7a. FY18 FDR - Additional Guidance

How To Prepare Your Final Reports
FY 18 Awards
Updated December 2020

Introduction
Required final reports are due 90 days after your period of performance (award period) ends. The
complete final report package includes the following:
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•
•
•
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Final Descriptive Report (FDR). Narrative and statistical data about your award activities.
Federal Financial Report (FFR). Final accounting of allowable project expenditures including
required cost share/match.
Geographic Location of Project Activity Report (GEO). List of addresses where significant
project activity took place.
Payment Request (if funds remain)
Work Product (if required)

FY18 final reports and payment requests must be submitted through REACH. Once submitted, you will
be able to track their status through approval. Arts Endowment staff reviews reports in the order in
which they were received and will contact you if questions arise during review. Messages will be sent
through REACH messaging and will automatically go out to all individuals associated with this grant. All
questions must be resolved within 30 days.
There are significant consequences for overdue reports. Organizations with overdue reports are
ineligible for new awards and no payments will be made on existing awards. Pending Arts Endowment
application(s) will be rejected if the overdue reports are not received. Any funds remaining on an award
will be de-obligated by the Agency and no longer available to you if reports are more than 60 days
overdue (a total of 150 days after the grant ended). If you drew down funds but failed to submit
acceptable final reports, your organization will be ineligible to receive Arts Endowment funding for five
years following the final report due date of the award(s) or until the delinquent final reports are
submitted.
General questions about final reporting should be directed to [email protected].
Reminders
Supported award activities must be consistent with those approved for funding by the Agency. If you did
not carry out the project as intended, believe a time or scope amendment is necessary, or if you need an
extension to your final report due date, send the request with a justification through REACH. See
Section 4 “Making Changes to Your Project” in the How to Manage Your NEA Award & eGMS REACH
Handbook for more information.

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Do not include activities supported by unallowable costs in your final report documents. Familiarize
yourself with unallowable costs by reviewing Section 12 “Cost Principles” of the General Terms &
Conditions for your award.
An active SAM (System for Award Management) registration is required to receive federal funds and
must be maintained throughout the life of the award. If you will be submitting a payment request with
your final report, go to www.sam.gov to confirm that your organization’s SAM registration is current.
(You can also access SAM information through your award in REACH.) Begin the renewal process
immediately if the registration has expired or will be expiring soon.
Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all records pertinent to your award
must be retained for three years from the date of submission of the Federal Financial Report. Your
award may be selected for audit by the Agency’s Inspector General within that time period.
Verify that your email will accept messages from the arts.gov domain name so your REACH message
notifications do not end up in your spam folder.
Ensure Consistent Reporting
All components of the final report work in tandem to present a complete picture of the grantee’s Arts
Endowment-supported project. Therefore, if activity is mentioned in the Final Descriptive Report, it’s
expected that it was paid with funds reported on the Federal Financial Report and that all locations of
significant project activity will be listed in your Geographic Location of Project Activity (GEO) report.
You must report solely on the Arts Endowment Project, which is restricted to those activities the
Agency has reviewed and approved. The Arts Endowment Project may be just a portion of a larger
effort. Report only on activity supported by the approved project budget.
To ensure that your final report is consistent with the approved project, review the following documents
before you begin. (Look under the Documents tab for the award in REACH.)


Application narrative and any approved scope amendments. You will be reporting on these
activities, key artists, and partners.



The most recent Project Budget approved by the Arts Endowment. This will be the revised
budget submitted to the Agency before your award was made or might have been part of an
amendment request made during the period of performance. You will be reporting on the
actual final cost of these line items.



Official Notice of Action. This document includes basic grant information including the official
project description, award period (period of performance), award amount, matching (cost
share) requirements, CFDA information, and original Reach account usernames. Your project
must be consistent with these parameters.

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

Terms & Conditions. This document was part of your award package and includes any terms
that are specific to your grant, such as the need for additional documentation with payment
requests. It also includes notes from the Arts Endowment about your approved project budget,
including costs that were rejected during review. You are responsible for adhering to these
terms.



Your accounting records for this award. You will need these records to calculate the final
project cost for your Federal Financial Report, which is based on the documented (by receipts,
payroll, etc.) final cost of each approved line item on your Project Budget Form.

Web Links to Bookmark
REACH - https://grants.arts.gov/eGMS-Reach/Login.aspx The Arts Endowment’s online awards
management system. Individuals associated with a recipient organization receive REACH access
instructions with the offer and/or award notifications.
Manage Your Award - https://www.arts.gov/grants/manage-your-award/awards-after-oct1-2017 . Find
the documents you need to understand the terms of your award, request a payment, and submit a final
report.
How to Manage Your NEA Award & eGMS REACH Handbook - How to Manage Your NEA Award &
eGMS REACH Handbook. Helpful information about Arts Endowment award administration and
common challenges.
GEO Submission - https://www.arts.gov/form/geographic-location-project-activity. GEO reports are
submitted through this web link. Confirmation of submission must be made through the Forms &
Reports tab.

