Hall Center Scholar
Brenna Daldorph with Andrei Codrescu
Boilerplate |
Pre-written blocks of generic material which, with slight modification, can be used in a variety of proposals. Boilerplate materials often include such items as an institution's description, a community profile and the qualifications of staff that will be working on the grant.
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Challenge Grant |
As the name implies, challenge grants, such as those offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities, "challenge" the recipient institution to raise matching funds from other sources. Challenge grants always require a cash match of additional funds that the recipient institution must raise from another source. See also Matching Funds. |
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Cost Share |
Cost share is the portion of a project's total cost that is paid by the institution receiving the award. The term encompasses both matching funds and in-kind contributions. Often, granting agencies will require a specified percentage of cost share, i.e., 20% of the request. For example, if you requested $200,000, then at 20% required cost share the institution would have to provide $40,000 worth of cost share and the total project cost would be $240,000. Budget items that may count as cost share are salaries of the individuals involved as well as in-kind contributions such as supplies or computer time/space. See the University of Kansas Center for Research (KUCR) Cost Sharing/Matching Policy. |
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Curriculum Vitae (CV); Résumé |
A CV is a full account of your academic credentials and accomplishments. A résumé is a brief account of your experience and skills tailored to a specific job or award for which you are applying. Granting agencies sometimes require a "shortened CV" that lists only selected pieces of your scholarly history. The resulting document, which is often limited to two pages or less, is more like a résumé in form and appearance. |
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Deadline |
Deadlines take two forms, postmark deadline and receipt deadline. In the first case, the deadline date given is the date by which the application packet must be mailed. The postmark or the date on the express mail air bill establishes the date. In the second case, the application packet must be in the hands of the granting agency by the given date. Most agencies state clearly whether the date given is a postmark or a receipt deadline. In both cases, we strongly recommend the use of an express mail service, which clearly establishes the date by which the application was sent, offers the ability to track a package if it is not received at the agency by the deadline and offers positive proof that you took measures to ensure your application would arrive on time.
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Direct Costs |
Direct costs refer to the cost of carrying out the project for which grant funding is requested. Examples of such costs include salaries for principle investigators and research assistants, project-related travel, equipment and supplies, photocopying, and fees for computer use and other research costs. Direct costs do not include Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs. |
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External Funding |
Any grant or fellowship administered by a grant-giving entity outside of KU is considered external funding.
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Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs |
Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs are the same as those referred to by the older terms "indirect" or "overhead" costs. All three terms refer to the fee charged to a funding agency on an institutional grant or contract by a university or its research management organization to help cover its cost of doing business. Most simply, F&A funds generated by external grants and contracts are used to pay for lighting, equipment, janitorial services and day-to-day administration and maintenance operations. KU's Policy on the collection of F&A funds does not allow any reduction in the F&A rate applied to a proposal (45.5% for on-campus research, 45% for on-campus training grants, 25% for off-campus research, and 26% for off-campus training grants). If a funding agency has an official written policy dictating a lower F&A rate, KU's research management organization, KUCR, will abide by that policy. Foundations often do not allow F&A. Some allow an administrative fee, which KUCR will accept in lieu of F&A. Some foundations allow direct charging of some administrative items, as well. KUCR does encourage pursuing grants from foundations and will collect as much of the appropriate F&A costs as the particular foundation will allow. See the KUCR F&A Rates and F&A Cost Return Policy. |
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Grantee |
The agency, institution or individual to whom a grant is formally awarded. Grants are generally made to universities, school districts or other non-profit organizations, and only rarely to individuals. |
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Grant vs. Contract |
A grant is an actual award of funds given by an agency. (Applicants do not write grants, they write grant applications.) When a competitive grant program is announced, the funding agency will almost always outline the general purpose and direction it has in mind, leaving the specifics to the imagination or expertise of the applicant. A contract is a formal agreement offered by an agency for the delivery of specific products or services. Under a contract award, an agency agrees to pay the PI or the institution a specified amount for a specific task or set of tasks it has need to have performed. Both are legally binding, but a grant gives the recipient more leeway in the choice of work performed for the money.
