SPU Office of Sponsored Programs and Fellowships
Post Award Academic Grant and Fellowship Guidelines
Congratulations: You’ve been funded!
1. First Step – Receiving the Notice of Grant Award
Foundations and the federal government all differ in who will receive notice of your grant award, so please
confirm that the Office of Sponsored Programs and Fellowships (OSPF) has received notice when you do.
Similarly, sometimes we are notified prior to your receiving notification. We will communicate with you as
soon as we receive notice of the award. Likewise, you will need to forward any communication you receive
from the sponsor regarding your award. This is important as we must have all documentation associated with
your award in your grant file.
2. Grant Agreement / Contract / Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Usually SPU receives your grant agreement or contract soon after your notice of grant award. OSPF is
responsible to review the terms and conditions of the grant agreement to ensure that the award matches the
application proposal. (OPSF will work with finance on more complex grant awards.)
The Director of CSFD has University delegated signature authority and in general will sign on behalf of SPU.
Faculty members (Principal Investigators), Deans and Chairs cannot sign grant agreements as the award is
made to SPU on your behalf. Based on their operating principles, granting agencies may send the agreement to
different offices (to you, OSPF, your school or even the president) or require the Provost or President to sign
agreements. In any event, OSPF will manage collecting the signatures and submitting the grant agreement
documents on your behalf. OSPF will copy the documentation for your file.
3. Acknowledging your award
OSPF will transmit your signed grant agreement. If your funding agency is a foundation, OSPF will also write an
e-mail / note thanking the sponsor for its support. We also strongly encourage you to write a note of thanks to
the foundation. In some cases the President’s office will send an acknowledgement to the funding agency.
4. Setting up your grant account
OSPF will send a copy of the grant award or agreement to the PI and to the Assistant Controller, who is
responsible for financial administration of sponsored projects. She will assign a restricted fund (budget)
number and communicate that number to you, your School’s appropriate budget manager, and Advancement.
Even if SPU has not received grant payments, once the grant agreement is signed and a budget number has
been assigned, you may start to spend funds.
 It will take one to two business weeks to receive a budget number from the Assistant Controller.
5. Spending your funds
As the PI you will need to work closely with your school’s budget manager to spend funds specifically budgeted
for in the application (direct costs).
 Spending may begin as of the budget period start date found in the grant award notice or grant
agreement,
OSPF
Post Award Academic Grant and Fellowship Guidelines
Spring, 2015

after the Assistant Controller has assigned a restricted fund number, and

after you confirm that OSPF has a copy of your approved IRB protocol.
Work with your budget manager to make purchases, submit receipts, receive advances and reimbursements,
etc. Track all of your own grant expenditures.
School or department budget managers usually send PIs monthly financial reports of grant activity. You can
also request information (a “data-dump”) of expenses running through the fund at any time from your
manager or from the Assistant Controller.
 The PI’s department receives a percentage of a grant’s indirect costs. These funds are allocated to a
designated fund which you may use with your Dean’s approval.
Course Release
 PIs will work with their Department Chair to manage their course release.

The PI’s budget manager will take care of the logistics for overload or adjunct professors.
6. Receiving your funds
There are multiple ways that Agencies disperse funds. Some send checks with the grant agreement or at a
specified date. If an agency mails a check, it should be made out to Seattle Pacific University and directed to:
Director, Center for Scholarship and Faculty Development
Seattle Pacific University
3307 Third Ave W, #306
Seattle, WA 98119-19571
Federal government grant payments are made on a reimbursement basis. Subsequently SPU does not receive
grant funds until they have been spent. Every quarter the Assistant Controller initiates a draw-down of funds
from the granting agency for each award.
Note: SPU may receive notice that NSF or NIH has “released funds” for a specific grant award. This
does not mean funds are being transferred but that those specified funds are now available for SPU
to draw down. Reimbursement of the total “released funds” may actually take months.
Qualified departments will have their F & A cost recovery funds (indirects) directly deposited into their
appropriate accounts by the Assistant Controller. This usually occurs on a quarterly basis.
7. Report Writing
You are responsible to write all interim and final reports required by your agency, meeting specified deadlines
based on the terms and conditions of the award.
 Federal agencies and most private sponsors notify the PI that a report is due. OSPF will also send PIs a
courtesy notification 4-6 weeks prior to the report deadline.

