I am pleased to announce that John Heveron is joining us as an expert contributor to this blog. John has worked with us in providing financial training and technical assistance to CILs and SILCs for a number of years. He
New fiscal director’s questions
As the new finance person for a center, I have some questions that have come up over the past few weeks that I’d appreciate getting your input on. Currently allocations are based on wages paid by the grant that the
Can a center or SILC earn interest on federal funds?
The CILs are allowed to collect interest on federal funds, but if there is interest, the money isn’t being applied to its purpose, so that is discouraged. The expectation is that the money passes through just in time to pay
Can we buy T-shirts with our grant and sell them?
Question: Do you know of any rule or federal law that prohibits us at the State level (SILC) from selling T-shirts or doing any other type of fundraising or collecting donations to our organization. Our funding is minuscule and we
Are indirect costs the same as administrative costs?
Question: I am interested in your thoughts on something. I know we’ve always said that the indirect costs are not the same as G&A. However, when we submit the proposal we have to include the statement of functional expenses from
Are Resource Development Costs direct or indirect?
First a refresher — while fund raising costs are not typically allowed with federal dollars, the Rehabilitation Act specifically requires centers, and allows SILCs, to conduct Resource Development. Rule number one, always call your activities to increase your resources (including
How are the expenses of the CIL rep on the SILC handled?
Embed from Getty Images Question: Our SILC is considering how to treat the CIL rep on the council related to who pays their expenses. I think at our next meeting the Council really needs to discuss and flesh these out
We just settled a potential discrimination lawsuit from former staff…
We just settled a potential discrimination lawsuit from former staff. Is the payment of the settlement an allowable expense under federal rules? Ah, my favorite answer. It depends. Was there a whistleblower component or might the individual claim there was?
Can we use federal money to start fee for service projects?
Request: I hoped you might be able to provide some guidance regarding start up funds for fee-for-service programs. I have reviewed the training available on ILRU but had some additional questions. Would it ever be allowable to use Part C
What costs are “modified” in the 10% de minimus?
When you elect to apply the 10% de minimus rate rather than develop an indirect cost rate proposal, you are not required to submit a proposal for approval. There are, though, some assumptions about this that you need to know.