Approval Process for Development and Submission of Grants

Administrative Procedure 2.503

Elgin Community College and the ECC Foundation pursue numerous and varied funding opportunities for grant support of College programs, activities, and student scholarships, in accordance with College procedures. This procedure is intended to maximize opportunities for both grant support and effective oversight of awarded grants. College and Foundation resources are available to provide hands-on assistance to the project/program manager throughout the grant research, proposal, development, and submission process. 

Proposal Development

Because the grant development process is resource-intensive and can require the participation of a variety of departments across the institution, the requesting project/program manager must contact the appropriate grant developer as soon as possible to assess viability, given college funding priorities, existing workload, and submission deadline. 

All submissions to government entities (Federal, State, and local agencies) are submitted by Elgin Community College. The project/program manager(s) must contact the assistant vice president of Teaching, Learning, and Student Services (TLSD). 

All submissions to private entities (corporations, foundations, individuals, community organizations) are submitted through the Elgin Community College Foundation. Authors must contact the executive director of the ECC Foundation. 

Working with the project/program manager and other collaborating departments, the assistant vice president of TLSD or executive director of the ECC Foundation, as appropriate, will determine if a proposal is viable and authorized for development. 

General Indirect Costs

Indirect costs are the institutional or infrastructure costs of managing and running programs that cannot be directly attributed to a program or activity. These costs include items such as printing, equipment use, accounting, utilities, professional development, security, library services, IT, and administrative costs that are hard to calculate but are true costs of running programs. The indirect cost rate reimburses the college and/or foundation for that fraction of its indirect costs that the granting agency agrees to bear. 

Federal agencies require colleges to use rates negotiated with a government entity. Elgin Community College’s negotiated partner is the Department of Health and Human Services. The rate for indirect costs for private grantors varies by organization. 

In developing budgets for submission, applicants are to calculate project costs using the maximum rate allowed in the proposal. 

Grant proposals and submissions will include the maximum allowable indirect cost rate unless an exception has been approved in advance. Exception requests must be submitted to the assistant vice president of Teaching, Learning, and Student Development (government grants) or the executive director of the ECC Foundation (private grants). All exception requests must be approved by Cabinet. 

Approval for Submission

Once the proposal has been developed, the grant must be approved for submission prior to sending or uploading it to the grantor. The grant developer from TLSD or the ECC Foundation will initiate the approval process through the “Approval to Prepare a Grant Proposal Form.”

Grants submitted to federal agencies via Grants.gov are submitted in cooperation with the TLSD department, the College’s Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR). 

Grant Management, Compliance, and Maintenance

The management phase of a grant award begins when the award notification is received and contracting is complete (where relevant). The central files for grants management are maintained as follows: 

1. Government grantor files are maintained by the assistant controller, including the grant contact. Copies and instructions for data collection and reporting will be issued to the project/program manager and the senior director of Institutional Research. The assistant controller monitors and manages the grant contract process, as well as oversees any required contract or budget negotiations and/or further signature needs. [For further details on grants administration/management requirements, please refer to the Approval to Prepare a Grant Proposal Form on my.elgin.edu.] 
2. The ECC Foundation maintains private grantor files. The ECC Foundation monitors the spend-down of grant funding to ensure compliance with the accepted proposal/contract. With the help of the project/program manager, it reports outcomes and stewards the granting organization. The ECC Foundation will work with the assistant controller to establish ECC budget codes, when appropriate, to facilitate expenditure.

This policy was last reviewed on 06/12/2017.