Blanket Justification for NEA Funding Application Guidelines and Reporting Requirements for Government Agencies

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REQUESTING PAYMENT
for Grants
Rev. January 2016

OVERVIEW:
Preparing Your Request: To request your grant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (Endowment or
NEA), you must complete a Request for Advance or Reimbursement (Payment Request) form, available at
www.arts.gov/manageaward. Follow the instructions below carefully. Confirm that your SAM registration is current;
payment cannot be made to an organization whose status is not active or if SAM.gov shows that your organization has
delinquent Federal debt.
Tracking Your Request: You can check to see if we have received your payment request (as well as access other
information about your award) online. Simply go to www.arts.gov/mygrant and enter your 10-digit grant number.
Receiving Your Funds: If your payment request form is completed correctly, you can generally expect to receive
payment within 30 days from the date it is submitted. Please plan accordingly.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:
Section 1.

The agency’s name is completed for you.

Section 2.

Enter the 10-digit Grant Number from your grant award letter (e.g., 15-XXXX-XXXX, 16-XXXX-XXXX).

Section 3.

Type of Payment Requested:
a. Check ADVANCE if you wish to receive Federal funds for expenditures you expect to incur and
pay within 30 days (or less) from the date you submit this form (the date in Box 11.).
Check REIMBURSEMENT if you are asking the Endowment to reimburse you for expenditures
already paid for this grant.
Check both if you are requesting a combined reimbursement and advance.
All costs must be incurred within the period of performance indicated on your award letter (or as amended).

b. Check FINAL if this will be the last (or only) payment you are requesting on this grant;
otherwise check PARTIAL.
Section 4.

Indicate the method used to record costs in your accounting ledgers. (If you are not sure, ask your
Finance office or bookkeeper.)
If you recognize expenses only as you pay them, check CASH.
If you recognize expenses before paying them, check ACCRUED EXPENDITURES.

Section 5.

If this is your first payment request for this grant, enter "1." For your second, enter "2," etc. Do not
enter the amount of money that you are requesting.

Section 6.

You must enter your "Taxpayer Identification Number" (also known as "Employer Identification
Number"). This nine-digit number is assigned to your organization by the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS).

Section 7.

Indicate the expenditure period covered by this payment request.
This is not the same as the overall period of performance stated in your award letter. This expenditure period must fall
within the stated period of performance, since Endowment funds cannot be used for costs incurred outside of your
grant period without an approved time amendment. Do not expect to receive any funds before the start date of your
grant.

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The “From” date should reflect the earliest date for which the costs reported were incurred.
Remember, this date can be no earlier than the first date of your period of performance.
The "To" date can be no more than 30 days from the date you submitted this form. It cannot be later
than the last date of your period of performance.
Section 8.

Enter the official IRS name and the address of your organization.
For universities and large organizations, this should be the official grantee name, not the “on behalf of” organization
or other component. In addition, if your address has changed, let us know so we can update our database.

Section 9.

Computation of Amount Requested:
Round your payment request to the nearest dollar and consolidate requests so that the amount of Federal funds
requested at any one time is at least $1,000. If you are drawing down funds in installments, remember that each
subsequent request must reflect cumulative expenditures, and any NEA funds previously received for the award.

a. Total project outlays to date: Enter all allowable project costs that have been incurred
and/or paid as of the date listed.
Report actual expenditures; do not simply reiterate your original budget. All costs claimed must be allowable
and appropriate expense documentation (e.g., contracts, receipts, invoices, payroll records, cancelled
checks, etc.) must be maintained and available for submission upon request. Refer to the General Terms and
Conditions on the Manage Your Award section of our website for more information.

b. Estimated net cash outlays needed for 30-day advance: Include funds here only if you are
requesting an advance of Endowment funds to cover expenses to be incurred within 30 days
or less from the date you submit this form (see box 11). If you are requesting a
reimbursement, leave this as zero.
c.

