8 Common Grant Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Grant management (especially since the Uniform Guidance happened) is not just about doing everything right-it also can involve steering your organization clear of those common grant mistakes (also known as “nasty situations”) that can lead you astray. Here are eight of our most common-but completely avoidable grant mistakes: Before You Get the Grant: 5 Warning Signs […]
Three Favorite FAQs For Indirect Costs

In a past article, we posed the question, “Do the Uniform Guidance FAQs Really Matter?” As promised, in this article, we’re going to do a deep dive into the world of indirect costs and some of the “unintended consequences” that surfaced in the FAQs from OMB. Indirect costs continue to be a source of confusion […]
What the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ Can Teach Us About Internal Controls

I spoke at the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference on “How to Build Trust with Internal Controls.” As I began wading through the 568 pages of the DOJ Inspector General Report on the Actions by the FBI and DOJ (Yes, I am that kind of geek), I was struck by the common role that weak internal controls […]
Decoding Grant Management-Success Tip: Record Retention
Are you facing the “Goldilocks Dilemma” of record retention? Is your record retention too much? Not enough? Or just right? Wondering which records to keep for your federal grant record-retention requirements and which ones can be tossed? (Inadequate supporting documentation is an area that gets many federal grant recipients into trouble.) Let’s walk through the […]
5 Ways to Reduce the Risk of a Conflict of Interest

In a previous post, we looked at 6 questions you should ask to tell how safe your federal grant is from conflicts of interest. In today’s post, we’ll look at what you can do to reduce the risk of a conflict of interest affecting your organization’s federal funding. Here are 5 Ways to Reduce the Risk of […]
13 Ways to Keep Grant Funds Flowing

Ever wish you had a crystal ball to see how the mind of Uncle Sam looks at grant funds? Think the Uniform Guidance is super complicated? Or maybe you just wish you had a checklist of what gets grant recipients into trouble and how to avoid those “speed bumps”? It may seem a little “geeky,” but […]