash or in-kind contributions depending on the grantor’s requirements. The grantor may require a specific percent match.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): A written agreement between two or more parties which delineates the tasks, jurisdiction, standard operating procedures or other matters which the agency or units are duly authorized and directed to conduct.

Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC, MTDC Base or Base): MTDC is the Total Direct Costs (TDC) minus “…equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care and tuition remission, long term space rental costs, scholarships and fellowships as well as the portion of each sub-grant and subcontract in excess of $25,000” (OBM Circular A-21). Some sponsors also require that participant costs (i.e. participant stipends or participant travel) be excluded from MTDC.

No-Cost Extension (NCE): Provides for an additional period of performance to accomplish project goals without awarding additional funds. Permission for NCE must be requested from the sponsor.

Non-competing Continuation Application: A request for financial or direct assistance for a second or subsequent budget period within a previously approved project period.

Notice of Award (NOA): (See Award).

Office of Management and Budget (OMB): A branch of the Executive Office of the President. OMB helps the president formulate spending plans, evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures agency reports, rules, testimony and proposed legislation are consistent with the president’s budget and with administrative policies.

OMB Circular A-21: “Principles for Determining Costs Applicable to Grants, Contracts, and Other Agreements with Educational Institutions.”

OMB Circular A-110: “Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations.”

OMB Circular A-133: “Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations.”

Outcomes: The changes in or benefits achieved by participants due to their participation in program activities. This may include changes to participants’ knowledge, skills, values, behavior or condition of status.

Overhead: (See Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs).

Participant: Project participants are the recipients of service or training provided at a workshop, conference, seminar, symposium or other short-term instructional or information-sharing activity funded by a grant funded project. Participant can also be the training beneficiaries of the grant funded project. Participants are not involved in providing any deliverable to the university or a third party or would not be terminated or replaced for failure to perform.

Participant Costs: Costs used to pay program participants small stipends and reimbursement of travel costs or other out-of-pocket costs incurred to support attendance at a workshop, conference, seminar, symposium or other short-term training or information-sharing activity.

Peer Review: A process used by many federal and some private funding agencies where committees of experienced researchers or professionals in the same topical area review, score and recommend grant applications for funding to the agency.

Preliminary Proposal or Pre-proposal: A brief outline or narrative of a proposed project sometimes including a preliminary budget for informal review by a sponsor to determine whether a full proposal should be submitted.

Primary Contact: The person approved to coordinate with the GDM contact on the development, writing and submission of a grant proposal. The Primary Contact serves as the official point of contact on the grant application forms and bears responsibility for implementing the project when funded. In some cases, the Primary Contact will also serve as the Project Director. At Chaffey College Deans and managerial staff may serve as a primary contact on a grant proposal.

Prior Approval: Written approval from an authorized individual at the sponsoring agency evidencing prior consent. For example, some agencies require grantees to obtain prior approval if they plan to transfer more than 10% of the budget to different line items.

Private Foundation: A nongovernmental, nonprofit organization with funds and program managed by its own trustees or directors. Private foundations are established to maintain or aid social, educational, religious or other charitable activities serving the common welfare, primarily through the making of grants.

Program Announcement: A generic funding opportunity accompanied by agency approved merit review.

Program Income: The gross income earned by a grant project from the activities part or all of which are borne as a direct cost by the grant. Examples are fees for services performed under the grant, rental or usage fees charged for use of equipment purchased with grant funds, funds generated from the sale of event tickets for performances or exhibits organized and paid for by the grant.

Program Officer: An employee of the grantee agency who oversees applications, funded projects and sometimes evaluates or determines funding for proposals. In federal agencies program officers have research and academic backgrounds similar to those of the applicants.

Progress Report: Periodic, scheduled reports required by the sponsor summarizing research or project progress to date.

Project Director: In some cases, the Primary Contact will serve as the Project Director when a proposal is funded. In other cases, the sponsoring agency may require a 100% full-time Project Director requiring creation of a new position and recruitment. In this case, the newly hired Project Director will assume responsibilities for the grant from the Primary Contact becoming the official point of contact and assuming responsibility for implementing the project.

