Gifts and Grants Acceptance

The College shall accept gifts and grants consistent with Minnesota Statutes and Board Policy 7.7, Gift and Grants Acceptance. Each gift or grant must be consistent with the College’s or System’s mission. The president or the president’s designee is authorized to accept gift and grants made to the College, other than gifts or grants of real property. All private gifts and grants over $100,000 shall be reported to the chancellor as outlined in Board policy 7.7 part 4. 

Reference: Minnesota State 7.7 

MS 136F.46 

MS 136F.80 

MS 136F.81  
 

Rev. 3.00

Acquiring and Managing Grants 

Purpose: The purpose of the Procedure for Acquiring and Managing Grants is to provide central coordination of grant opportunities, and to best match the priorities and needs of Saint Paul College with the interests of institutional donors. Institutional donors include corporations, corporate foundations, private foundations, community foundations, family foundations, government agencies and other grant-making entities. This procedure will also provide guidance for staff members, faculty and administrators to generate philanthropic support to advance the mission of the College. For the purposes of this document, Saint Paul College will be referred to as the “College” when related to the overarching institution and “Grants Office” when referring to the Friends of Saint Paul College Foundation and College grants within the Advancement department.   

The Procedure for Acquiring and Managing Grants is in place to:  

• Provide clear direction for the acquisition of external funding (pre-award) and post-award grant management 

• Ensure donor and funding alignment with College mission, vision, values, and strategic goals  

• Increase efforts to proactively seek funding for its strategic initiatives  

• Coordinate efforts of departments and programs  

• Determine capacity and staffing is adequate to carry out proposed grant specifications  

• Identify potential partnerships and coordinate resources during the planning stage  

• Prepare high quality and consistent grant requests   

See the Grant Pre-Award and Post-Award Process in the Grants Portal. 
 
Coordination: The Procedure for Acquiring and Managing Grants is coordinated by the Grants Office. All new grant opportunities will be vetted using the process outlined below. Renewal grant opportunities are subject to less vetting. Renewal grants do not require signatures on the Request to Submit External Grant form (Attachment B) as long as there is a continued alignment with the College’s strategic goals, and capacity for grant management. 
 
Acquiring and Managing Grants: Any faculty or staff of the College or Foundation may initiate ideas for grant-funded projects. To suggest and pursue a grant opportunity, follow the steps outlined below.  
 

1. Submit grant prospect or idea 
   Email details of the grant opportunity to the Grants Office at grants@saintpaul.edu. Within 48 hours, the Grants Office will respond to the staff/faculty member and copy the submitter’s dean/supervisor.   
    

2. Vet Prospect: Capacity, Eligibility and Strategic Goal Alignment 
   The Grants Office will review all potential new grant opportunities to check for 1) capacity, 2) eligibility, and 3) alignment with the College’s strategic goals. 
    

3. Vet Prospect: Stakeholder Communication 
   The Grants Office will communicate with relevant stakeholders, such as academic deans, student development team members, partner organizations, or faculty members to further discuss the opportunity, capacity, and proposal development. Grant opportunities that are good matches, but not the right timing will be documented and added to the Master Grant List (Employee portal – Grants – Documents). 
    

4. Approval: Request to Submit External Grant Application 
   If the grant prospect is determined to be a good match, the grant applicant will work with the Grants Office to complete the Request to Submit External Grant Application form (attached). This is a commitment by the applicant and signatories to steward the grant. The “Grant Prospecting – Cabinet Updates” shared spreadsheet will be updated to keep Executive Cabinet members informed about grant prospects. 

• Under $50,000: For grant requests less than $50,000, a signature by the respective department Executive Cabinet representative is required to move forward.   

• Over $50,000: For grant requests $50,000 and larger, the Executive Cabinet will discuss and approve/decline the opportunity.  

5. Proposal Development: Assign Grant Writer and Development Team 
   Based on the vetting process as defined in steps 2 and 3, the Grants Office will assess the College’s capacity to write the grant proposal. Depending on the focus and scope, faculty or staff may be the designated grant writer with the assistance of the Grants Office. When needed, independent contractors may be utilized to write grant applications that require subject matter expertise and/or an intensive time commitment. The Grant Proposal Development Team will involve a Principal Investigator/Project Manager, Grants Office, Dean or Supervisor and Budget and Business Office staff, and may include relevant cross departmental faculty/staff, and organizational partners. When relevant, the Foundation will be notified for their partnership and appropriate engagement of their Board. The grant opportunity will also be discussed at the Advancement team meetings to ensure all relevant stakeholders are included in the Grant Proposal Development Team. 
    

6. Proposal Development: Preparation 

The Grants Office will proceed with the steps required to develop the grant proposal when the appropriate approval and support from the stakeholder group is in place. All grant proposals are prepared through a collaborative process involving the grant proposal Development Team. 
 
The following core tasks must be completed to prepare the grant proposal: 
 

• Create the grant proposal development timeline.  

• Convene stakeholders to plan and develop the project as needed (meetings, phone calls, etc.)  

• Develop and confirm the project idea for the grant request.  

• Gather all information as outlined in the pre-award grant guidelines.  

• Communicate with the prospective grant funder/program officer to determine whether our proposed project is a good fit and aligned with the funder’s priorities. 

• Request and obtain approval from the finance, facilities, institutional research, and human resources departments, as necessary. 

• Write the proposal and project budget.  

• Share the project budget with the Budget Director with sufficient time to review prior to the submission. 

• Review the application/RFP and ensure the required information and grant attachments are updated and ready for submission. 

7.  Submit the Grant Proposal: Grant proposals will be submitted by the Grants Office. Once the grant is submitted, key stakeholders will receive a copy of the proposal narrative and program budget. Final copies of the grant proposal submission will be filed electronically on the College grants portal site and documented as an Opportunity in the Raiser’s Edge donor database. 
    

8. Grant Notification: If the grant award is not received, the notification letter will be saved with the application and in the donor database to be archived for future opportunities. The Grants Office will communicate the outcome to the Grant Proposal Development Team and other involved stakeholders. 
    

9. Grant Administration: If the grant is awarded, the award letter, funder communications, and copy of the check (if advanced) will be forwarded immediately to the Grants Office. The Grants Office will work with the Budget Director to create the cost center. The responsible person (typically a Dean or Director) named on the cost center will be in charge of ensuring the grant expectations, reporting, budget spend down, and staffing meet the funders requirements. 

Gifts and Grants Acceptance Reporting   
 

The College shall complete a “Gifts and Grants Acceptance Reporting Form” on all gifts or grants over $50,000.00 to the college and submit the information, each fiscal year, to the system office to be incorporated into a comprehensive report to the Board of Trustees.  See Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Policy 7.7.1 for form. 

All gifts and grants of real property shall be formally accepted by the Board of Trustees and shall be subject to appropriate due diligence and conformance with the Saint Paul College campus facilities master plan.  All vehicle donations shall follow the vehicle donation process available in the business office. 

All donations must follow the donation process outlined on the Saint Paul College Donation form. The form can be found online within the business office SharePoint or a paper copy will be provided from the president’s office.  

All gifts and grants must be recorded in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities financial system. 

The “Gifts and Grants Acceptance Report Form” is not required for a gift or grant to the college foundation. 

 Ref: Minnesota State 7.7.1