For Employees
General Grant Proposal Guidelines for County Extension
Employees
Revised November 2003
The following are general guidelines. Each situation needs
to be evaluated on what is proposed and funding agency guidelines.
When should grant proposals be sent through NDSU for approval?
Grant proposals that request operating (travel, materials,
supplies or any other non-salary or equipment expenditure)
funds may best be handled through the county. If salary
dollars for NDSU employees are requested, the grant may best
be handled through NDSU, which means that it needs to be approved
by NDSU before it is submitted to the funding agency. If
a grant is to be awarded to NDSU, it needs to conform to NDSU's
policies and procedures as well as any applicable federal
circulars. Contact Ona Vig early in the proposal development
process for proposals that will be approved by NDSU.
Steps in the NDSU grant proposal approval process:
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Obtain approval from your district director before you
proceed in writing the proposal.
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Contact Ona Vig (231-8528,
ona.vig@ndsu.edu) early in the proposal development
process.
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The Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) writes
the grant proposal.
-
The PI/PD completes an NDSU Proposal Transmittal Form
(PTF) available at
http://www.ndsu.edu/research/forms/and sends it to
their supervisor (district director) for signature along
with the proposal. The proposal does not need to be in
final form in many cases with the exception of the budget
and budget narrative. However, this will be changing with
federal grants. All federal grants are scheduled to be
submitted electronically in the near future. Also,
any forms or pages that require signatures from NDSU will
need to be included and a copy of the grant guidelines
or a reference to the Web site if they are on the Web.
The supervisor will then send the PTF and proposal to
Ona Vig for approval by the director.
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If your project involves research on recombinant DNA,
vertebrate animals or human subjects, please see the NDSU
Sponsored Programs Web site at
http://www.ndsu.edu/research/compliance/. You don't
always need approval at the proposal stage, but you should
have at least contacted the appropriate compliance director
to see what you will need to do.
-
The PTF and proposal will be forwarded to the Sponsored
Programs Administration Office for final approval by Val
Kettner or Amy Scott. Please go to
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/research/spa.shtml for the
correct address, phone/fax number and e-mail address.
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The proposal and a copy of the fully signed PTF will
be returned to the PI/PD.
-
The complete grant proposal is submitted to the funding
agency.
Steps 4-7 will probably take a minimum of 8 to 10
days so it is important to allow enough time for the process.
Proposals that are submitted through NDSU will normally not
use matching funds from a county office because of the difficulty
in obtaining the appropriate approval from the county before
a grant application is submitted and the documentation of
matching funds. If matching funds from a county are needed,
approval from an appropriate county official (auditor, commissioner,
etc.) will need to accompany the grant proposal when it is
submitted for approval. Follow the same procedure that is
used for the FNP project. This is covered under Sections 800
and 801 in the NDSU Policy Manual.
The approval process for grants processed in the county may
vary greatly from county to county, but it is advisable to
have approval from a county official before submitting a grant
proposal. The fiscal responsibility for grants awarded to
the county lies with the county. When a grant proposal is
submitted by an Extension employee, the district director
must review the proposal prior to submission. Also,
if cost sharing or matching funds are part of the proposal,
only county resources may be used. Salaries of anyone who
receives a paycheck from NDSU may not be used as match on
grant proposals awarded to counties.
Some points to remember:
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For more information on NDSU grant policies and procedures,
go to:
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/research/procedures/
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Do not use NDSU's federal ID number (45-6002439) or other
NDSU identifiers on grant applications that will be awarded
to a county. The award should be made to "Cavalier
County," not "NDSU Extension Service."
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Has your district director reviewed your application?
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Has an appropriate county official approved your application?
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If matching funds are required, contact the person who
is authorized to confirm the availability of matching
funds. Make sure the person authorizing the funds is authorized
to commit the funds for the project.
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If subcontracts are involved, documentation from an appropriate
official of the subcontractor's organization approving
their participation is required before the proposal will
be approved by NDSU.
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Be conscious of all reporting requirements, especially
financial reporting requirements.
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Follow the instructions exactly, and read the RFP thoroughly.
Don't hesitate to contact the funding agency to see if
your proposed idea fits the scope of their organization
or a particular RFP. Don't waste your time writing a proposal
and their time reviewing a proposal that doesn't fit the
mission of the funding agency.
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Contact the funding agency to get examples of funded
proposals if you are unsure about how to present certain
parts or all of the proposal. Please keep in mind they
may or may not be available to you.
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See Sections 800-823 of the NDSU Policy Manual at
http://www.ndsu.edu/policy/
for additional information on NDSU grant policies and
procedures
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