Drawdown

The act of requesting money already awarded, usually through a federal payment system, against costs already incurred or about to be. It is how an award becomes cash, and how often you may do it decides how much working capital a grant actually requires.

Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.

Also called Draw · Request for funds · Payment request

In detail

Most federal drawdowns run through a payment system rather than through the awarding programme, so the account you request from and the office that made the award are different places with different problems. A registration lapse in the payment system stops the money regardless of how healthy the award is.

Frequency is the number that matters. A programme allowing weekly draws requires a fraction of the cash reserve a programme allowing quarterly draws does, on the identical award, for the identical work.

Against reimbursement

Reimbursement is the rule about *when* money moves relative to spending. A drawdown is the mechanism for moving it. A reimbursement award is drawn down after the spend; an advance award is drawn down before it. We store the rule in `is_reimbursement` and `reimbursement_basis`, and we store no mechanism, because the mechanism is in the award document rather than in the notice.

How GrantTrove stores it

  • `is_reimbursement` and `reimbursement_basis` carry the disbursement rule where a notice states one. That is the field that changes whether an award is usable by a small organisation.
  • Drawdown frequency is not extracted. It appears in award terms rather than in notices, and a field populated on a handful of records would misrepresent the rest as unrestricted.

Common questions

How often can I draw down?

It is set by the award terms, not by the notice, so we do not hold it. The awarding office is the authority.

Does a drawdown mean the money is spent?

It means it has moved to you. Spending it on unallowable costs afterwards is still a finding.

What blocks a drawdown?

A lapsed registration, an overdue report, or an unresolved finding, most commonly. All three are outside the notice.