Accepting Your Award and Reporting Guidelines

We cover the three different types of reporting required from awarded grants:

• How to accept your award (preaward, agreement, pay request)
• Receipts and Proof of Payment
• Quarterly Report
• Final Report

How to Accept Your Award

When an application is approved, the “applicant” then becomes the “subrecipient” or “grantee.” Once this occurs, the grantee will be notified of the decision, the grant period, and instructions for the next steps in the process. These steps must be completed before funds can be disbursed:

• Submit the Grant Agreement
• Submit the Initial Payment Request

Generally, the grantee has up to one year to:

• Complete the grant project
• Submit the Quarterly report and payment request
• Submit the Final report and payment request
• Expend all funds

The grantee additionally has up to 30 days following the end date of the grant period to submit all of these required materials (60 days for Major Grants). At that time, the grant will be closed upon HumanitiesAR staff review and approval.

An applicant organization may not have more than one open grant at any given time.

Preaward: The Grant Agreement

HumanitiesAR (Arkansas Humanities Council) receives grant awards from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) that are then used to create “subawards” (or the grant initiatives that are outlined in this manual). Because grants are largely made up from NEH federal funds, we must keep a thorough record throughout the project and require certain documentation to comply with NEH guidelines and federal regulation (this includes the grant agreement, payment requests, budget quotes and report receipts requirements).

The Grant Agreement is a legal contract between the Grantee, the Fiscal Agent, and HumanitiesAR that outlines the conditions of the grant: funds dispersed will be used as designated by the approved application budget, the grantee will complete the required documentation, and that both the grantee and HumanitiesAR remain in compliance with NEH guidelines.

The Grant Agreement must be digitally signed in the grant portal by all three parties: Grantee, Fiscal Agent (as designated by the approved application), and HumanitiesAR Executive Director.

Preaward: The Initial Payment Request

In addition to the grant agreement, the initial payment request is required before any funds can be disbursed. The initial payment request begins the pay schedule for the grant project. HumanitiesAR typically disperses funds in a pay schedule as follows:

• 50% of the full grant amount with the initial payment request (contingent on the submission of the grant agreement)
• 25% of the full grant amount with the submission and approval of the Quarterly report and payment request
• 25% of the full grant amount with the submission and approval of the Final Report and payment request 

The payment request packet for all reports will include the fillable PDF payment request form as well as additional instructions on how to fill out the form (for grants that require cost-share, those forms are also included in the packet). The following are instructions to fill out the payment request form and where to find the appropriate information:

1. Project Name: the title of the grant project as written in the approved application
2. Grant Amount: see your approval notice or grant agreement for the total amount awarded for your grant project
3. Check One: indicate which type of report you are submitting by checking the appropriate choice.
   • Payment Requests will be filled out with each quarterly report and should reflect actual AND estimated expenses for the next quarter
     • For the initial payment request, if no expenses have or will occur during the first quarter/by the time of submission, that is okay.
     • Quarterly Reports and Payment Requests should include receipts for all expenses incurred.
   • The Final Financial Report should be submitted together with the final narrative report for the project and receipts for all purchases. These final reports are due no later than 30 days following the end of the grant period (60 days for Major Grants).
4. Sponsoring Organization (Name and Address): this should reflect the organization contact information listed in the approved application materials
5. Payment Requested: this is the installment amount requested for the quarter (50-25-25)
6. Project Grant Period: this timeframe is listed in the grant approval and grant agreement materials
7. Period Covered by this Report: this is the timeframe of the current quarter (see your grant portal for these dates, they will coincide with the due dates of your reports)
8. HumanitiesAR Grant Funds: this is where ACTUAL expenses are recorded. These expenses should be within the scope of the approved project budget and have corresponding receipts uploaded as a part of the report or request
9. Cost-Share: this is where you will add cash or in-kind contributions to the grant project from the sponsoring organization or additional sponsors. All cost-share items will require the grantee to fill out an additional form describing the item and value to include with the request (this form is included with the payment request packet in the grant portal)
10. Signature of the Fiscal Agent: as designated by the grant agreement
11. Signature of Project Director: as designated by the grant agreement
12. Filled in by HumanitiesAR
13. Filled in by HumanitiesAR

The payment request form for all three stages is the same. Using our example from the Budget section of the manual here is how one would fill out the initial payment request:

In this example, Suzie will not be incurring any expenses during the first quarter of the grant period as the teacher workshop isn’t scheduled until October 2023, so she will total out zeroes in “8. HumanitiesAR Grant Funds” field and request her initial 50% of the grant amount. Both Suzie and the fiscal agent, Donald Harrington, will sign off and date the form before submitting the form.

Once the grant agreement and initial payment request are submitted and approved, the first installment of grant funds will be dispersed to the grantee.

Grantees will be provided instructions on receiving payment via Bill.com. You’ll have the option of receiving payments through direct deposit to the applicant organizations bank account or by check upon special request.

Important Note: The fiscal agent is responsible for receiving, processing, and dispersing funds from HumanitiesAR – they will be the ones who sign up for direct deposit payments through Bill.com.

Receipts and Proof of Payment

Once the first installment has been disbursed, the grant project is underway. Grantees and fiscal agents must keep a careful record of expenses throughout the project. Both the Quarterly and Final Reports require itemized proof of payment documentation in addition to program content and audience statistics.

