Documentary Heritage Program FAQs
Project Management
- When are grant awards announced?
- When will we get the money?
- When can the project begin?
- Am I able to transfer monies from one budget category to another during the grant year? If so, what is the process and timeline?
- How do I get the money?
- What are the reporting requirements and when
are reports due?
Project Management
When
are grant awards announced?
Notification letters are usually mailed to the Project Director in the third week in June.
Applications are reviewed in May. The State Archives will let you know the status of your grant by the end of June. Funds usually are available after the State budget is passed. However, delays may occur.
Submission of your Acceptance Letter and fulfillment of conditions required by the grants reviewers (e.g., revised plan of work, proof of non-profit status, etc.) must take place before any funds are released. Once these items have been sent to the DHP office you can expect to receive the first 50% of the grant in the next 60 days. However, delays may occur.
When
can the project begin?
Monies can be expended after July 1, and cannot be encumbered after June
30 of the following year.
Am I able to transfer monies from one budget category to another during the grant year? If so, what is the process and timeline?
Grant recipients can transfer monies within budget categories if the change doesn't violate the intent of the grant award, and if the request is justified in writing. The DHP Central Office must approve any budget amendment. The correct form for any funds transfer is the FS-10-A. FS-10-A. An FS-10-A is mailed to every award recipient in the fall. The cut-off date for amendments is usually around May 15. The State Archives also notifies grant recipients of this date.
- Once the marked-up version of the Proposed Budget (Form FS-20) is approved by the Grants Finance Unit of the State Education Department, they will release to the recipient 50% of the total budget.
- In order to receive the next 40% increment, the recipient must submit the Request for Funds Form FS-25 to the Grants Finance Unit of SED and the Mid-Term Narrative Report to the DHP Office.
- The last 10% of the budget is released upon receipt by the Grants Finance Unit of SED of the FS-10-F Final Expenditure Report Form, and by the DHP Office of the Final Project Report. These fiscal forms are available on the NYSA website and are also mailed to all grant recipients in the fall.
What are the reporting requirements and
when are reports due?
Recipients receive final reporting guidelines several months into the project. The following list requirements and due dates for a usual grant cycle:
December 31
All Grant Acceptance Forms must be returned by this date.
End of January
FS-25 Request for Funds (a.k.a. Mid-term Fiscal Report) due
Mid-term Narrative Report due
No later than June 1
FS-10A (Budget Amendment) submitted
June 30
Project completed and all funds encumbered
July 31
FS-10-F (Final Expenditure Report) & FR-2 (Final Project Report) due
I understand that we must provide access to the records we arrange and describe through a DHP grant, but are we required to fulfill requests for copies of records for free? We in no way would want these sorts of requests to burden our institution by consuming a lot of staff time or any costs associated with duplication, etc.
You would be under no obligation to provide copies for free because you were funded under the DHP. Yes, the materials should be accessible, but if a researcher needs copies, you certainly can set a fee schedule for these. Most researchers would understand the need to pay for the costs of making the copies. I do not know of any archival institution that does not charge for copies of photographs. And if there are copyright issues, your researchers would be obligated to honor these also. Free access does not mean totally free use. You have a right to control the copying and use of your materials - and that includes charging for copies.