Loan Star Libraries Part 2

Managing your Loan Star Managing your Loan Star Libraries Grant Part 2Libraries Grant Part 2

Managing your Loan Star Managing your Loan Star Libraries Grant Part 2Libraries Grant Part 2

Wendy ClarkWendy ClarkJennifer JustusJennifer Justus

Texas State Library and Archives Texas State Library and Archives Commission Commission

What we’ll cover

• Overview of the grant process and timeline

• How to complete reports• Grant management best

practices

Loan Star Libraries

• Direct state aid for Texas public libraries

• First grants issued in 2002

• All public libraries who are system members are eligible

Money! Where does it come from?

• State of Texas funds

• Administered by TSLAC (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)

What can the grant funds be used for?

• Salaries• Computers and other equipment• Library materials in all formats • Services• Any library operating expenseSource: Loan Star Libraries Administrative

Rules:(http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/funding/loanstar/adminrules.html)

What can’t grant funds be used for?

• Food or other refreshments• Entertainment expenses• Major renovations • Capital expenditures• Prizes or other incentivesSource: Uniform grant Management Standards (http://governor.state.tx.us/files/state-grants/UGMS062004.doc)

Grant timeline

• August—grant awards issued

• October 31—grant applications (plan of action) due

• October 31—all previous year reports due

• February 28-contracts due

• June 15—status updates due for next year’s funding

• July 31—any revisions due

• August 31—all funds encumbered/spent

• October 15-all bills paid; funds liquidated

• October 31- final deadline for report submission

What does this mean?

Encumber:bookkeeping procedure that commits a given amount of money to the payment of an order. Each time an order is placed an amount of money (encumbrance) equal to the total price of all items in that order is deducted from the grant fund.

What does this mean?

• Liquidate:to pay or settle bills or accounts; to pay expenses related to a grant.

Completing Grant Completing Grant ReportsReports

Completing Grant Completing Grant ReportsReports

Reporting Requirements Reporting Requirements

and Processand Process

• GMS:online grant management system (GMS) used for grant applications and reporting.

• https://gms.tsl.state.tx.us/

Grant Management System

Grant Management

System

• One user must be grantee official

• Record your username and password

Logging into Grant Management System

Resetting password in GMS

Grant Reports

• Performance—reports numbers (outputs) along with a narrative description of activities

• Financial—reports how the grant budget was spent

• Equipment (only required if you purchased items listed as equipment in grant budget)

• Revisions (only required if you need to change the way grant funds are allocated)

Performance Report

• Grantees with an award over 20K report quarterly.

• Grantees with an award amount under 20K report twice.

• Performance reports must be submitted even if ‘no activity’ has occurred.

Performance Report

Performance Report

Performance Report—opening page

Performance Report– no activity

Performance Report

Performance Report

Performance Report – materials

Performance Report - materials

Performance Report - materials

Performance Report - persons served

Performance Report - persons served

Performance Report - library staffing

Performance Report - other expenses

Performance Report - narrative questions

Performance Report - narrative questions

Performance Report - spell checking/editing

Performance Report – saving for later

Performance Report - report submission

Performance Report - report submission

Performance Report Tips

Yes!• Reference your

grant application (plan of action)

• Report items received by type

• Use accurate counts or best estimates

• Track users of computers purchased with grant funds

No!• Reporting entire

population served • Submit ‘no activity’

every report period• Try to report persons

or materials for items like furniture, enter a zero

Financial Reports

Required Financial Reports:Financial Status Reports (FSR) Equipment Report – Only if grant

funds are budgeted in the equipment category

Request For Funds (RFF) – Over 50K

GMS Homepage

Create New FSR

Filling out the FSR

Filling out the FSR

Filling out the FSR

FSR - Pending

FSR - Approved

FSR - Error

FSR - Error

FSR FAQ’s• What do I enter in Section 2, line b.,

Grantee Share of Expenditures, local funds?This cell is where you can report any local

funds that were used in addition to the grant funds.

Example – Your Loan Star grant funds were used to purchase a computer but the cost of the computer exceeded available grant funds, so other funds were used to cover the remaining cost. The amount you added to get the computer would be entered in this cell.

FSR FAQ’sWhat are outstanding encumbrances?

(Section 2, line d.)This is where you can record any money that you have encumbered but not yet spent as of the end of the period.

Example – An order for books was placed on February 15th, but the books and invoice will not be received until March (the following FSR period). You can record the amount of the order in the outstanding encumbrance cell on the FSR. The actual expenditure amount will then be reported on next period’s FSR.

