1a & 2a. FY12-FY14 FDR - Additional Guidance

National Endowment for the Arts

TIPS FOR FINAL REPORTS
(12-xxxx-7xxx, 13-xxxx-7xxx, etc.)
Rev. 1/22/13

IMPORTANT INFORMATIO N
Grantees with award numbers that start with 12-xxxx-7xxx or 13-xxxx-7xxx must use the Final Descriptive Report Standard form or Final Descriptive Report - Livability form. To determine which FDR to use, see the outcome included
on your grant award letter. The outcome is also displayed on www.arts.gov/mygrant. If you send the wrong FDR, you
will be asked to resubmit.
E-mail the PDF of the Final Descriptive Report (FDR) and the Federal Financial Report (FFR) to [email protected].
Carefully follow the instructions under "How to Submit your Final Reports" (in this document) for mandatory file naming
and materials submission requirements. FDRs sent by fax or mail will not be accepted.
Final Report forms and instructions can be found at www.arts.gov/manageaward/Organizations2. For additional
financial guidance, including information on unallowable costs, please refer to the NEA Office of Inspector General’s
Financial Management Guide for Non-Profit Organizations and Financial Management Guide for State and Local
Governments.
There is a Final Report Checklist to help you track your required final report documentation. Final Report questions can
be directed to [email protected] or (202) 682-5403.
To check receipt of the reports go to www.arts.gov/mygrant. If you do not see a report marked as received within 3
work days of submission, please contact us at [email protected] or (202) 682-5403.
FINAL DESCRIPTIVE RE PORT (FDR)
Here are some tips to keep in mind while filling out parts of the FDR.
Part I: Project Narrative
The narrative must give us a full sense of the activities and accomplishments of the approved project.
 Answer each narrative question in the text box provided.
 Answer only one question at a time, and in the appropriate box.
 Include dates when describing major project activities.
 Do not include information on fundraising, receptions, parties, or other unallowable expenses. See the OMB Cost
Principles relevant to your organization type for a listing of allowable and unallowable costs for Federal awards.
Each text box has a limit of 3,684 characters. It will not accept any text past this limit. You may want to compose your
narrative answers in a Word document and then paste them into the form. Please note that the PDF form will eliminate
any “fancy” formatting such as indent, bold, italics, or underline, but will accept standard bullets and auto-numbered
lists.
Part IIA: Project Activity
Only report on NEA-approved project activities if they fit into one or more of the project activity categories. Otherwise,
leave this section blank.
 # of fairs/festivals: If your project was a festival, mark it here and do not break out the number of performances,
workshops, etc. in other categories.
 # of lectures/demonstrations/workshops/symposiums: If an event is repeated multiple times, or if it takes place over
two or more days, it should only be counted once. For example, a semester-long painting class, a week-long play
development workshop, and a pre-performance lecture given to multiple audiences should each only be counted
once.

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# of exhibitions curated/presented: for film projects (other than film festivals), count each film as one exhibition. Do
not count multiple showings of any exhibition.
# of hours that artists were in residence: Count hours of scheduled community/classroom engagement (such as 5
classroom hours) conducted by an artist or group of artists. Do not multiply the number of hours by each group
member. Professional development residencies (such as at an artists’ community) should not be counted here.

