Grant readiness questionnaire

9 questions, 18 points, and the three things to deal with next.

Every question asks about something you can verify today — a registration, a statement, a named person. None of them is about how anything is written, because that is not a thing this or any other questionnaire can measure.

  1. 1What kind of body would hold the award?

    Most notices state eligible applicant types before anything else.

  2. 2Do you have a Unique Entity ID?

    Federal awards require a UEI, issued through SAM.gov. It is free and it takes time.

  3. 3Is your SAM.gov registration active?

    Registration lapses annually. An expired registration blocks a federal award at the point of issue, not at the point of application.

  4. 4Can you produce financial statements for the last full year?

    Many notices ask for them as an attachment, and a foundation will usually ask before the first payment.

  5. 5Do you expect to spend $1,000,000 or more in federal awards this year?

    At or above that threshold a single audit is required under 2 CFR 200 subpart F. Below it, it is not.

  6. 6Can you produce a line-item project budget?

    Almost every notice requires one, and its base determines what indirect cost you may charge.

  7. 7Could you cover a cost share if one were required?

    A match is a condition of award, not a preference, and in-kind is often capped.

  8. 8Is there a named person accountable for the award if it lands?

    Reporting and drawdown are ongoing obligations with named responsibility, not one-off tasks.

  9. 9Have you administered a grant before?

    Some notices ask; more of them ask for the systems that experience usually implies.

0 / 180 of 9 answered — unanswered questions score zero

Nine questions, two points each, equally weighted. The score is a count of how many concrete things are in place, not a prediction of whether an application will succeed — nothing here can know that, and a number dressed up as one would be worse than no number.

See what you could apply for