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COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING YOUR FINAL REPORTS
Final Descriptive Report (FDR)
FDR Form
FDR Instructions: The FDR form includes instructions throughout, but see additional tips below.
Grantees with FY18 awards (the award number will end with -18) must use the FY18 Final Descriptive
Report (FDR) form. Other versions of the FDR will not be accepted.
Submit the Final Descriptive Report by logging into your REACH account and selecting the correct award.
Go to the Forms & Reports tab and click on the black pen next to the report’s name to open up the
report’s window. Follow the instructions for uploading the report.
Downloading and Formatting the FDR Form
Please note that clicking directly on the FDR link on our webpage will result in a message about needing
to update your PDF viewer. This is not necessarily true; if you are using the most recent version of
Adobe Reader, you are fine. The message is associated with the software used to develop the FDR form
and can be disregarded.
Follow these instructions exactly to download and save the FDR form:
1) Save the FDR form to your desktop as a PDF file without opening it first.
PC Users: Right-click on the FDR link on the Arts Endowment webpage, and then select "Save
link as..."
Mac Users: Control-click on the FDR link on the Arts Endowment webpage, and then select
"Save Link As..."
2) Open Adobe Reader on your computer. If you don't have this software, it can be downloaded for
free from the Adobe website. Use only the latest version of Adobe Reader.
3) From within Adobe Reader, open the FDR form and complete it.
4) Save the file and rename it. Follow this naming convention: "FDR" followed by the award
number and your organization's name. For example: FDR, 1234567-89-18, ABC Art Museum.
5) Verify that your report is properly formatted by checking the Document Properties. The most
recent version of the FDR shows the PDF Producer as Designer 6.3. (An earlier version shows
Adobe LiveCycle Designer.)

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We are unable to upload reports to our final reports database unless they are properly formatted.
Scanned or improperly formatted FDRs cannot be accepted.
If you haven’t properly formatted the report as described, you will see a different PDF producer and
your report will report will be incompatible with our database. None of the FDRs with the properties
shown below can be accepted.

Do not use Mac Preview

Do not use distill the document

Do not use other PDF Producers
(e.g., Google, PDFium)

Completing the FDR
This guidance will help you through the trickier parts of the FDR:
 Organization Information
"Period of performance" is a specific term used across the federal government. It means the same
thing as "period of support" or "award period." It does not mean the dates of any actual
performances.
The contact should be a person who can answer questions about the contents of the FDR. It does
not need to be the Authorizing Official for the grant.
 Select Type of FDR
Selecting the correct type of FDR is critical—the questions you will answer on the FDR form are
determined by the FDR type that you pick. (We will ask you to revise and resubmit your FDR if you
do this incorrectly.) Go to the Forms & Reports tab for this award in REACH to view your required
FDR type.
 Part I: Project Narrative
The project narrative must give us a full sense of the activities and accomplishments of the Arts
Endowment Project. An Arts Endowment Project may be just a portion of a larger effort; do not
report on activity that is not supported by the approved project budget.
Even if you have previously submitted a progress report with a payment request, the FDR must
account for the entire period of performance.
DO:
•
•
•

Include dates when describing major project activities.
Use standard bullets or auto-numbered lists to organize information.
Be aware of the character limits for narrative responses.

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DON’T:
• Report on activities that took place before or after your period of performance.
• Tell us about activity that was not paid through the approved project budget or reported
on the FFR.
• Mention receptions, galas, general fundraising efforts, special donor events or similar
activities. These activities are ALWAYS unallowable under the terms of your grant and
cannot be paid by Agency or matching funds.
• Insert a signature or attach anything into the PDF.
Tip:

Due to the expandable nature of the FDR form, you can’t always see the full text when
you are typing a narrative response. To resolve: with your mouse, click anywhere else
on the FDR form. This will cause the full text to display.

