Nonprofit Bookkeeping & Accounting For Dummies® by Sharon Farris

Author:Sharon Farris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

If you’re lucky enough to get a grant, then you’re a grant recipient. A grant recipient is expected to

Be a good steward of the grant money

Use the grant money for intended purposes

Keep copies of all bills and expenses paid for with the money

Finding and applying for federal grants for your nonprofit

If you’re like me, you receive tons of spam e-mails about grants to pay your bills, buy a house, start a business, and so on. In addition, I get phone calls daily from people seeking advice after they’ve been misled by e-mails and infomercials. Federal grants aren’t a joke or scam though. They’re given to organizations that fulfill a need in society. The federal government knows it can’t address people’s needs by itself; therefore, it awards grants to nonprofit organizations that benefit society.

So where can your nonprofit locate these federal grant monies? Three primary places to find grant opportunities for your nonprofit are

Grants.gov: Grants.gov is the one-stop shop designed to provide a level playing field for all organizations. Every funding opportunity offered by the 26 federal agencies can be found at www.grants.gov.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA): The catalog identifies funding opportunities by assigning a program number. If you have the CFDA number, looking up the federal program is fairly easy. You can find a hard-copy of the CFDA at your local library or check it out online at www.cfda.gov.

The specific federal agency’s Web site: All 26 federal agencies have information on their respective Web sites about grant opportunities. A simple way to find any federal agency is to use an online search engine.

To position your organization to apply for federal loans, take a deep breath. Over the years, the U.S. government has made great strides in ensuring that the process is open to any nonprofit that qualifies by creating a one-stop shop. Unfortunately, accessing federal grant money isn’t as easy as shopping at your local discount store. However, the good news is all organizations follow the same steps:

1. Register with www.grants.gov.

2. Download a grant application package.

3. Submit your application online.

The waiting period for finding out whether you’ve been awarded a grant is usually three to six months.

Documenting where the money goes

If your nonprofit receives federal grant money, you can’t just throw a big party and start spending to your heart’s content. Federal regulations require strict documentation of grant expenses. Uncle Sam wants to know how and where you’re spending his money.

So why does Uncle Sam care how you’re spending the grant money? You have to document costs for verification purposes, both for requesting payment for expenses and for audit purposes. As your nonprofit incurs program expenses related to the grant, you need to account for every transaction with supporting documentation to justify and verify expenditures. In the wake of government accountability, federal grants are under serious scrutiny. Although opening a separate bank account for grant funds isn’t required, federal auditors and monitors require that nonprofits account for and keep track of every purchase, sale, and payment separately.

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