Pro tip: Always check two sources-the Federal Register and Grants.gov-when searching for federal grants. The Federal Register is the U.S. Government’s official daily journal; it contains funding notices, new rules, proposed rules, invitations for public comments, etc. Grants.gov is a user-friendly interface to search for and apply for federal grants. In theory, they should have identical information related to federal funding opportunities.
In theory.
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We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.
-Herb Kelleher
Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird—
But if you’re a worm, sleep late.
~Shel Silverstein
Think you’re irreplaceable? You might be closer to obsolescence than you imagine. Our jobs won’t disappear tomorrow or next year; however, the work you and I are doing today will radically change, or vanish, within the next five to ten years. Hell, that’s probably true without robots but this provides a great deal of food for thought. I know I’ll be considering this during my year-end retreat in December. Many thanks to Tom Peters (@tom_peters) for sharing this video in his Twitter feed.
Applying for, and managing, federal grants is based on a certain level of trust and understanding between the applicant and the funding agency:
Case in point: The Los Angeles Times reported on October 8 about a former USC professor who lied on his Department of Energy grant application. Alexander Tartakovsky falsified his SBIR application, claiming his company, the official grant applicant, would be his primary source of employment when, in fact, he was employed full-time by the University of Southern California. Had the Department of Energy known this, he would not have been awarded the grant.
Los Angeles Unified recently approved a plan to automatically destroy electronic mail after one year’s time. This has disaster written all over it.
The administration’s theory is that the district will save on the cost of storing the Email. Officials say only non-essential records will be destroyed. Email designated as “business records” will be retained. My concern is who will be responsible for making the essential vs non-essential determination. Without the proper knowledge or training, vital public records will be permanently lost. And, after the “lost” IRS Email scandal in DC, I would expect a governing body to err on the side of caution.
When it comes to record destruction, I prefer the old fashioned method of requiring individuals to hit the delete button and to shred paper files. If an issue arises later, there’s documentation of who destroyed the records. Accountability. What a concept. “Computer glitch” has become too convenient an excuse lately.
FWIW, federal grant program and financial records (including Email) need to be retained for three years after the date the final expenditure report is submitted to the federal funding agency. Save all your files. Don’t let the machines ruin your audit trail.
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Indirect expenses—or administrative/overhead expenses—are costs incurred by an organization that cannot be tied directly to a specific program or project. These costs benefit the organization as a whole rather than one initiative of the organization. Human resources, business/finance, accounting, legal, maintenance, custodial, telephone, office space lease and insurance (to name a few) are common indirect expenses. A percentage of upper management salaries are often allocated to indirect to reflect their time spent working on organization-wide strategy and operational matters.