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General Research Fund (GRF) |
The General Research fund is open to KU faculty members and is considered to be seed money for their research by KUCR. Application information is sent late each fall semester to faculty members by their academic units, which also handle the selection process. |
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Individual Grant |
Individual grants generally take the form of fellowships or small research grants awarded directly to an individual rather than requiring that an institution submit the application and administer the subsequent award. Individual grants can be administered through KU, which enables KU faculty to receive benefits and full salary through the Supplemental Salary Funding (SSF) process. |
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In-Kind Contributions |
These are contributions of equipment, supplies, office space and staff time as distinguished from cash (or "real money") contributions. |
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Internal Funding |
Internal funding is funding offered in the form of a grant or fellowship only to KU faculty or students by any KU administrative unit. For example, the Hall Center's competitions offer "internal funding" for KU faculty, as do the General Research Fund (GRF) and New Faculty General Research Fund (NFGRF). |
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Institutional Grant |
Some granting agencies require that applications be submitted and administered by an institution rather than an individual. Awards as a result of these applications are Institutional grants. Some agencies that offer funding in the form of "fellowships" also require institutional approval, and thus awards are technically Institutional Grants. The National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend is an example. Such applications are written by individual faculty members or collaborative groups of faculty, but must be reviewed and approved by KUCR prior to submission. See also Individual Grant. |
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Kansas University Endowment Association (KUEA) |
The Kansas University Endowment Association (KUEA) is the University's developmental fund-raising arm. Any approach to a private foundation or to a corporation must be registered and cleared with KUEA. Foundation and corporation approaches are often submitted with KUEA assistance and administrative oversight. |
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Matching Funds |
Matching funds are funds a granting agency requires a grantee to raise from third-parties in order to receive the total mount of funding they have requested. When matching funds are required, a granting agency agrees to provide a set amount of funding if the grantee can raise a set percentage of that amount from another source. Although most agencies require matching funds to be in the form of third-party cash contributions, some will allow in-kind or a combination of direct cash match and in-kind contributions from third parties. See also Challenge Grants and Cost Share. |
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New Faculty General Research Fund (NFGRF) |
All new faculty are entitled to one New Faculty General Research Fund (NFGRF) award during their first two years at KU. These grants provide small amounts of seed money for summer research and/or a graduate research assistant. A faculty member may apply for up to $8,000 by demonstrating that the project will lay the foundation for future research and holds the promise of external funding. |
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Principal Investigator (PI) |
The PI, or Principal Investigator, is the individual named in the application as the party who is primarily responsible for conducting the research or carrying out the project for which the grant is being requested. Collaborative work may result in co-principal investigators submitting a joint application. |
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Preliminary Proposal |
A short version of a proposal sent to a funding agency for internal review. Some agencies, such as the Howard Foundation, require a preliminary proposal (sometimes called a concept statement) as a qualifier prior to inviting applications from a select number of applicants. |
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Private Foundation |
A private foundation is a tax-exempt (501(c)3) entity set up to give away or otherwise spend charitable purposes. |
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Program Officer; Contract Officer; Project Officer |
The Program Officer is the member of the funding agency staff assigned to monitor the programmatic (not fiscal) aspects of your project. You should contact this individual with questions about the proposal development process. The Contract Officer, sometimes called the Project Officer, is a staff member of the funding agency assigned to monitor the fiscal (not programmatic) aspects of your project. Note that US Department of Education Program Officers are responsible for the financial, as well as the programmatic, aspects of grant awards. |
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Request for Proposals (RFP) |
Both of these acronyms are generally used by government agencies, and sometimes private funding agencies, to announce programs and solicit applications. |
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Research Costs |
When a funding agency states that a grant funds only research costs, it means that this particular grant opportunity is intended to cover expenses such as research-related travel and per diem, photocopying, access fees, materials and supplies and sometimes equipment. It may also provide salary for one or more research assistants, but generally does not provide a stipend for the principal investigator. See also Stipend. |
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Research Proposal |
A research proposal consists of all the materials required by a granting agency in order to propose that a specific research project receive funding from that agency. It may include agency forms, abstract, narrative description detailing the proposed work, bibliography, résumés or CVs, budget and supporting materials. |
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Review Panel |
Review panels are composed of experts who read grant or fellowship applications and make funding recommendations to granting agencies. Federal review panels do not include staff members of the agency that is offering the funding, although program officers sit in on the discussions and may provide information not otherwise available to the panel (which is a reason to make contact with a program officer prior to application). Reviewers are selected from the "field." This is often called the peer review process. Review panels typically have at least three members, each of whom reads many different proposals during the review process. |
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Review Criteria |
Granting agencies provide in the application guidelines specific criteria by which proposals are judged. Whether applications are considered through a review panel process or other procedure, success depends on how well they addresses the criteria specified in the agency's guidelines. Applicants should learn everything possible about the manner in which their applications will be rated and write to the criteria. |
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Seed Money |
Seed money is funding given to an institution or individual to allow a project to be started and progress far enough to make it more attractive to other funding agencies for larger grants. |
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Stipend |
A stipend is a periodic payment, especially a scholarship or fellowship allowance. Stipends are intended to be used to pay living expenses. |
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Subvention |
A subvention is given to an author or directly to a publisher to subsidize the costs of publishing a book. |
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Supplemental Salary Funding (SSF) |
Since most humanities fellowships provide stipends for an academic year of research that are less than a faculty member's regular salary, most KU fellowship winners would have to take a cut in salary to accept the award and pursue their research. By offering tenure-track faculty members the Supplemental Salary Funds (SSF) to bridge the gap and cover fringe benefits, the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) encourages the pursuit of external awards. To qualify for SSF, the amount of the stipend awarded must constitute at least half of the faculty member's regular salary and the application must have been submitted through the Humanities Grant Development Office (HGDO) or a copy must be provided to the HGDO at the time of the request for SSF. Upon learning of an external fellowship award, a faculty member should submit a request through the HGDO and his or her primary department. SSF are allowed based on the faculty member's agreement to return to employment at KU following the fellowship year for at least one academic year or repay the SSF. Such an award also stops the clock on the probationary period for pre-tenure faculty members, essentially providing an extra year for them to achieve tenure-boosting research and publications. Faculty members can make use of the SSF every five years. SSF request form. |
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University of Kansas Center For Research, Inc. (KUCR) |
The University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (KUCR) is the nonprofit research arm of the University. It administers all federal and state institutional grants and contracts at KU. Applications to government agencies must be submitted with KUCR approval. |
