Good morning!

I'm one of those people who listens to this group, soaking up knowledge.
Now, it's my turn to post a question.

We have Fringe Benefit rates that we use as estimates on proposals, but
charge actual costs to the sponsor of an award.  We don't pool fringe
benefits.  The various rates are applied specifically to Faculty, Post Doc,
Professional, Graduate, Merit (clerical & technical), and non-student
hourly employees.

In the past, our office has calculated the estimates based on averages of
actual costs.  This was a fairly cumbersome task and the rates end up being
only slightly higher than the annual projections established by the
business office for ISU's annual budget book.

My question is how are other institutions like Iowa State University (no
benefits pool) establishing their fringe benefit rates for proposals?  How
often is it revised?  Is there an easier way to do it that is still
reliable?  Of course we want to be sure that the PI has enough funding to
cover their actual costs without being excessive.

I welcome all responses!  And thank you for your time!

Diane M. Meyer |-| Budget/COS/FastLane Specialist
Office of Sponsored Programs Administration
Iowa State University
2207 Pearson, Room 15
Ames, Iowa  50011-2207
515-294-4567 (voice)  515-294-8000 (fax)

http://grants-svr.admin.iastate.edu/
 < ==W-W-W==<<  . . . (Cyber)Bear

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