Part IIB: Individuals Benefitted
 Individuals Compensated from the NEA-approved Project Budget: Only include individuals who were paid. This
includes artists and others under contracts, as well as staff salaries. Do not include volunteers or others who
donated services (such as consulting, performing, legal guidance, etc.).
 Audiences/Attendees/Participants/Learners: A “Live Arts Experience” also includes activities where the art comes to
the audience, such as at nursing homes, correctional institutions, and schools.
 Audiences/Attendees/Participants/Learners: “Distribution of Materials” numbers should include items of substance
clearly related to the award, but not programs or simple handouts
Part II E-F: Arts Education Standards-Based Project Impact and Narrative - Only completed by grantees whose award
was issued under the NEA's Arts Education discipline. Refer to the Discipline/Program item on your grant award letter.
All other grantees should skip Parts IIE and IIF.
 Students and teachers/teaching artists “directly engaged as learners in the project” are those who have primarily
participated by observation, such as by attending a play or observing a class.
 Students and teachers/teaching artists who “demonstrated learning in arts education standards-based projects” are
those who have had a sustained, standards-based, educational experience.
Part III: Geographic Location of Project Activity – Online module.
 If project activity took place at locations other than your primary address, list each address only once regardless of
how many times the activity occurred. For broadcasting project, include addresses of radio or television stations that
air your programs during the grant period only.
 If activities at one location spanned multiple months, enter only the first month.
FEDERAL FINANCIAL RE PORT (FFR)
Please note, we understand that the application budget or revised budget was your best estimate at the time of
submission, however, for the FFR you must report actual expenditures. Review your accounting books and report only
actual, documented costs on the FFR.
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The dates in Box 8 should match the approved grant period (including approved time extensions) and encompass all
NEA approved project activity. If you were unable to finish the project and/or meet and expend the match within
the approved period of support, see the General Terms & Conditions regarding a possible time amendment.
Line 10j represents your share of the final project cost, based on actual expenditures.
 The NEA grant amount is not included in this line.
 Unless non-matching was indicated on the award letter, you must show at least a 1:1 match.
 Receptions, fundraising, and other unallowable costs cannot be included. If unallowable costs were in the
application or revised budget, these were removed by the NEA. See the copy of the approved budget
document included in the award package, or as amended. At the bottom of the budget are notes that indicate
if adjustments were made by the NEA to bring the estimated budget into compliance. Contact the Grants &
Contracts Office with questions.
Type the name and title of the Authorizing Official who approved the report, as well as their phone number and email address.
If you have previously requested a portion of your grant funds, the FFR may be used to release the balance of the
grant. To do so, indicate in section 12 the amount being requested and the bank account and RTN number (Routing
Transmittal Number) that should be used for the payment.
Not using all of the NEA funds? Be sure to indicate the amount you won't be claiming in line 10h and add a note in
Box 12.

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PAYMENT REQUEST
If you have not yet requested any of your grant funds, submit a NEA Payment Request form. Find it at
www.arts.gov/manageaward/PayReqForm.pdf. Payment Request Instructions and a video tutorial are also available
at www.arts.gov/manageaward.
WORK PRODUCTS
Any work product requirements will be noted on the blue Reporting Requirements sheet that was sent with your
grant award package.
Products must be sent directly to the Grants & Contracts Office, so we can mark them received and review them
with your Final Report. Sending them to other offices may delay our logging their receipt into our database,
jeopardizing your ability to receive future awards.
You must include the grant number and your organization name on the product or we may be unable to match it to
the correct grant.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR FINAL REPORT S
The FDR must be e-mailed.
 Save the FDR to your computer as a PDF file . We cannot accept a scanned FDR.
 Only use Adobe Reader 9 or later. If you are a Mac user - do not use the Preview program on the Mac because it is
incompatible with our system.
 Do not “distill” the PDF. This removes the form fields. If you do this, the FDR cannot be imported by our system. If
you don't see the purple "please fill out this form" bar at the top you have not saved it correctly.
 NAMING CONVENTION - Follow this naming convention, name the PDF file "FDR" followed by the award number
and your organization's name (e.g., FDR 12-xxxx-7xxx, Art Organization).
 E-mail the FDR to [email protected] with FDR, the grant number, and your organization's name in the subject
line.
 Part III (Geographic Location of Project Activity) of the FDR must be completed online.
 Paste a completed Final Report Checklist into the body of your e-mail. This helps us track the various elements of
your Final Report.
TROUBLESHOOTING THE FDR:
If you are still having problem with the FDR, try the steps below.
1. Download a clean copy of the form from our site.
2. Open it in Adobe Reader. The fact that Adobe Reader is installed on a machine does not guarantee that it is the
software that will open the PDF by default. You should check the title bar to see what software is being used. If it
isn’t Adobe Reader, open Adobe Reader first and then open the form file from inside the program. If all else
fails, try re-installing Adobe Reader and make sure it is the default PDF software.
3. Fill out the form and save it.
4. E-mail it to us.
For your convenience, the following documents can be attached to your FDR e-mail. Make sure to follow the same
format for file naming :
 FFR.
 Payment Request—if funds remain.
 Required Work Product—if an electronic version is acceptable to NEA.
If sending hard copy products, we accept deliveries at:
Grants and Contracts Office
National Endowment for the Arts
400 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20506

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Please note: First-class and Priority mail sent to Federal agencies may be irradiated to protect against biological
contamination. Products (e.g., CDs, DVDs, publications) put through this process suffer irreversible damage. Use an
alternative delivery service if you are sending these kinds of materials.
Faxed materials, such as products, may be sent to (202) 682-5609 or 5610.
PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL AND FAX THE SAME DOCUMENTS.

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