1. What role does the Office of Academic & Government Grants play when I am seeking and writing a grant? 
2. What are the benefits of writing a grant? It seems like an awful lot of work, for funds that are never guaranteed....
3. How do I deal with rejection? I have applied to a federal agency twice, and I have been rejected twice. What next?
4. Why is institutional review and approval of grants required?
5. Grants have both public and private sponsors, so when do I work with the Office of Academic & Government Grants and when with Corporate and Foundation Relations?
6. What is my role and what are my responsibilities, duties, and obligations as a principal investigator?
7. How confidential is my grant?
8. What are the "indirect costs" that go to McDaniel College?
9. Where can I find program announcements and solicitations?
10. Our new research project requires “cost-sharing.” What is this?
11. How long must I keep all documentation relating to the grant project?
12. The grant ceiling is $100,000, but I need at least $125,000 for my project and, ideally, I should be working with $150,000 or more. What would you recommend? 
13. Who is responsible for copying and mailing a proposal?
14. I need to include fringe benefits for all grant salaries and wages. What are McDaniel's current fringe benefit rates?
15. What can I buy with my grant funds?

1. What role does the Office of Academic & Government Grants play when I am seeking and writing a grant?
We play a supportive role throughout the entire life cycle of a grant, from composing a complete and competitive grant portfolio to close out. We will support you in finding, drafting, and submitting the grant proposal portfolio, and we try to be especially attentive to faculty, staff, and students who are new to applying for grants. To achieve this, we ask that you notify us of your desire to work on a grant as soon as possible. Six months before the submission deadline is ideal for your proposal to receive the amount of attention that it needs to be a highly competitive one. Experienced principal investigators often begin the conceptual work on a major grant project eight to twelve months before the submission deadline.

2. What are the benefits of writing a grant? It seems like an awful lot of work, for funds that are never guaranteed....
The rewards from a successful grant are innumerable. You will have monies to realize research, teaching, and development goals that otherwise might remain ephermeal. You will be energized and, often, find news paths and make new contributions to scholarship, while broadening and deepening your network of colleagues. These accomplishments often translate into personal ones in that they make you a more competitive candidate for tenure and promotion. There is the additional satisfaction of securing monies for graduate or undergraduate research assistants, whom you may choose to ask to co-author an article arising from your grant project. Along the way, you are gaining leadership skills and building your reputation in the field.

3. How do I deal with rejection? I have applied to a federal grant that seemed perfect for my ideas, and I have been rejected. What next?
First-time submissions have the lowest funding rates. Success increases with second and third time revisions and re-submissions. That is why many sponsors will provide the principal investigator/project director with the comments of the reviewers. If circumstances permit, certain programs even allow for review of an initial draft approximately six weeks prior to the deadline. Read all reviewers' comments with care, then revise and re-submit. Some agencies, like the National Science Foundation, encourage a "Response to Prior Review" section to ensure that an applicant has done so. Revising and re-submitting a grant does not damage your chances of securing that grant in the next round; it only increases your chances because you should have aligned your proposal more with the sponsor's needs and expectations. Another way to increase your chance of success is to communicate openly with the program officer for the funding opportunity. If the program officer has time, s/he will either give you advice to develop a proposal that fits well the agency's needs or refer you to a funding opportunity that better fits your own interests. Just keep in mind that while communication before the submission deadline is encouraged, communication with a program officer after the submission deadline is discouraged and sometimes prohibited to ensure the integrity of the blind, merit review of the application.

4. Why is institutional review and approval of grants required?
For most grants, the "applicant" is the institution. There are exceptions, such as grants for smaller amounts like the National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships that are awarded directly to individual faculty or the Fulbright Program that reaches agreements not with U.S. institutions but with the institutions overseas to which U.S. faculty go. In general, however, it is rare that a substantial award can go directly to an individual. In fact, Congress has prohibited certain agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts from awarding monies directly to individuals except in unique circumstances. The reasons range from preventing fraud to investing in permanent institutions and organizations. These are the main reasons why your grant needs to receive the approval of McDaniel College's President's Council. McDaniel College assumes not only responsibility for the grant but liability as well. When you secure this approval, you are protecting your grant, for McDaniel College is not obligated to honor or accept grants that have not been reviewed and approved by the President's Council. A grant with the full support of the College is also a more competitive grant that proceeds in a smoother fashion when awarded.

5. Grants have both public and private sponsors, so when do I work with the Office of Academic & Government Grants and when with Corporate and Foundation Relations?
The Office of Academic & Government Grants primarily helps faculty and administrators write grants for which they are either the principal investigators or the project directors, and most often these are academic, e.g. teaching and research, projects. These grants are, for the most part, scholarship-based. Corporate and Foundation Relations primarily handles "bricks and mortar" gifts and endowment gifts from corporations and foundations. If you have any confusion over whom you should contact, either office would be happy to direct you to the appropriate person.

6. What is my role and what are my responsibilities, duties, and obligations as a principal investigator/project director?
As the principal investigator (PI) or project director (PD), your role is complex. Once a grant is awarded, you are responsible for all scholarly aspects, plus the daily management, of the project. This means that in addition to completing all pledged academic activity, you need to work with this Office and the Office of Financial Services to ensure responsible management of the grant monies and, if your research involves human subjects or animals, to work with McDaniel College's Institutional Review Board or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Your directorial responsibilities would also include drafting and submitting in a timely manner all progress, annual, and final reports.

