× Home
About UsEdward A. Ames SeminarsMediaMedia InquiriesTidal Exchange NewsletterContact Us

Grant Application Guide

Please see here for basic guidelines to managing your proposal and/or award through ProposalCentral (PC). For technical issues beyond what is addressed, please contact PC Support at 1-800-875-2562 or by email at pcsupport@altum.com. Any questions about proposal content or other grant requirements should be directed to the Program Manager at HRF or HEP for the program of interest.

Accessing ProposalCentral: To access PC, go to https://proposalcentral.com/. If it’s your first time logging in, register here: https://proposalcentral.com/register.asp

Open grants: All open grant opportunities can be found in the “Grant opportunities” tab. To apply for an open grant, search for the opportunity you are interested in and click “Apply Now” to create your proposal.

Other homepage tabs: All of your active proposals and awards can be found in the “Proposals” and “Awards” tabs, respectively. To make changes to your profile, institution, etc., go to the “Professional Profile” tab.

Application Resources

Application Process

Please see below for specific sections of your application, which may be a letter of intent or a full proposal, depending on the program and current stage of process. For specific questions about the content of these sections, please contact the Program Manager for your program of interest.

You must add a title and click “Save” in order to unlock the other sections of the proposal. In some cases, the title page may include other basic information such as start and end dates or total amount requested for the grant. These fields can be edited later on before you submit your application.

You can’t edit the information on this page directly, so to add the required fields, click “Edit Professional Profile”

Adding an institution:

If you need assistance adding your institution, please click here for detailed instructions.

Make sure your Organization/Institution is correct – it will usually match your primary applicant institution. If needed, click “Change Institution” and follow the previous instructions above to add the correct institution.

Adding an institution:

If you need assistance adding your institution, please click here for detailed instructions.

For many reasons, the Applicant/PI may need to grant others at their institution or on the research team access to the proposal. Anyone who needs to review and sign the proposal (e.g., authorized Signing Official) should be granted Edit access. Administrative access allows the user to submit the proposal as well as assign other access permissions on this page. For a full breakdown of institution roles, please see the “Access Levels” section below.

When you give a person access to your grant application, you can give them one of three levels of permissions. These include:

  • View (View only. Cannot change any details.)
  • Edit (Can view and change information in the grant application. Cannot Submit or view this Access Permission screen)
  • Administrator (Can view, edit and submit the application. Can give access rights to others.

Steps to Give Another Person Access to Your Grant Application:

  • Make sure each person is registered. To grant access to another person, that person must be registered as a user in the ProposalCentral system. If they are not registered, direct them to register the same way that you did. They do not need to completely fill out their Professional Profile - only the required fields of first and last name.
  • Enter the User ID or the Email of the person you wish to give access to in the User ID/Email field of the Proposal Access User Selector section at the bottom of the screen and then click the Find User button. The person will now be added to the list at the top of the page of users who have access to your application. The default access permission is View.
  • Finally, select the permissions level for the person you have just added - View, Edit, or Administrator - then click the Save button.

Note: This process only gives access to your application. Access to your Professional Profile must be done separately from within the Professional Profile.

Anyone on the project team should be added to the list of Key Personnel. If a specific person has yet to be hired or assigned, a placeholder can be used (e.g., “M.A. Student, Lab Assistant”) instead of the person’s name.

CVs may be required for certain Key Personnel

For detailed budget instructions, refer to the appropriate document in the "Application Resources" section above.

Required attachments and the details of their contents are at the discretion of the Program Manager and should be outlined in the Request for Proposals, but will generally include a Project Description and CV/Resume for the PI and Co-PIs, and potentially other key personnel.

Letters of Intent: HRF does not require institutional signatures for LOIs, however if there are institutional requirements, the applicant should comply with those requirements.

Proposals: HRF requires signatures from the Applicant/PI and signing official authorized by the Applicant/PI institution to sign off on proposals.

Institution Contact Roles and Access Levels

Roles: The Applicant/PI should grant authorized institution staff access to their proposal as appropriate. Please read the definitions of the roles below, and select those which align with your contacts’ institutionally authorized responsibilities. One person can be assigned multiple roles, and more than one person can be assigned to the same role, if authorized by their institution or organization. For most institutions, the Signing Official (SO) and Fiscal Officer (FO) are located in its Office of Sponsored Research or equivalent. An individual can be assigned both an SO role and an FO role on an award if applicable. For some smaller community organizations, the SO and/or FO may be the applicant themselves.

Authority and permissions of institution roles:

  • Signing Official: This is the only role that has authority to review and sign off on proposals and grant contracts. The signing official should be the recognized authority within the grantee institution to sign off on legally binding contracts.
  • Fiscal Officer: This is the only role that has authority to review and sign off on budgets and expense reports. This is the only role that has authority to submit payee information.
  • Grant Administrator: This role has the authority to submit project deliverables that have been assigned to them, add award contacts, and update contact access permissions.

A signing official (SO) has the authority to legally bind the institution in grants administration matters. The individual fulfilling this role may have any number of titles in the applicant/grantee institution. The label “signing official” is used in ProposalCentral as a role and is not necessarily the title of the individual. The SO is responsible for the proper administration of the grant, including but not limited to overseeing the submission of the grant contracts, progress reports, and No Cost Extension Requests. Additionally, the SO is required to certify that all information submitted is accurate, that the terms of the award are acceptable and that the applicant/grantee institution will comply with all applicable laws and HRF/HEP policies. The SO will need access to each grant on ProposalCentral for which they are the SO.

The financial officer (FO) is designated by the grantee institution and is responsible for the proper accounting of grant funds. The individual fulfilling this role may have any number of titles in the applicant/grantee institution. The label “financial officer” is used in ProposalCentral as a role and is not necessarily the title of the individual. In this role, the individual is required to complete the required annual Expense Reports and any budgets. Additionally, the FO is required to certify that all information submitted in the Expends Reports or budget is accurate, that the terms of the award are acceptable and that the applicant/grantee institution will comply with all applicable laws and HRF/HEP policies.

Signing Officials, Financial Officers, and Grant Administrators will need Edit access to PC. Edit access allows the user to submit progress reports, budget forms like expense reports, publications and other documents to HRF via ProposalCentral. Do not send hard copies or emailed documents unless instructed otherwise by HRF or HEP staff. If you need Edit access to prepare or submit financial statements or other required reports to the Foundation, please refer to the Contacts & User Access section for further instructions.

  • No access: User has no ability to view or edit the proposal or award. Use this access level for project team members or institution contacts that you need to list on the proposal or award, but who are not involved in the administration of the proposal or award.
  • View: Allows the user to view the proposal or award record. Use this access level for project team members or institution contacts who need to see the proposal or award, but don’t need to edit or provide signatures for the proposal, award record, or assigned award deliverables.
  • Edit: Allows the user to edit the proposal, award record, and assigned award deliverables. Use this access level for Signing Officials, Fiscal Officers, and some Grant Administrators, as well as the appropriate Key Personnel or project team members.
  • Administrative Access: Grants the user the same permissions as the “Edit” access level, as well as the permission to submit the proposal, add new award contacts, and change award contact access levels. This level of access should only be used for the Applicant/PI, some co-PIs, and some Grant Administrators.