GRA Leveraging Funds for Awards

Purpose:

Funds equal to the investment made by the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) is a policy requirement for certain programs for the purpose of leveraging resources in support of cancer research, education and clinical care.  Leverage funds may be defined as any cash or in-kind resource relevant and available to the researcher. This may include salary and benefits, space and physical facilities, furnishings, supplies, consulting costs, equipment or shared services. Grant funding (direct costs), institutional support and philanthropy are all appropriate sources of leveraged funds as long as the funds are directly related to the purpose of the GRA award. Indirect cost recovery is not considered as matching support for GRA purposes.

Policy Statement:

Leveraging funds are requested by GRA to show other support for the program and not as a matching requirement. As such, this support will not be subject to the University of Georgia Cost Share policy and will not require the University to track or monitor this support as part of the reporting requirements to the sponsor. The value of the leverage source must not be entered as part of the transmittal data in Grants Portal.

Guidance:

The following sources may be used to document leveraging support.

1. Direct costs awarded in any grant (including federal, and other grant funds) for projects related to GRA’s mission.
2. Gift or endowment funds routed through the University of Georgia Foundation
3. Start-up funds – counted only once.
4. Salaries and fringe benefits commensurate with effort expended on the GRA project, paid by the department beyond direct personnel costs charged to a grant. This covers PI and any other project staff.
5. Laboratory space ($350/square foot).

The above leveraging sources should be used, in the order listed, until the required 1:1 leveraging amount is met. Do not commit more than 100% of the GRA award as leverage. Start-up funds should be reported as leverage only after funds from the first two sources have been counted.

A  Leverage Funding Match Certification Report on departmental letterhead identifying the leveraged amount and signed by the PI, must be submitted to Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) Post-Award Accounting along with the Financial Report – Progress Report as required. The report is required twice a year (January 31 and July 31).  The PI/Departmental Contact should work directly with SPA Post-Award Accounting to complete the Financial Report – Progress Report and submit to GRA.

►Effective June 30, 2011, carry over of only 25% of TOTAL (cumulative) GRA funding will be allowed. Any excess funds over this limit will be returned to GRA.