7. How confidential is my grant?
While most details of any grant are confidential, please remember that any grants supported by public funds are subject to Freedom of Information legislation, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and various "sunshine" laws. Sensitive information such as salaries and proprietary information are not available to the general public, but much of the other information about your grant is available, upon request. The "sunshine laws" do much to protect the integrity of the blind, merit process by which grants are awarded. At the College, the process for developing, submitting, and stewarding grants is clear and openly available for all interested parties. However, only those administrators directly involved in working with and approving your grant will have access to senstive information such as salaries and proprietary information. In particular, your winning a grant will be a subject for praise and congratulatory announcements in our community.

8. What are the "indirect costs" that go to McDaniel College?
"Indirect costs" represent the hit that the College takes whenever it accepts and supports an award. Many awards are not subject to these costs, but some are. "Indirect costs" are also known as "Facilities & Administrative" costs, and they consist of infrastructure costs that are not specific to an individual grant but to all grant activities housed within the College. These are "tapping into college resources" costs. It is less expensive for federal agencies to use the resources of any college or university to house their grant work rather than for the federal agencies to build their own labs and hire their own scientists and professors, and so federal agencies have pre-negotiated rates with colleges and universities to cover the costs of using their facilities. McDaniel College's current rate is 48.9% (of operating costs). You can figure out the amount of indirect costs by dividing by 1.489 the total funds available. For example, if you are applying for a three-year, $100,000 grant, you have about $67,159 to work with as principal investigator/project director. The other $32,840 goes to McDaniel for every time over the next three years you tap into the College's infrastructure, from using your computer or your department's resources to consulting with the staff of Finance, and from participants on the grant using Hoover Library resources to parking in the College lots.

9. Where can I find program announcements and solicitations?
There are three good ways to find opportunities. The "Search for Funds" link to the right will bring you to multiple free databases. If you need additional assistance or would like to request an individual search, please contact the Office of Academic & Government Grants. Finally, you can register for RSS feeds or email notices, based on the criteria that you enter, on Grants.gov. Simply visit http://www.grants.gov/, select "Find Grant Opportunies" from the menu, and then select "Subscriptions" from the bottom of the main page.

10. Our new research project requires “cost-sharing.” What is this?
Some sponsors expect the host institution, in this case McDaniel College, to share in the cost of conducting the project's work. Sponsors interpret the extent of cost sharing as a sign of the College's level of commitment. Frequently, this requirement is met through faculty time, use of resources that constitute direct costs to McDaniel College, and in-kind contributions from third parties. All such costs must be documented for the sponsoring organization, so you need to maintain records that track the cost-sharing on your grant-funded project.

11. How long must I keep all documentation relating to the grant project?
For most government grants, you need to keep records for three years after the date of submission of the final reports. For a non-government grant, you should keep all records for four years. Sometimes a specific sponsor asks that records be retained longer or that we retain them until an audit can take place. If this happens, we will inform you. At the end of the designated time to retain records, such as three years, we dispose of all records because to maintain records is to maintain liability.

12. The grant ceiling is $100,000, but I need at least $125,000 for my project and, ideally, I should be working with $150,000 or more. What would you recommend?
Our best recommendation is to adjust the compass of your project to a sponsor's available funding. The proposal that fits well the sponsor's goal to realize certain work with allocated monies is the more competitive proposal. Sometimes this means funding one aspect of your project with a primary grant, and finding supplemental money with another grant. Or, perhaps you can do planning work or initial experimentation with one grant, and then apply for other grants in the future to take that work to the next level. When you apply for the subsequent grants, you are doing so with a proven track record from the first grant.

13. Who is responsible for copying and mailing a proposal?
Few sponsors today require that you mail paper copies, and federal grants now require electronic submission. Most times the Office of Academic & Government Grants submits the electronic proposal though, in limited cases and circumstances, a PI/PD can ask to be temporarily designated an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) of the College and then submit the grant her/himself online once s/he has received all College approvals. For the few sponsors that still ask for paper copies, your department is responsible for all copying and mailing costs.

14. I need to include fringe benefits for all grant salaries and wages. What are McDaniel's current fringe benefit rates?
Full-time faculty and staff on average use 30% fringe benefit rates each year. Federal circulars require that the College bill all costs consistently, so the College bills 30% fringe benefit rates on grants. Rates for summer employment, part-time faculty, working undergraduate or graduate assistants, and so on, generally are billed at an 8.5% fringe benefit rate. Consultants, external evaluators, artists, and similar outside personnel who are paid by an honorarium may not need to receive fringe benefits through the College and simply must report this income on their own taxes. If you need to breakdown the fringe benefits rates in a "Budget Justification" or "Budget Narrative," contact us for help. You can also find brief guidelines on writing line-item budgets and budget narratives by selecting the "Writing and Submission" link from the right menu, and then selecting "Fact Sheets."

15. What can I buy with my grant funds?
You can buy the items, products, and services (like those of a consultant) that you detailed in your project budget. Most sponsors are generous about giving awardees a wide berth—about 10% of the entire project budget—to adjust as needed within the general budget categories. Sponsors discourage or even disallow adjustments between general budget categories, e.g., moving 10% of funds dedicated to "Participant Support (such as supporting students or teachers to attend workshops) into "Salaries and Wages." In any event, be prepared to give your rationale for, and all documentation of, the adjustment in the progress or final report submitted to the sponsor. If you read with care the sponsor's grant award conditions, you will know your full rights as an awardee regarding the budget, as well as any other aspects of your project.

Please feel free to submit additional questions or comments to the Office of Academic & Government Grants.