Planning to apply for a grant, like the SPIE S
tudent Chapter Activity Grant or SPIE Outreach Grant? Grants provide crucial support to fund the important activities of your chapter, but the process of accepting funding can be more complicated than you think!
- Before: Take steps before you apply to be aware of your university or institution’s rules on how grants are accepted.
- During: Have the correct bank account information ready to go when you apply for a grant.
- After: Follow up with administrative staff and chapter officers in charge of grant oversight to ensure the funding was received, and proper paperwork is submitted. Be a good financial steward!
- Before: Prepare ahead of time
- Identify how your chapter can accept grants before you even apply for one.
- Many universities and institutions have specific rules about how they accept funding, which may include a lot of hoops to jump through (like required paperwork and setting up accounts).
- Identify these policies and necessary steps early so that when you apply for things like your SPIE Chapter Activity Grant, it isn't a last-minute scramble to find information before a submission deadline.
Through talking with your institution’s administrative staff and your chapter advisor, you may find the best option is to receive grants via a general university or institutional fund, your department’s bank account, an advisor's bank account, or a chapter-specific bank account. Just remember, per SPIE rules, grants cannot go to the personal account of a student.
- During: Once established, know where to find your account information quickly
Identify the critical account information and know where to access and update this information as needed:
- Bank name
- Bank Address
- Beneficiary's name exactly as it appears on the account
- Account Number or IBAN
- Routing Number
- SWIFT Code
- Tax ID
- CLAB
- your preferred currency
Make sure your shared chapter information is updated regularly, and data like your bank account information is securely, but logically, stored. Never share bank account information via text message or email without encrypting the document or email first.
- After: Be a good financial steward
Identify which administrative staff at your university or institution need to be made aware that you are preparing to accept a grant.
- If your funding is being received in a general or shared/departmental account, who oversees those accounts? Accountants must track where every transaction comes from and what it is for, so help them out by sharing details on your chapter grant and when to expect the funds proactively.
- Keep a close eye on your accounts. If you don't see your grant arrive when you expect it, please reach out to SPIE or the grant sender as soon as possible.
- Make sure you follow the rules on how each grant is spent. Often, grants have rules that outline exactly what types of things can be purchased with this funding.
- Each grant may have different rules on how it can be spent and how it must be reported on. It is the treasurer's job to make sure all of this information is tracked and correctly implemented.
In your Chapter Annual Report, you will be expected to share what your latest SPIE Chapter Activity Grant funds were spent on, and if there are any remaining funds.
- Keep a running log of all chapter expenditures and which grants were used to purchase which items. This may seem like an annoying step, but at the end of the year when you have to report on your expenditures, you will be so thankful you tracked these things throughout the year!
If you have questions about the grant process, please reach out to students@spie.org.
