The following steps outline the administration of a grant from beginning to end.
Step 1
Program guidelines are written by Mass Cultural Council program staff and distributed to our constituents.
Step 2
The applicant submits an application to Mass Cultural Council.
Step 3
Mass Cultural Council program staff convenes panels and the applications are reviewed. The panel makes funding recommendations to Mass Cultural Council.
Step 4
Mass Cultural Council Board of Directors votes on the funding recommendations.
Step 5
Mass Cultural Council notifies the applicant of the funding recommendations and emails notification to applicants approved for funding.
Step 6
The grantee accesses the online award package and checks to make sure all the necessary forms and instructions are included. See program-specific requirements.
Step 7
The grantee checks the contract to make sure all the information is correct, signs all the necessary forms and returns the contract to Mass Cultural Council contracts department. If any part of the contract is missing or signed incorrectly, payment of the grant will be delayed. Questions about any part of the contract should be directed to the Contracts Officer.
Step 8
Mass Cultural Council checks the returned contract for compliance. This means that all the necessary forms are included, signed and dated. Also, any changes to the contract initiated by the grantee are documented, initialed and signed off by the appropriate Mass Cultural Council program staff.
Step 9
Mass Cultural Council processes the grant payment. For grants less than $7,000, the grantee is paid the amount in full upon receipt of a completed contract. Grants of $7,000 and above are generally paid 80 percent upon receipt of a completed contract. The final 20 percent is reimbursed to the grantee once a completed final report is submitted to Mass Cultural Council. It usually takes between four and six weeks to receive a payment.
Step 10
The grantee is responsible for submitting any interim narrative questions or updated financial information. See program-specific requirements.
Step 11
Once the grant period is complete, a final report is generally owed to Mass Cultural Council. This report helps Mass Cultural Council evaluate the grantee’s compliance with the requirements outlined in each contract. The report also asks for specific demographic information that Mass Cultural Council needs to report to its funders. The absolute drop-dead due date for this report is the last weekday in July. Due to strict state accounting requirements, there are no exceptions to this date.
Step 12
Generally, if the grant is $7,000 or more, the final 20% payment is released to the grantee once the final report has been approved. Failure to submit the final report will result in the reversion of the final grant payment. Also, the grantee is ineligible to receive further Mass Cultural Council grants until the final report is submitted and approved.
