Internal Grant Awards

Internal grants fulfill important strategic objectives of the University. A variety of internally-funded research-related grants are made to faculty and researchers at Princeton University.

The business process relating to internal grants has been developed to enhance the impact of these investments as well as ensure compliance regarding their disclosure to sponsors.

 

    Characteristics of Internal Grants To Use This Process

    The primary application of this process is intended for research-related grants awarded to researchers in faculty ranks, which include:

    • Is the result of a formally submitted proposal & competitively reviewed
    • Includes a specific scope of work and budget
    • Includes a specific period of performance

    Internal funding sources that are not managed through this process (as they are typically excluded from federal disclosure requirements) include:

    • Grants issued to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to most postdoctoral researchers including fellowship, dissertation and travel grants.
    • Start-up, bridge, retention and other similar internal funding.

    Program Chartfield for Internal Grants

    The “IA” Program series has been made available and is recommended for use to identify funding as an internal grant. Using this Program series results in the following benefits:

    • Quick and easy identification of funding as an internal grant (not a G0001 or G0002 fund).
    • Ability to tie the funding to an individual researcher, including on the Individual Portfolio Report as well as on the Current and Pending Report in the Information Warehouse.
    • No maintenance requirements on the part of the granting unit - may require the request to create a new Program or will come tied to a specific funding type.
    • Linked to a PI's Program versus grant-specific identifiers (i.e. Project ChartField) allows for greater flexibility and reduced administrative burden.

    Recommended Steps for Issuing Internal Grants

    The below steps are recommended to be followed when issuing an internal grant:

    • If necessary, request a new "IA" Program via Prime utilizing the typical process for each PI and Co-PI on the project. Each Program should be specific both to the grant and, if applicable, to each PI and Co-PI. Therefore, a single researcher serving as PI (or Co-PI) on multiple internal grants will receive multiple “IA” Programs.
    • Name the relevant PI and Co-PI(s) as the Program Manager for each “IA” Program. This will ensure that the internal grant is tied to the PI or Co-PI’s full portfolio as reflected on the Individual Portfolio Report.
    • Once “IA” Program is approved, ChartField access should be requested for the appropriate personnel within both the grantor and grantee units.
    • Assign funding via Assignment Journal to the relevant Department / Fund / IA Program(s) chartstring. Follow recommendations below regarding attachments.
    • It is encouraged to split multi-PI / Co-PI awards across the relevant researchers to facilitate appropriate external disclosures. However, in some cases this may not be possible, or would present significant financial management burden. In those cases, name all PIs and Co-PIs in the Requested Description field. Note that this field is limited to 30 characters.

    Additional Recommendations for Granting Units

    With the understanding that adhering to the above procedures will simplify, but not satisfy the full suite of reporting and tracking needs associated with external disclosure requirements, additional recommendations are listed below.

    • Add the relevant attachments to the Assignment Journal transferring the funding. These attachments, at a minimum, should include the following:
      • Original proposal for which the award is issued, including a scope of work
      • Awarded budget, including the budget justification, if there is one
      • Award notice
      • Any relevant communications
    • It is recommended to use a standard template for award notices which includes identifying information as well as relevant information for federally required external disclosures. The Internal Notice of Award template is available for download. If using a unit-specific template, at a minimum the below should be included, if applicable:
      • Award title
      • Awarding unit
      • Award PI(s)
      • Start date
      • End date
      • Award amount
      • Chartstring (Dept/Fund/Program)
      • Administrative contact
    • At the conclusion of the grant award, request the IA Program be inactivated via Prime Financials - Program ChartField Request.  this will prevent any further transactions from being posted.  Historical IA grant activity will continue to be reflected on the Individual Portfolio Report,  but will no longer pull into the Current and Pending report.  

    Questions?

    If you have any questions about this process, please reach out to:

    • Programmatic:
    • Reporting:
    • Financial:
      • Amy Mercogliano, Assistant Director, Financial Management, Office of the Controller - [email protected]