Types of Awards

Contract
Cooperative Agreement
Grant
Grants vs. Gifts

Contract
A contract is "an agreement between two or more people to do something, especially one formally set forth in writing and enforceable by law." Awards made by contractual agreements are usually more complicated than awards made as grants. They commit the College to a specific and usually narrowly focused set of tasks. The sponsor is usually in partnership with the College and therefore takes a much more active role in the management of the project. The OSP is responsible for preparing and negotiating contracts with industry, agencies of state and federal government, local municipalities and non-profit organizations. Cooperative efforts are encouraged with private and public partners to support research and creative activities that are consonant with the College's research, teaching, and public service mission. Generally, contracts have the following characteristics:

• The terms of a contract tend to be spelled out in greater detail.
• The activities supported by the contract are frequently dictated by the sponsor rather than being generated by the applicant.
• The applicant is generally given less latitude to modify the scope of the agreed upon activities and/or the expenditure of funds provided by the sponsor.
• A greater number of terms or conditions are included in a contract.
• There is a greater likelihood that the sponsor, through its technical representatives, will be directly involved in the day-to-day conduct of the sponsored research award.

Cooperative Agreement
Cooperative agreements create a partnership between the institution and the sponsor. The principal differences between a grant, contract or a cooperative agreement are in the ways the statement of work is defined. A grant or contact's statement of work has been articulated in the proposal. Alternatively, the statement of work may be defined with some degree of specificity in the contract instrument itself. A cooperative agreement, however, tends to describe a more open-ended statement of work; details are filled in during the term of the funded project by mutual agreement between the sponsor and the recipient. A cooperative agreement is necessary in instances where it is difficult, if not impossible, at the outset of a project to anticipate most contingencies and define the full parameters of the project.

Grant
A grant is an award of funds included in a written instrument executed by the head of the awarding agency or his/her duly authorized representative. Grant funded project activities support the aims and objectives of the sponsoring agency. Except in monitoring project progress and financial transactions, the sponsor is not involved in the management of the project. Generally, grants have the following characteristics:

• They are made for a stated purpose.
• The purposes are specified in writing.
• They are usually made for a stated period of time during which funds may be spent.
• The grant instrument names the Principal Investigator or Project Director under whose direction the project will be carried out.
• The grant carries a minimum number of limiting conditions, which are stated in the award document.

Grants vs. Gifts
The term "grant" or "gift" in a sponsor document does not necessarily determine the classification of an award as a sponsored project or gift by Dartmouth’s definitions. The final determination will be made by representatives of the Office of Sponsored Projects and/or the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Questions may be addressed to the contacts listed at the bottom of this document. 

A sponsored project/grant is defined as a funding mechanism that is an exchange of tangible or intangible property of value to the sponsor. An agreement/contract may include any of the elements outlined below.    

A gift is a funding mechanism that usually will not involve an exchange of tangible or intangible property or licensing of intellectual property. The funder receives no value or benefit from the gift and imposes few requirements, if any.

Typical elements/indicators of a “grant” or sponsored project:

• A line-item budget for the project expenses
• A scope of work or a detailed statement of the planned Activity
• A specified period of performance as a term and condition
• A commitment to provide “deliverables” (e.g., products, or periodic technical or progress reports)
• Sponsor Rights to Licensing and/or Intellectual Property: The Principal Investigator on a grant may be obligated to convey rights to tangible or intangible properties resulting from the project. Tangible properties include equipment, records, technical reports, theses, or dissertations. Intangible properties may include rights in data, copyrights, or inventions.
• Funder's Mission and Intent: Funder seeks implementation of a specific research or educational plan. Request for proposals or proposal includes well-defined objectives, strategies, work plans and/or deliverables.
• Legal Accountability: Indemnification, insurance, warranty or other legal accountability terms are included.
• Government funding source: Funds originate from federal, state, local, foreign, or other government entity.
• Budgets for sponsored projects are specific, and variances from proposed budgets (within designated parameters) require funder pre-approval. Detailed budgets are often not required for gifts, although occasionally, such are required.
• Detailed terms and conditions, and financial and narrative reports are usually required for sponsored projects while such detail is seldom the case for gifts, although brief, or even extensive reports may be required.
• Key personnel (or the equivalent of a project leadership team) are named in the proposal for a sponsored project and any changes must be pre-approved by the funder. Personnel are often left to the discretion of the College, school, department, or named individual in the case of gifts.
• Dartmouth will accept unrestricted gifts, and gifts for specific programs and purposes, provided that such gifts are not inconsistent with its stated mission, purpose, and priorities.

Typical elements of a gift:

• No deliverables
• Minimal Requirements
• The funds directly support or relate to the University’s mission
• The donor will receive minimal or no value in exchange for their support
• There is not a detailed scope of work, budget, or period of performance specified by the donor. *The donor may specify the general domain of work.
• There is not a line-item budget, and there are no restrictions on how the funds are used, although the use must be true to the donor’s original stipulations.
• Remaining funds are not required to be returned to the donor.