Grant funding can help Hagerstown Community College achieve its vision, mission, strategic goals, and institutional priorities. To achieve individual project goals, it is necessary to carefully determine which grants will fit best with institutional priorities. To that end, all faculty and staff who have ideas regarding grant opportunities should contact the Grants Office and/or submit a Grant Approval Form before proceeding with any grant-development-related tasks. Grants Office staff will ensure that prospective grant-funded programs meet priorities established by executive officers.

Furthermore, it is important to manage each and every grant with fiscal and programmatic integrity by following funder and HCC guidelines and regulations. The Grants Office is prepared to assist grant staff and project directors in this endeavor. Before contacting a funder to propose a change to any existing grant, please contact the Grants Office to ensure that changes to grant-funded projects are also in keeping with institutional priorities.

Grant Management Manual – As we work to accomplish the goals and objectives of each grant, there will be new opportunities, a variety of decisions to be made, and challenges to resolve along the way. This manual is designed to help increase your success and minimize any difficulties you encounter as you carry out any HCC grant project. Control+ click on any chapter title in the table of contents to skip directly to that chapter.

Approval Form for Grants – This form is to be used by HCC employees who are interested in applying for grant funds for which the college is the sole or lead agency or in which the college is a partner and not the lead agency. Two levels of approval are required. (1) This form must be submitted and approval up through the President’s level must be received before proposal development or external agreement to take part in proposal development (in the case of working with partners) takes place. Once the form is submitted, unless approval has already been secured from the President, the Grants Office will assist with obtaining permission/denial to proceed and will notify the project director if proposal development is approved. (2) If development occurs, the President needs to approve any completed applications before they are submitted. No employee shall apply for or accept any grant using the name Hagerstown Community College without first receiving approval by the President. This form is also available as a Word document.

Change Form for Grants - This form is to be used by HCC Grant Project Directors/Managers who are interested in applying for a change to an existing grant for which the college is the sole or lead agency, particularly those changes that are significant enough to require funding agencies’ approval. All requests for material changes to existing grants will be signed and approved by the President before being submitted to a funding agency, in order to ensure that such changes fit with HCC policy as well as funding agency requirements.

Time and Effort Report – Time and Effort Reporting is required by federal regulation and college policy for all individuals working on federally funded sponsored projects and makes salary sources for the period congruent with effort spent for the period. Faculty and non-faculty have slightly different time and effort report forms; please make sure you are using the appropriate form. This reporting sets forth two things:

1. Effort supported (paid) by a sponsored project (grant) has been performed as promised.
2. Effort expended in support of a federally sponsored project but not paid by the project has been performed as promised.

Signed effort reports are considered legal documents in which an individual attests to the accuracy of the effort spent on sponsored projects.

• Erroneously certifying effort reports can be viewed as fraud.
• We are obliged by federal regulations to exercise good stewardship of those funds.

View all Grants Office and PIE documents.