Congratulations on your new award! There is a lot to do with a brand-new grant award but the first five things you should do are as follows:
Celebrate first. It’s exciting to win a new grant award! And then…
- Read the Notice of Funding Award (or the equivalent award document) thoroughly and ensure that both your finance department and your legal staff receive a copy and review it as well. Once everyone has reviewed, if you can comply with the requirements and any special conditions, have the authorized official sign the award document and return it.
- Work with your financial team to set up your budget in your accounting system so you can track expenses to your grant award. But remember, you cannot expend funds until you have received financial clearance from the granting agency.
- Send out a press release about your project acknowledging your partners and your funder.
- Sign up for any mandatory financial training required by the funding agency.
- Meet with your agency leadership to review any hiring needs if your grant includes new personnel. While you cannot expend grant funds until you have financial clearance, you should not delay in planning for your new hires.