Sponsors’ websites provide detailed report guidelines and required forms.

OSPF will provide editing and proof-reading support if requested.
1
Once CSFD receives the check, we take it to Advancement to log the funds into the Raisers Edge database and deposit on
your behalf.
OSPF
Post Award Academic Grant and Fellowship Guidelines
Spring, 2015

Work with your budget manager and/or the Finance Office to prepare the financial report. Check with
Finance well in advance of the deadline if your budget report needs extensive review or revision.

The VP for Business and Finance approves all financial reports before submission. Therefore, you
should send the entire completed report (budget and narrative) to Finance at least one week prior to
the report deadline unless you and Finance determine it requires additional review time. Finance will
return the budget report to the PI and OSPF, confirming that it is approved for submission.

OSPF signs all interim and final grant reports and submits them to the sponsor on behalf of the PI.
The exception is NSF, which requires the PI to submit reports via research.gov.
8. Submitting revisions / changes to your grant
Events or problems may require changes in the project. PIs should discuss these with the sponsor. Minor
changes (different travel plans, purchase of equipment other than that included in an approved budget, etc.)
may not require approval. Major changes, such as a change in PI, usually do. OSPF or the Assistant Controller
can help provide direction on notifying the funding agency.
9. Closing your grant
Reminder: If you are planning to request a no-cost Extension, please be sure to make the request 45 days prior
to the grant expiration (end of the grant budget period).
Check your award’s terms and conditions for closing requirements.
 Your sponsor’s websites will provide details and required forms.

SPU requires closeout of sponsored projects and programs in accordance with federal regulations, the
specific sponsor policies, and the terms of the award within the timeframe required by the sponsor.

For federal grants SPU must submit a final federal financial report (FFR), final technical report, and final
invention statement and certification within 90 days of the grant expiration.

Failure to submit timely and accurate final reports may affect future funding for the University or
awards with the same PI.
10. If you leave SPU
A professor who is leaving SPU for another institution should contact OSPF and the Assistant Controller as soon
as possible. Check your sponsor’s policies and procedures and work with OSPF to determine if or how the grant
will transfer to your new institution. In most cases the grant can be transferred without problems, but early
planning is essential since the process can be lengthy.
11. Audits
SPU undergoes a federal audit each spring or summer during which grants are randomly selected for review. If
your grant is selected for audit, OSPF will notify you and provide the Finance Office with all requested
documentation. Among other things, auditors check whether or not reports have been submitted on time.
OSPF
Post Award Academic Grant and Fellowship Guidelines
Spring, 2015
Post-award Responsibilities
Principal Investigator (PI) Responsibilities
As the recipient of sponsored funding, you are responsible for the day-to-day administration and direction of
the project, both programmatic and fiscal.
PIs should be aware of all award terms and conditions and should give special attention to those terms and
conditions regarding budget limitations, patents and copyrights, inventions, confidential information, safety
and security.
An approved IRB protocol is required to be in place before any work involving human subjects can begin. PIs
must confirm that OSPF has a copy of the document before project grant funds may be spent. Check policies at
http://spu.edu/university-leadership/provost/institutional-review-board
PIs are responsible to comply with the regulations of the particular funding agency and to ensure that all funds
spent under the grant are necessary to the research conducted.
PIs are responsible to ensure that the OSPF has all documentation, including correspondence, related to your
grant. These documents are stored in your CSFD SharePoint file.
PIs are responsible for required reports.
The University’s grant activity is audited internally and externally on an annual basis. Your adherence to
accepted practices for the management of grant funds ensures SPU’s eligibility for future awards.
OSPF Responsibilities
OSPF provides the post-award functions of award acceptance, report submission, and assistance with closeout
requirements.
Office of Budget and Finance Responsibilities
Finance provides the post-award functions of award negotiations and dealing with the following financial
aspects of an award: establishing sub-awards and sub-contracts; establishing budget accounts and submitting
invoices; processing draw-downs; completing financial reports; managing faculty course release with
department budget managers; and tracking University cost share and effort reporting.
Department Administrators/ Budget managers Responsibilities
Manage the PI’s receipts and requests for advances and reimbursements. Send the PI monthly reports of grant
budget activity. Coordinate with Finance to complete financial reports. Manage the logistics for overload and
adjunct faculty.
OSPF
Post Award Academic Grant and Fellowship Guidelines
Spring, 2015