 Part IIA: Project Activity Data, Part IIB: Individuals Benefitted, Part IIC: Population Descriptors
Be sure that what you report in these sections is completely consistent with the information your
narrative.
The “Individuals Compensated from the Project Budget” question will be new to many grantees and
may be confusing. Some tips:
• Column A:
- Count only individuals who are compensated, in whole or in part, with project funds
reported on the FFR.
- Count only individuals paid directly by your organization.
- Do not count individuals working for another organization contracted for services.
• Column B:
- Count all employees hired as a result of this award, including temporary, part-time,
and full-time employees. (For this purpose, employees are defined as staff eligible
for federal income tax withholding from wages.)
- Do not count contractors or individuals who would receive an IRS Form 1099.
 Part IB, C or D: Arts Education Narrative (APPLICABLE ONLY TO ARTS EDUCATION FDR)

Direct Learning for Students project type (B) or
Professional Development project type (C) or
Collective Impact project type (D)

Select the project type that best fits your Arts Education award and answer the questions for
that project type. Complete a Collective Impact narrative only if your award documents specifically
mentioned collective impact. (See the Project Description in your Notice of Action.)

Tip:

The number of students “engaged in the project as learners” must always be equal
to or greater than the number of students “who demonstrated learning.” The
number of professionals who “engaged in professional development activities” must
always be equal to or greater than the number of professionals who are “reporting a
change in practice.”

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Federal Financial Report (FFR)
FFR Form: The FFR is a web form accessible through REACH.
FFR Instructions
Access the FFR web form by logging into your REACH account and selecting the correct award. Go to the
Forms & Reports tab and click on the black pen next to Federal Financial Report to open up the report’s
window. Follow the instructions for completing and submitting the report.
Be sure to closely review the FFR Instructions. This document tells you not only how to complete the
form but also includes guidance on the expenditures that should be included and provides examples of
how the FFR should look for the most common reporting scenarios. Most final report errors are made
on the FFR.
Geographic Location of Project Activity (GEO)
GEO Form and Instructions
GEO Spreadsheet Instructions
GEO FAQs
GEO submission for FY18 grants has two parts:
1. The GEO is submitted through a web form on the Arts Endowment’s website. You will complete the
form and then upload a spreadsheet of your project activity locations. To submit your GEO report,
click on the GEO Form link above or go to https://www.arts.gov/form/geographic-location-projectactivity.
2. Confirmation: In REACH, at the Forms & Reports tab, you will click on the black pen next to the GEO
and confirm you have submitted the GEO report to the GEO Form link. Your GEO will not be marked
as received until both steps have been completed.
Payment Requests, If Funds Remain
Payment Request Form: The payment request is a web form accessible through REACH.
Payment Request Instructions
Access the Payment Request Form by logging into your REACH account and selecting the correct award.
Go to the Payments tab and click the Add Payment Request button. Follow the instructions for
completing and submitting the payment request.
Tips:

Confirm that your SAM.gov registration is current and that you have no delinquent federal debt
(called “Debt Subject to Offset”) at www.sam.gov before submitting a payment request. Both
requirements must be met for payment. You can also access SAM information through your

award in REACH.

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Verify that SAM has your organization’s current banking information. Agency payments will be
made to this bank account. If the bank information changes, you must update it in SAM before
requesting payment.
When requesting funds after the period of performance has ended, your payment request and
FFR must show the same final project cost. The Recipient Share of project costs shown on line
6d of the Payment Request must equal the Recipient Share on line 10j of the FFR.
You can track the status of your payment request through the Payments tab in REACH. Funds will be in
your account generally within a few weeks after the payment request status changes to Approved.
Work Product, if Required
To find out if you have a work product due, log in to your REACH account and select the correct award.
Go to the Forms & Reports tab to view the required reports. Any required work products will be listed
there.
To submit an electronic work product, click on the black pen next to Work Product in the Forms &
Reports tab. Follow the instructions for uploading your work product. Note: Only one work product
will upload through the Forms & Reports tab. If you have multiple required products to submit, go to
the Messages tab for that award and send additional products as message attachments. Indicate “work
product” in the message subject line.
Follow this naming convention for work products submitted through REACH: "Work Product" followed
by the award number and your organization's name. For example: Work Product, 1234567-89-18, ABC
Art Museum.
Hard-copy work products must be sent directly to the Office of Grants Management. We accept
deliveries at:
Office of Grants Management
National Endowment for the Arts
400 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20506
Agency staff will log your hard-copy work product in to REACH upon receipt.
Important: 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.

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Final Reports Package Checklist
Your final report package is complete if you have done the following:

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□
□
□
□

Submitted a PDF of your FDR through the Forms & Reports tab in REACH
Submitted the FFR web form through the Forms & Reports tab in REACH
Submitted your GEO data 1) through the web form and 2) by completing the
confirmation at the Forms & Reports tab in REACH
Submitted a Payment Request web form through the Payments tab in REACH (if needed)
Submitted a work product through the Forms & Reports tab in REACH, or shipped it to
the Arts Endowment (if a product is required for your award)

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