NOTE: If at any point the grantee submits a report or form that is either insufficient or incomplete, HumanitiesAR staff will request additional documentation or allow for corrections. It is important to reiterate that an organization’s ability to apply for HumanitiesAR funds is contingent on the timely and accurate submission of required documentation and reporting.

For all expenses incurred during a grant project, HumanitiesAR requires proof of payment to account for the proper use of disbursed funds. Receipts are the most common proof of payment documentation, but paid invoices, bank statements, or copies of checks would also satisfy HumanitiesAR requirements.

Regardless of form, acceptable proof of payment documentation must include:

• Itemized list of purchases
• Date of purchase
• Total purchase amount
• Where the purchase is from
• Full or partial Credit Card Number, Account Number, Check Number, etc. from which purchases were made

Unacceptable documentation as proof of payment include:

• Unpaid invoices
• Purchase orders
• Amazon or other online shopping carts

When in doubt if your documentation is acceptable, remember, “proof of payment” is exactly that: does the documentation prove a purchase was actually made? what was the purchase? where? with what? and for how much?

IMPORTANT NOTE: When tallying the receipts for the Quarterly and Final Reports, make sure that the totals between the receipts, progress budgets, and financial reports/payment requests all match when compared.

Quarterly Report

HumanitiesAR uses the Quarterly Report as a progress report halfway through a project’s grant period. The grantee is asked about the status of the project and any issues or challenges at this stage and to provide an illustrative work plan, progress budget, and the financial report/payment request.

For the payment request form, the grantee and fiscal agent will fill it out using the provided PDF forms like in the initial payment request, except they will update the following sections to reflect the current status of the grant project:

5. Payment Requested
7. Period Covered by this Report
8. HumanitiesAR Grant Funds
9. Cost-Share
10. Signature of Fiscal Agent
11. Signature of Project Director

To continue with our example, below is how Suzie would fill out her Quarterly Report financial report/payment request:

1. For her Quarterly payment request, Suzie is going to request the next 25% of her grant amount, $530.62 (5. Payment Requested).
2. So far, in preparation for the October symposium, Suzie has used her grant funds to purchase the authors’ books for $921.53 (8. HumanitiesAR Grant Funds, 3. Supplies & Materials, B. Current Period). She will include the receipts for these purchases with her report.
   • Looking back at her initial budget, Suzie had budgeted $936 for 25 copies of each of the three authors’ books, so she is under budget for that line item.
3. Suzie and Ed Principal have spent about 75% of their budgeted donated staff hours preparing for the symposium creating lesson plans, seeking registrations, coordinating with the authors, and doing other necessary planning:
   • Suzie: 19 hours x $15/hour = $285
   • Ed: 18.5 hours x $15/hour = $277.50
   • Suzie $285 + Ed $277.50 = $562.50 (9. Cost-Share, 1. Personnel a. Salaries & Wages, B. In-Kind)
4. Lastly, Suzie has worked out the use of the local library’s space to hold the symposium, a fee that would usually cost $950 for the reception meeting room space, AV, and technical assistance for the full day (9. Cost-Share, 7. Facilities Rental, B. In-Kind).
5. For both the donated staff hours and facility rental, Suzie will fill out an In-Kind Cost-Share form to include with her report.
6. Suzie and Donald will sign and date the financial report/payment request to complete the form.
7. Both Suzie and Donald both double checked the math across all columns and rows to make sure the PDF’s auto-calculator added properly
8. Once she has completed the financial report/payment request (including receipts and in-kind forms), uploaded all the required progress documents, and answered the report questions, Suzie will submit her Quarterly Report. Once HumanitiesAR staff has reviewed and approved Suzie’s submission, HumanitiesAR will disburse the next payment to Donald to continue the project.

NOTE: Grantees may submit Quarterly and Final Reports earlier than the assigned deadline.

Final Report

HumanitiesAR uses the Final Report to collect evaluations and data from over the course of the project’s grant period. The grantee (and evaluation committee) is asked to determine the success of the project’s planning, implementation, and reach as well as audience statistics, materials developed for the project, final budget, and the final financial report/payment request.

For the payment request form, the grantee and fiscal agent will fill it out using the provided PDF forms like in the initial and quarterly payment requests, except they will update the following sections to reflect the current status of the grant project:

3. Check One: (to include “Final Financial Report”)
5. Payment Requested
7. Period Covered by this Report
8. HumanitiesAR Grant Funds
9. Cost-Share
10. Signature of Fiscal Agent
11. Signature of Project Director

To continue with our example, below is how Suzie would fill out her Final Report financial report/payment request:

Noncompliance

The Arkansas Humanities Council may determine that a grantee who fails to perform by the terms and conditions of their award’s grant agreement will be noncompliant. 

Examples of noncompliance include the following: 

• using award funds to purchase unallowable costs
• failure to submit required reports in a timely manner 
• failure to request prior approval for changes to the project, its budget, and/or activities using award funds 
• failure to execute the project in accordance with the approved work plan

If a grantee is noncompliant and that noncompliance cannot be remedied by imposing additional conditions, the Arkansas Humanities Council may take the following enforcement actions, as appropriate:

• temporarily withholding award fund payments
• disallowing costs associated with the activity or action in noncompliance
• requiring repayment of award funds
• suspending or terminating the award as described in the National Archives Code of Federal Regulations 2 CFR § 200.339 and § 200.340
• recommending suspension or debarment of the grantee to the National Endowment of the Humanities