Faculty Grant Procedures

TMCC Faculty and Staff

Grant Indirect Cost Sharing

As of July 1, 2013, 15% of recovered indirect costs received by TMCC on federally- and state-funded competitive grants and subawards may be eligible for distribution and use by the division in which the lead grant Principal Investigator (PI) primarily works. These funds may be split between the division, the department, and the PI at the discretion of the division's Administrator (Dean, Director, or Vice-President).

The default distribution will be 7.5% to the Administrator and 7.5% to the PI, but the Administrator may change that distribution for a particular grant, depending on the circumstances.

The 15% will be placed in the account specified by the Administrator who will be responsible for:

  1. Tracking the expenditure of funds to ascertain that the use of these funds conforms to NSHE and TMCC policy,
  2. Providing an account number for the PI or the department to expend the funds, and
  3. Providing an annual report to the VPFA, VPAA, and Grants Office on how these funds were expended to support the grant-funded project or to support the development of grant and contract work.

The timing of the deposit of indirect dollars into the Administrator's account will generally be based on the timing of the actual reimbursement to the institution by the granting agency or prime awardee. The Administrator and PI will only be eligible to receive 15% of the recovered, and not budgeted, indirect funds.

Exceptions: Some institutional grants will not be eligible for indirect sharing with the grant PI and their division depending on circumstances and the amount of indirect returned to the institution.

Grant Preparation Stipends

Stipends for grant writing activities are available for TMCC faculty or staff that provide significant assistance to the grant writer during the submission process, or complete a substantial amount of technical writing, and for whom grant writing and fundraising are not part of their assigned duties. Stipends are available for participation in preparation of grant requests to public funding sources only (federal, state, county, etc.).

Application Process

TMCC faculty and staff must complete the following steps to apply for a grant stipend:

  1. Meet with the TMCC Grant Writer to discuss the feasibility of a grant submission. The applicant should come to this meeting prepared to discuss a specific funding source and have a basic outline of the project to be submitted (1-2 paragraphs).
    OR
    In some cases, specific faculty or staff at TMCC may be the only appropriate PI for a specific grant opportunity identified by the Grant Writer. In these instances, the Grant Writer may approach certain faculty and ask them to consider being a PI.
    In either case, the Grant Writer will be responsible for ensuring that the Dean and other appropriate College administration are aware of and supportive of the grant submission.
  2. Applicants may decide to apply for up to two grant preparation stipends per year. Faculty and staff may also choose to participate in grant writing activities without applying for a stipend. The Grant Writer will provide the form, and the applicant will submit a short application directly to the VPAA for approval. The application will require both the Grant Writer and Dean to initial their approval to proceed with the application. The Grant Writer will be responsible for seeking the approval of the Executive Director of Institutional Advancement and the President following current procedures. All grant writing activities need to be a fluid collaboration between the applicant and TMCC Grant Writer, but the application will include a summary of the grant portions that must be completed by the applicant for them to be awarded their stipend.
  3. If the applicant does not meet the agreed upon deadlines, they may become ineligible for the stipend. Although the goal of the stipend is a grant submission, the VPAA may decide to award a partial or full stipend if circumstances beyond the control of the applicant keep the grant from being submitted.

See Also: Grant Preparation Stipend Form

Note: Stipends for grant preparation and submission assistance is a pilot project in FY14 subject to availability of funds. TMCC administration reserves the right to discontinue or amend this policy at any time. Should the policy be discontinued or altered, all executed contracts will be honored pending satisfactory completion of the contracted tasks.

Funding for Grant Preparation Work

  • TMCC recognizes that the total amount of a grant submission does not always equate to a proportional work load, i.e., it may take as much effort to produce a $50,000 request as it does to produce a $500,000 request. Therefore, TMCC will provide a $1,000 stipend per grant submission for all submissions exceeding $25,000.
  • The stipend is per submission, and a group of faculty or staff collaborating on a submission will split this stipend based on their anticipated workload. For example, a three faculty team might each get $333, or one member might get $500 and the other two each receive $250, depending on the deliverables. The VPAA may decide to increase the flat amount if a particular grant has an especially heavy technical writing requirement or a very quick turnaround.
  • This Grant Preparation Stipend will be received as additional salary. In some circumstances, the applicant may request, instead of salary, the establishment of an account to support the faculty or staff member in travel, journals or publications, professional membership dues, supplies, or other appropriate professional expenses. Personal expenses may not be paid out of an account set up for this purpose. If an account is set up in place of salary, that account will be managed by the Dean, Director, or Vice President over the faculty or staff member.