Total: The sum of line a plus line b will calculate automatically.

d. Recipient share of amount on line c: Enter your cost share or match (non-Endowment
funds) included in the total amount on line c.
e. Endowment share of amount on line c: The form will calculate the difference between line c
and line d. However, the NEA share cannot exceed the amount of your award.
f.

Endowment payments previously requested: Enter all NEA funds previously requested for
this grant. You can use the payment history at www.arts.gov/mygrant to confirm this
amount.

g. Endowment share now requested: Line g will automatically calculate based upon the
previous fields. This is the amount you are now requesting. Remember, these funds must be
disbursed immediately upon receipt.

Section 10.

Progress Report. Unless otherwise stated in the blue Reporting Requirements that were included in
your award package, a progress report is required only once during the grant period. It must be
provided the first time the cumulative amount requested exceeds two-thirds of the grant amount.
We will not be able to process your payment request if it is not accompanied by the required and
acceptable progress report.
The progress report can be brief (sufficient for the space provided in the box) and should include a description of all
activities supported by the grant that have been undertaken since the grant period start date, and a list of grantsupported activities scheduled for the remainder of the grant period. If you are submitting your payment request in
conjunction with your Final Report materials, you may refer to the Final Descriptive Report as your progress report.

Section 11.

Authorizing Official. All requests must be submitted by an Authorizing Official.

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For parent organizations of approved independent components, this Authorizing Official must be a
representative of the parent organization.
Colleges and universities may delegate authority to a fiscal officer to submit payment requests. If
the Endowment cannot verify the name and title of the individual submitting a request via the
organization’s website, etc., the grantee should provide written authorization to the Grants &
Contracts office confirming the person’s role and authority.
For additional information about Authorizing Officials, see General Terms & Conditions for Grants and Cooperative
Agreements to Organizations, Section 5.

Submission of a payment request indicates that the grantee agrees to all the terms and conditions of
the grant, including the Assurance as to Labor Standards outlined on page 2 of the request form.
The complete text of 29 CFR Part 505 Labor Standards on Projects or Productions Assisted by Grants from the National
Endowments for the Arts and Humanities is available online here.

Section 12.

Bank Information. You must complete this section in order to receive your grant funds. Funds will be
transferred electronically to your bank and deposited directly into your account as an automated
clearing house (ACH) payment.
The sample check below will assist you in identifying your routing and account numbers. The
Routing Number (RTN) must be nine digits.

Note: These numbers may be in slightly different places on your check. Please contact your financial institution to
verify the correct routing and account numbers.
Additional tips: If the first two digits of the RTN are not 01 through 12 or 21 through 32, the direct deposit may be
rejected. Your check may state that it is payable through a bank different from the financial institution at which you
have your checking account. If so, do not use the routing number on that check. Contact your financial institution for
the correct routing number. The checking account number can be up to 17 digits (no letters). Include hyphens but omit
spaces and special symbols. Do not include the check number. Funds can only be transferred directly to an ACH
checking or savings account.

It is important to make sure that your bank's ACH RTN and your bank account numbers are correct
on each payment request form you submit. An incorrect number will prevent your bank from
crediting your account. We do not retain your banking information and will not be able to transfer
account information from a previous request.
To verify receipt of funds, call your bank, not the Endowment. You must ask your bank if they
received an ACH payment (do not use any other term) from the US Treasury to your account.

SUBMITTING YOUR REQUEST:
You should email your requests to the Grants & Contracts Office at [email protected]. Do not send a duplicate hard
copy or fax.

TRACKING YOUR REQUEST:
Due to the high volume of calls and e-mails that we receive, please use the “My Grant” feature on our website to
confirm receipt of your request. Go to www.arts.gov/mygrant and enter your award number. A date in the “Date
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Received” column confirms we have received your request. Once it is approved, a date will appear under “Date
Approved” and the funds requested will appear under "Amount."
It typically takes 24 hours for requests to be logged in. If it has been 2 or 3 working days since you submitted your
request, please re-send it.

GRANTEE ASSISTANCE:
If you have any other questions, please e-mail us at [email protected] or call the Grants & Contracts Office at (202)
682-5403.

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