Proposal: A written statement/document establishing project need, objectives, methodology, qualifications of key personnel, budget, budget narrative, institutional commitment and program evaluation for a funded project.

Re-budgeting: Reallocation of funds available for spending between budget categories to allow best use of funds to accomplish the project goals.

Renewal: A competitively reviewed proposal requesting assistance directly from an awarding agency to carry out a project or program.

Request for Applications (RFA)/Request for Proposals (RFP): An RFA/RFP contains instructions and information required to complete and submit a grant application.

Resubmission: A request for funding from a sponsor for a proposal that has been previously rejected by the same sponsor. Occasionally, sponsors will request that an applicant make certain changes to a proposal and resubmit it. If a proposal has been substantially revised, or if the changes have not been made at the request of the sponsor, the proposal is considered a new application.

Revised Budget: A revision of the budget for a previously submitted proposal that is submitted to a sponsor at their request. The sponsor will generally suggest areas and categories that should be revised. Revised budget requests usually occur when the sponsor funds a grant application at a level that differs from the original request.

Scope of Work: The description of the work to be performed and completed on a grant project. A Scope of Work is required but not submitted with the application for all subawards associated with a grant application.

Seed Money: A grant used to start a new project which may cover salaries and other operating expenses for the project.

Site Visit: A visit by funding agency staff to determine adequacy of staff and facilities, to determine initial funding or to assess progress on a continuing project.

Sponsor: An external funding source that enters into an agreement with the college to support research, instruction, public service or other sponsored activities. Sponsors include private businesses, corporations, foundations and other not-for-profit organizations, other colleges/universities, and federal, state and local governments.

Sponsored Project: A project supported by an external funding source under a mutually binding agreement that restricts the use of funds to the approved project and stipulates other conditions with which the college must comply. Sponsored projects generally:

• Are initiated by a formal proposal and award notice
• Are restricted to a specific purpose as described in the proposal
• Require technical and/or financial reports
• Entail other administrative requirements

Sub-award: A mechanism used to provide funding to an institution (sub-recipient) collaborating with the lead institution (prime awardee/recipient) in the performance of a funded project. The sub-award is formalized with a sub-award agreement.

Subcontract: A contract between a prime contractor and a subcontractor to furnish supplies or services for the performance of a prime contract.

Subcontractor: A party that enters into and performs a subcontract.

Submission Window: Designated periods of time during which proposals will be accepted for review.

Sub-recipient: The legal entity to which a sub-award is made and which is accountable to the prime awardee for the use of the funds provided.

Terms of Award: All legal requirements imposed on a grant by the federal government through statutes, regulations or terms in the grant award document. Each Notice of Award may include standard and special provisions considered necessary to attain the objectives of the grant, facilitate post-award administration of the grant, conserve grant funds, or otherwise protect the federal government’s interests.

Timeline: A schematic or description of the goals, objectives, benchmarks and activities within a specified time set for reaching completion. Timelines may also include people responsible and measurable outcomes or products.

Total Direct Costs: The sum of all direct costs in a proposal budget (See Direct Costs).

Training Grant: Grant funded programs which provide instructional activities for participants.

Transmittal: Formal legal mailing or electronic submission of the proposal to the funding agency.

Unallowable Costs: Specific categories of costs that cannot be charged directly or indirectly to federally funded sponsored projects in accordance with federal regulations.

Unrestricted Funds: Moneys with no requirements or restrictions. Grants, contracts and cooperative agreements are considered restricted funds. Gifts are considered unrestricted funds.

Unsolicited Proposal: A proposal submitted to a sponsor that is not in response to a RFP, RFA or Program Announcement.

Voluntary Cost Sharing: Cost sharing which is not required by the sponsor or shown on the proposal budget. Voluntary sharing is usually reported as cost sharing and must be documented through time and effort reporting.

Work: An original creation of authorship produced in a tangible medium including literary pieces, musical compositions, dramatic selections, dances, photographs, drawings, paintings, sculpture, video, sound recordings, computer software programs and other tangible assets.