Definition of Sponsored Activities
Sponsored Activities must be cleared through the Office of Grants Management or the Office of Industry Contracts to assure appropriate treatment in the university system. The following guidelines are provided to assist in determining which agreements fall into this category.
Sponsored agreements generally include two or more of the following characteristics:
- Investigator initiated project; specifies proposals for research, training; or service activities to an outside entity.
- The proposed project binds the University to a specific scope of work.
- A formal agreement for a specified term is established, with the agreement between the University of Louisville Research Foundation and the sponsor. This agreement is signed by an officer of the University and the sponsoring agency and may be a grant, contract, cooperative agreement or fee for service arrangement.
- The project involves disposition of property, whether tangible or intangible, that may result from the project (e.g. equipment, records, inventions, copyrights, or rights in data).
- The sponsor has written policies concerning F&A (indirect or overhead) cost recoveries. Projects normally requiring F&A cost recovery must be established as a grant or contract by the Grants Management Office. The absence or prohibition of F&A costs does not automatically preclude the award from being a sponsored agreement.
- Progress, technical, final reports or other deliverables are required, excluding stewardship reports on gifts.
- Invoices and/or a financial report are required.
- Unexpended funds are returned to the sponsor or a fixed price contract has been negotiated.
- The proposed activity involves human subjects, laboratory animals, radiological hazards, biohazards, or recombinant DNA.
Also see the Guidelines for Designating Funding As A Gift Or A Sponsored Program.