Carryover
Money left unspent at the end of a budget period that is moved into the next one. Some awards permit it automatically and some require written approval, and the difference decides whether an underspend is a nuisance or a loss.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Carry-forward · Unobligated balance
In detail
An underspend is common and rarely a sign of failure — a hire slipped, an order arrived late. Whether the money survives the year boundary is a rule in the award, and where approval is required it is usually requested at the same time as the annual report.
Carryover is also the reason a programme’s headline pool can be misleading. A pool substantially made of unspent prior-year money is a real budget number and a poor guide to how much new money is available.
Against the programme pool
A pool is what a programme has allocated for a cycle, and it may include carried-over money from earlier cycles. Our own catalogue holds a record whose notice says $75 million of which approximately $55 million is carry-over of prior-round funds. `amount_total_pool` stores the $75 million because that is what the notice states, and `amount_note` keeps the sentence about the $55 million, because the sentence is the reason the number means less than it looks.
How GrantTrove stores it
- `amount_note` holds the source’s own qualifying wording beside `amount_total_pool`, so a pool made largely of carry-over does not read as new money.
- We do not subtract carry-over from a pool to produce a "real" figure. That would be a number no source published.
Common questions
Can I keep unspent grant money?
Into the next budget period, sometimes, with or without approval depending on the award. Past the end of the award, no.
Do you adjust pools for carry-over?
Never. We store the published figure and the sentence that qualifies it.
Is carryover the same as a no-cost extension?
No. Carryover moves money across a year boundary; a no-cost extension moves the end date.