Can you share your grant agreement language for multi-year grants?

We are going to start making multi-year grants in 2021 (woohoo!) and I am looking for examples of language / templates that others are using for their multi-year grant agreements. We have a solid template in Foundant for one-year grants, but would love to understand what needs to be written in there for mutli-year awards. I am still building what the rest of the process will look like (follow ups, reporting, etc) but envision that it will be one agreement/award with multiple installments.

Thank you for sharing, you are welcome to email me examples too at kmckelvey@lairdnorton.org.

With gratitude,

Karyn M.

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Answers

  • HeidiFindlay
    HeidiFindlay Posts: 65 ✭✭✭
    Voter Foundant Grant Management Certificate 25 Likes Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM)

    Hi @karynmckelvey

    We do things a little different... The grant award letter contains the following:

    "We are happy to advise you that the Board of Directors of this Foundation recently authorized approval of your Grant Request in the amount, for the purposes, and subject to the special conditions indicated below:

    Amount: Up to: Amount Awarded

      Purpose: Audit and 990 Summary

    Special Conditions: This grant authorization is valid through END OF FY. At the sole discretion of the Foundation, material changes in the funded project may void this grant award offer.


    The grant terms / agreement does not mention the date of the grant, but does state the expected reporting (bi-annually).

    For us, once the grant award letter goes out, we schedule a grantee conference and explain the start and end dates, and the milestones between, and it's my job to make sure Foundant is set to send those reminders and monitor compliance.


    Does this help?

    Heidi

  • Thank you, @HeidiFindlay ! Appreciate this language and that it's written a bit more open ended in terms of dates.

  • JoyceBrasher
    JoyceBrasher Posts: 38 ✭✭✭
    Voter Third Compass Anniversary 10 Comments 25 Likes
    edited March 2021

    @karynmckelvey,

    I will email you a copy of our current Grant Agreement. We have a standard Grant Agreement and utilize the "Special Conditions" section for anything outside of the "norm".

    This may include multi-year grant information, challenge/matching grant specifics, or any other special condition our Trustees would like to include. The actual Award Letter also includes details of the length and terms of the grant.

    I hope this helps!

    Joyce

  • MissyBelles
    MissyBelles Posts: 44 ✭✭✭
    Foundant Fan Third Compass Anniversary 10 Comments 25 Likes

    Hi! I have uploaded one of our CS templates for a multi-year grant. I have highlighted the areas where you will need to manually fill in info after the template is printed out of CS. I hope it helps!


    Missy Belles

    Gifts & Grants Administrator

    Whatcom Community Foundation

    missy@whatcomcf.org


  • KristinBurgoyne
    KristinBurgoyne Posts: 13 ✭✭✭
    Referral Rockstar Third Compass Anniversary 10 Comments Regional Training

    Attached are two contract samples and the email language for one that might be helpful. One is for a 4-year program with equal award amounts each year. The second is for a two-year grant period with one award for the entire two year period but payments issued (50%, 45%, 5%) over the course of the two year period.

  • LauraWickizer
    LauraWickizer Posts: 6 ✭✭
    World Traveler Second Compass Anniversary Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM) Photogenic

    Our grant agreements vary based on one-time grants, grants paid on invoice (usually larger amounts and grants where the grantee may not need the full amount) and also grants paid in equal installments (bi-annually or quarterly). We have some grantees that use the money for multiple programs built into one grant which is why we split the payments up, and coincide the installment dates based on the interim report date. Attached is our general template we use and modify the language for the payment information manually under #9.

    Examples of the language we use are below:

    This grant will be paid paid upon receipt of this signed Agreement and will be split into two equal payments of $0000.

                           July 2020- upon receipt of this signed Agreement

                           March 1, 2021 - upon receipt and acceptance of the interim report

    This grant will be paid paid in four equal payments of $000 according to the following schedule:

    July 2020- Upon receipt of this signed agreement

    October 1, 2020 – Upon invoice

    March 1, 2021 – Upon receipt and acceptance of the 2020 Interim Report

    April 1, 2021 – Upon invoice

    This grant will be paid upon receipt of invoice from <Organization Name>.  Invoices should list expenses by vendor name, date and include the type of expense. Invoices should reflect the expenses the Foundation is being asked to pay, as well as the total amount due.


  • We are diving into multi grants in 2022! Those of you who are actively making multi year grants, do you assign all of the follow ups at the beginning of the grant cycle? Would love to know how anyone is managing follow ups for multi year grants.


    Thank you!

  • JoyceBrasher
    JoyceBrasher Posts: 38 ✭✭✭
    Voter Third Compass Anniversary 10 Comments 25 Likes

    Katie Makenzie, we do assign all follow-ups at the beginning of the grant cycle. I create multiple status reports when the process is created (Grantee Status Report-Year 1, Grantee Status Report-Year 2, etc). When the grant is approved and the follow-ups pop up for selection I do have to 'uncheck' everything that doesn't apply, but it's much easier to do that when it's fresh on my mind initially than it would be to go back and try to determine which ones may need additional follow-ups.

    I hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you'd like more info...

  • HeidiFindlay
    HeidiFindlay Posts: 65 ✭✭✭
    Voter Foundant Grant Management Certificate 25 Likes Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM)

    @KatieMackenzie @JoyceBrasher - agree to set up the follow-ups at the time you approve the grant. i have a sub-set for multi-year grants that helps to keep me straight. yes, unchecking is a big time saver down the road - unselect all, and then check what you want. BTW, thank you @Foundant for letting me adjust dates on follow-ups so easily!

    h

  • JoyceBrasher
    JoyceBrasher Posts: 38 ✭✭✭
    Voter Third Compass Anniversary 10 Comments 25 Likes

    @HeidiFindlay - I'll be happy to share our Grant Agreement!

    I created a standard form that includes a "Special Conditions" section. This field is populated with text defining any special conditions of the grant such as "This is a three year award payable at $25,000 in year one, $25,000 in year two, and $25,000 in year three for a total award of $75,000". We also utilize this field for Challenge/Matching grants to outline the terms of the payout.

    This way I have one form that can be updated individually to include any special terms we need to include.

    I hope this helps!

    Joyce