COP 04-0406: Grant Proposals

Purpose Statement

To establish procedures for grant applications, and outline the approval process to ensure fundraising through grant-seeking is aligned with the College Mission.

Guidelines

Definition

For purposes of this procedure, a grant is an externally funded project supporting the College mission which is funded in whole or in part by a government agency, foundation, or corporation.

Procedures

The College President has ultimate responsibility for the institution’s fundraising activities. The President designates authority to the Assistant Vice President, Institutional Research, Assessment and Effectiveness to coordinate grants-seeking efforts through the Office of Sponsored Programs.

All requests or responses from an outside agency to perform a funded project that involves (1) participation by faculty, staff, or students or (2) the use of campus facilities must be referred to the Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) Office of Sponsored Programs, a division of Team AASPIRE (Accountability, Assessment, Sponsored Programs, Institutional Research and Effectiveness).

Funded and unfunded projects involving human research protection requirements must be reviewed prior to the beginning date of the project by the appropriate institutional review boards, which are facilitated by the FSW Office of Sponsored Programs. All submissions of grants for external funding must be submitted in accordance with the procedures below.

1. For each grant proposal considered for submission by a faculty or staff member of FSW, an internal review form (Grant Authorization Form) is completed. The information provided on this form will serve as the basis for endorsement by leadership. Submitters should consider the grant submission deadline and allow no less than 30 days for pre-application submissions, and no less than 60 days for Grant submission. In the case of major grants, a minimum of 90 days should be allocated for preparation of the grant. A major grant is defined as $100,000 or more. The College reserves the right to withhold submission of a grant proposal if it is determined during the internal review process that there is inadequate time to complete a quality proposal.
2. Prior to the completion of the above-mentioned form by the Principal Investigator (PI), the Office of Sponsored Programs will alert leadership of a pending proposal, as needed, to best prepare the College for forward progress on the potential funding opportunity.
3. Upon initial review of feasibility, the Office of Sponsored Programs will work in conjunction with the PI to determine logistics and a comprehensive work plan. The Office of Sponsored Programs will prepare the grant proposal according to the funding agency guidelines in conjunction with the PI and submit a finalized proposal on behalf of the PI to the grant agency.
4. Note that this form will not be accepted by AASPIRE if it is submitted with fewer than ten (10) business days remaining before grant agency deadline.
5. As provided by the Grant Authorization form, support for proposals must be provided from the Dean or immediate supervisor of the PI, the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research, Assessment, and Effectiveness, the Provost, the Assistant Vice President of Budget and Financial Planning, the Vice President, Operations, and the College President (if proposal funding request exceeds $100,000). This ensures that new projects are undertaken only after their impact on administrative, instructional and student support functions and their relevance to the College's Mission and Strategic Plan have been evaluated.

Administration of Grants and Awards

1. In the event of a Notice of Award (NOA), FSW has the option to accept the award. Once accepted, the Office of Sponsored Programs and Office of Budget and Financial Planning work jointly to monitor progress and expenditures through various program and finance reporting procedures in addition to any metrics required by the grant agency.
2. More specifically, the Office of Sponsored Programs handles any program reporting required of the grant agency and acts as the intermediary between the PI and the agency. The Office of Budget and Financial Planning handles the routing of all award monies received through the grant agency, sets up the budget, and handles all financial reporting required.
3. The Office of Budget and Financial Planning will follow all policies regarding expenditures of external funds according to FSW College Operating Procedure 04-0401.
4. In award closeout, the two offices again jointly work in accordance with the grant agency in submitting the final financial and program reports.