Management Minute: Common Reasons Grant Applications Are Returned

Shandra Davis: I noticed during my time as a grants management specialist in the regional office that there were some common themes amongst the reasons why grant applications were returned. 

One of those things was the budget detail. Recipients would not include details to justify their numbers. For example, they would submit a budget with a travel line item of $20,000 but failed to detail what makes up that $20,000. 

The second thing would be signatures. The board chair is the person in the organization who certifies this application is complete and ready to be submitted. However, some applications would not include the board chair’s signature, so that application needed to be returned. 

Then, the board and Policy Council minutes are required to be submitted in the application. Not only do you want minutes to show that the board and Policy Council met, but it needs to indicate that they approved the grant application during that meeting.