While much of SP administrative responsibilities relates to research at SVSU, it is involved with all sponsored projects, including research, training, workshops, curriculum development, scholarly work, public services, fellowships, art exhibitions, contractual agreements, and equipment awards.
Sponsors of these activities include the federal government, state and local governments, foundations, international organizations, research institutes, and corporations. These organizations fund sponsored projects through a variety of mechanisms such as contracts, grants, letter agreements, purchase orders, cooperative agreements, and a variety of awards that fall under the heading of subcontracts.
SP does not involve itself with gifts or other unrestricted funds that fall within the purview of the SVSU Foundation. The following definition of a sponsored project is pertinent to clarifying the distinction between the types of funding handled by SP and the SVSU Foundation.
Sponsored projects are research, training, or instructional projects involving funds, materials, other forms of compensation, or exchanges of in-kind efforts from sources external to SVSU under awards or agreements which contain any one of the following criteria:
- The award or agreement binds the University to a scope of work that is specified to a substantial level of detail. This would, for example, include funding that is dedicated to an investigator’s research project, a grant to a department under which seed money for projects would be distributed, and the training of students on specific projects. It would not include SVSU funding that provides general research support to a department or individual.
- A line item budget is involved. A line item budget details expenses by activity, function, or project period. The designation of indirect or administrative costs qualifies a budget as “line item.” Financial reports are required and/or the expenses are subject to audit.
- The sponsor defines a period of performance during which funds may be used and/or unused funds must be returned to the sponsor.
- The award or agreement provides for the disposition of either tangible or intangible properties which may result from the project. Tangible properties include equipment, records, formal activity reports, theses or dissertations. Intangible properties include rights in data, copyrights, or inventions, or research-related materials.
- The specific project involves any of the following: human subjects, vertebrate animals, radioactive materials, recombinant DNA, human body substances, infectious agents, or third-party proprietary materials.
- The external support is subject to any of the following conditions:
- Delivery of specific goods, services, or other deliverables by the University
- Performance milestones
- Transfer of intellectual property, ownership, or related rights
- Insurance, indemnification, or warranty
- Restrictions on publication of research results
- Audit requirements
- The provider of the external support may withhold or seek a refund of the support if the project fails to meet performance requirements or project objectives, including certain research outcomes.
- External support is provided for research-related patient care services or the routine cost of care delivered as part of research studies.
- External support is provided by a sponsor for the testing or assessment of the sponsor’s products or services.
Gifts: For purposes of these guidelines, a gift is the voluntary provision of external support by a donor to the University, without any requirement for receipt of any economic or other tangible benefit in return. Gifts shall normally meet the following criteria:
- The external support does not meet the criteria for a sponsored project.
- The external support is irrevocable, providing the gift is used in accordance with any valid restrictions accepted by the University.
- No goods, services or deliverables are offered or exchanged in consideration of receipt of the external support.
- The donor provides the support to the University without expectation of direct economic benefit or other tangible benefit. Indirect benefits such as tax advantages or business or personal goodwill derived from close association with the University and the miscellaneous benefits derived from donor status do not negate gift intent.
- Financial reporting or accounting for use of external support is not required, although it shall be acceptable for the donor to request information from the University about utilization and/or impact of the external support, including expenditures and fund balances.
- Contributions to endowments and nongovernmental contributions for capital projects would normally be classified as gifts.
The standards described in these guidelines are applicable to all external support provided to the University. Final determination of all questions arising under these guidelines relating to the classification and processing of external support shall be made by the Provost or the Executive Vice President for Administration and Business Affairs.
