PURPOSE

This policy and related procedures are intended to distribute indirect costs generated from faculty in a manner that rewards and motivates grant activity, while also providing for University overhead expenses. In addition, this policy pertains to institutional grants.

POLICY

"Indirect cost" funding recovered from faculty grants will be distributed as follows:

• General Fund: 50% ($2,500 for $5,000 Example)
• Academic Dean (of Project Director): 25% ($1,250 for $5,000 Example)
• Project Director(s): 15% ($750 for $5,000 Example)
• Office of Grant Services: 10% ($500 for $5,000 Example)

"Indirect cost" funding recovered from institutional grants will be distributed as follows:

• General Fund: 90% ($4,500 for $5,000 Example)
• Office of Grant Services: 10% ($500 for $5,000 Example)

This policy applies to all grants with indirect cost reimbursements of $1,000 or more during a fiscal year. All indirect cost reimbursements of less than $1,000 per year will be allocated to the General Fund.

PROCEDURES

The funds will be distributed as indicated above according to the following procedures:

General Fund: Funds allocated to the general fund will help defray overhead expenses including utilities, custodial services, equipment/building depreciation, and business office expenses.

Academic Dean: Funds allocated to the academic dean will be used to support external grant-seeking within the college. Priority will be given to using these dollars as matching funds for external grant projects. In collaboration with the office of the associate provost for academic excellence and office of grant services, deans might also use funds for such things as providing stipends for faculty members to work on external grant proposals, and travel and/or fees associated with grant seeking training.

If more than one college is represented in a faculty grant, the deans' allocation will be divided at the discretion of the associate provost for academic excellence.

Project Director(s): Funds allocated to the project director(s) will be used for research and/or teaching purposes, preferably related to the grant project. Examples include: faculty or student travel to conferences, materials or supplies needed for research or teaching, student worker wages, refreshments for meetings related to research, teaching or the grant project, and departmental needs. These funds will be held in a designated, restricted University account and will be overseen by grant services and the controller's office. The project director allocation must be spent by the end of the third fiscal year (June 30th) following distribution or it will be returned to the general fund.

Office of Grant Services: Funds allocated to the office of grant services will be used for on campus workshops and training for faculty and staff or other grant related training activities.

Distribution: The funds will be distributed when the indirect cost funds are received by the University from the funder, according to the specific grant agreement. Typically, this occurs at the completion of the grant period or at the end of each grant year.

Updated 10/3/23