Grants 101: What is a Single Audit?

Grants 101: What is a Single Audit?

A single audit is a audit of federal funds for that particular calendar year.  An agency that would have received or have federal funds on hand must account for them.  There has to be reconciliation between what was received, what was spent and what remains in the account.

This is not a Project Audit, although if all activity is completed in the calendar year it potentially could become a project audit.

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Grants 101: What is a Project Audit?

Grants 101: What is a Project Audit?

A project audit is an accounting of grant funds that were used to complete a project.  If there is a grant awarded and the grant requires additional funds to complete the project, the grant funds as well as the local funds are audited to present a complete picture of the status of the project.

Many times the project audit will require that a certain amount of local money needs to be spent.  If the money is not spent in a manner consistent with sound fiscal procedure the grant source may ask for the money back.

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Grants 101: What is a Grant submission "shot gun" approach

Grant Shot Gun Approach

This is a practice in grant writing where you apply to everybody and anybody.  Many times the writer will superimpose the standard application answers for what the funder is asking.  This practice could be successful at times but it is better to target your energies to a few well thought out applications.

Many start up organizations have a volunteer who will send out so many applications that by the odds of chance one or two will be funded.  These is always a way maybe hit it big and get a large grant or a big award by being in the right place at the right time.

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Grants 101: What is a Grant Pass-Through Organization

Grant Pass-Through Organization

Commonly Foundations will only give money to 501 (C) 3 organizations.  These organizations have been approved by the IRS for accepting charitable donations and have them be tax deductible.  The organizations are Educational, Scientific etc., and serve a public purpose.

Some of these organizations become umbrella organizations and let other agencies use their tax status to acquire grants.  This means if you have a project that meets the guidelines, you could access the grant through another organization.

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Grants 101: What is Grant Packaging

Grant Packaging

No project is ever funded in total by a grant.  There is a need for layering of the funding sources to make a project happen.  Normally the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a 50% match on programs.  That means that you put up half the money and they put out half the money. 

Normally a funding entity will not let you match money from the same source.  In other words, you cannot match state money with state money and you can not match federal money with federal money. The idea is to find two funding sources with similar scope and similar timelines and match them.

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