FSR FAQ’sWhen I try to submit my Final FSR,

GMS gives me an error message stating that “Balance Due cannot be negative on the Final Report”. What does this mean?– The FSR cannot be the Final report if

grant money is still owed to your library.

– Either you did not enter Total TSLAC Funds Received in Section 2, line g.

– Or…

– You haven’t yet received payment on your Final Request for Funds – if this is the case you will uncheck Final, submit it as the period’s report and once funds are received you will submit a Final showing that the final payment was received.

FSR FAQ’s

FSR Submitted with Errors

Financial Status ReportsGrantees with an award amount

over 20K Submit Quarterly

Grantees with an award amount under 20k

Submit Twice per YearFSR is required even if there were 0

expenditures for the period

FSR Tips

Instruction link at top of form will provide step by step instructions.

Do not try to enter information into grayed out cells – these cells are auto filled by GMS.

Do not check Final if you have not spent all grant money and/or you haven’t received all grant money from TSLAC.

Contact myself or Wendy if you ever have any questions – We are here to help!!

Equipment Report

Equipment Report

Equipment Report

Equipment Report

Equipment Report Tips

Due no later than October 31st Only required if grant funds were

budgeted and spent in the equipment category

Fill out report for ALL equipment/property purchased with grant funds

Total of Equipment Report should be greater than or equal to the Total Cumulative Expenditures in Equipment on the Final FSR

Grant revisions

A grant revision is needed:If you need to move $ into a zero

budget category If the total amount of $ you need to

move exceeds 10% of grant fundsIf you need to dramatically change

what you want to do with grant funds

Do I need a revision?

We spent more in one of our Approved Budget categories, do we need to submit a budget revision? A budget revision is not needed if the

amount over budget is less than 10% of your total grant award amount.

Example – The total grant award amount is $7,000.00 with $5,000.00 budgeted in Equipment but $5,500.00 was actually spent. Since the expenditures total $500.00 more than budgeted a budget revision is not necessary. (10% of $7000.00 is $700.00) If instead $5,800.00 was spent, then a budget revision would be necessary.

Grant Revision

Grant Revision

Grant Revision

Grant Revision

Request For FundsOver 50K Only

Submit Request For Funds – No more than once per month but no less than once per quarter

You are required to submit a Request for Funds once per quarter even if 0 funds were expended – GMS has a Zero Funds Expended check box for this

Create New RFF

Filling out the RFF

Filling out the RFF

RFF Tips Only applies to Loan Star grantees with an

award amount over 50K Instruction link at top of form will provide

step by step instructions. Make sure to enter the amount of

expenditures for the grant term, not just the period of request – GMS will calculate the current request amount

Submit a Request For Funds at least once per quarter even if you didn’t have any expenditures.

Reporting Periods

& Due DatesAwards Over 20K

Reporting Period Due DateSept 1st – Nov 30th Dec 31st

Dec 1st – Feb 28th March 31st

March 1st – May 31st June 30th

June 1st – Aug 31st Sept 30th

Reporting Periods & Due Dates

Awards Under 20KReporting Period Due DateSept 1st – Feb 28th March 31st

March 1st – Aug 31st Sept 30th

Other Important Dates

August 31st – Last day to obligate or encumber grant funds

October 15th – All obligations and encumbrances must be liquidated or paid

October 31st – All reports should be submitted no later than this date

Want your grant funds faster? Here’s how:

• Complete reports by October 31 for previous cycle

• Respond to any requests TSLAC sends asking for report changes

• Use direct deposit; verify banking information

• Return your contracts as soon as possible

• Ensure the contracts are signed correctly

• it bears repeating: grant funds won’t be sent until all previous grant reports are received.

Best Practices

• Read your contract• Put report dates on

your calendar and submit on time

• Track statistics carefully and realistically

• Ask for a revision if needed

• Send publicity materials and pictures

• Put a plan together focusing on greatest needs; write up stories and results

• Contact us if you have questions.

Grant Management Tips…

Keep organized filesKeep a copy of the contract in the

fileREAD THE CONTRACTPrint all submitted forms from GMS

and fileKeep copies of invoices documenting

expenditures in the file

Questions?Questions?Questions?Questions?

Further Further InformationInformation

Further Further InformationInformation

Wendy Clark at wendy.clark@tsl.state.tx.us

Jennifer Justus at jennifer.justus@tsl.state.tx.us