I’d also want to modify F. under “Sponsored Project.” If services require approval or monitoring (IRB, IACUC, export control, what have you), it should be under the sponsored project umbrella even if the funds come in under a gift transaction. We might not have any responsibility to report back to the donor, or to return any unspent funds, but we would still have a duty to ensure that appropriate precautions were in place, and that the services being provided were covered by an approved protocol—and most foundations aren’t set up for that sort of monitoring.

 

It’s the departmental funds that are tricky on that point. If it’s the department’s own money (e.g., some kind of annual allocation to a faculty member or center), then they’d still need to be compliant with the applicable approval and monitoring processes for the work being done, but the funds could potentially still be tracked through their regular departmental accounting procedures. But if the department was being paid by an outside source, then I think the work would still need to be classed as a sponsored project and tracked that way. It’s one thing if somebody just wants to pay to run spectral analyses on some sample compounds. It’s something else if they want to introduce those compounds into animal or human subjects.

 

 

 

Dara,

 

Excellent question. We are about to start grappling with this ourselves. We have handled a variety of external funding activities through our office but now have to carve out the “departmental sales and service” activities. It’s in quotes because defining that is where the rubber will meet the road.

 

It figures that the chart is from UMN – that’s the place to go to for policies! I like the chart, but would need to modify some of the definitions for our institution. For  example, a non-profit awards a grant to a researcher and there is no direct economic benefit, no milestones, nor must the U return the funds. A final report is required, but it is not “extensive.”  To me that is under our mission, not the Foundation’s, but at UMN that would go to the UMN Foundation.  Maybe it would be a project that would be referred to the working group.

 

“Services” is listed under both sponsored project and external sales. I would modify SP E. to say, “The contract is for services and requires the University to separately account for the funds in its accounting system.” With a contract, we often receive some funds up front, and/or bill per milestones. We have entered into an agreement to provide services for X dollars and have a responsibility to provide such services, no matter the cost. We would have a budget to guide the project and help ensure that we use the funds received to perform the services.  For those reasons, we would set up a project account to manage the funds and ensure the deliverables are met and not spend more than what was awarded.

 

Those are quick reactions –  I think the document does a great job clarifying how funds should be handled, but for our purposes I’d need to revise it, revise being the operative word. I wasn’t aware this was out there, so thank you for your question and sharing this chart because it will be helpful for my institution as we move forward with some  changes in the next few months.

 

Carolyn

Carolyn Elliott-Farino

Executive Director, Office of Research

Kennesaw State University

xxxxxx@kennesaw.edu; 470-578-6381

 

 

 

Hi Sandra, all –

 

Sorry, I wasn’t clear (late in the day!).  The policy is to establish proper institutional buckets and procedures for managing all external funds coming into the university. In my perfect world I’d get us to something like this:

http://www.ospa.umn.edu/announcements/documents/GiftGrantExternalSaleBucketPosterVersion6.pdf

 

Dara

 

 

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Sandra Nordahl
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 5:25 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Sponsored Program or Auxiliary Service

 

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