Reporting Instructions

Due Dates

Grantees are responsible for meeting the Foundation's report obligations, and dates on which reports are due.  As a general rule, the Foundation expects narrative and financial reports annually, no later than three months after the anniversary of the grant start date.  These annual reports should report on twelve months of activities and the grant funds should be accounted for separately and distinctly from any previous Mellon grants.  If the Foundation agreed to different reporting dates or reporting periods, these will be stated in the award letter or in a subsequent official communication from the Foundation.  If unusual circumstances arise that cause reporting delays, please inform Foundation staff as soon as possible.  Please note that delinquent reporting may result in the temporary cessation of further Foundation grants to your institution. 

Reporting Components

In narrative and financial reports, the Foundation expects grantees to describe and evaluate the activities achieved during the grant period and to explain how the grant funds were used for those activities.  The Scholarly Communications and Information Technology program requires grantees to use our grant reporting cover sheet and narrative and financial report templates, which can be downloaded from our Web site:

http://msc.mellon.org/guidelines

The narrative report should not exceed six pages.  If additional pages are necessary to describe project activities, please attach them as an appendix and send them with the reports as a separate pdf file.  The financial and endowment reports must be signed by a financial manager.  All reports should be submitted to Kristen Van Leuven at ; please do not send hard copies.

Narrative Reports

Narrative reports should include the following elements, which are embodied in the template: 

1. Objectives (A brief review of the project objectives and any changes that have occurred); 
2. Deliverables (A clear, concise description of the expected outcomes and benefits of the project); 
3. Accomplishments (A brief summary of progress made towards realizing those deliverables since the last reporting period);
4. Challenges (Any setbacks or challenges since the last reporting period);
5. Project Personnel (Significant board, management or staff changes since the last reporting period); 
6. Publications (A description of any recent publications, news articles, or other grant-related materials); 
7. Intellectual Property (Projects subject to an intellectual property agreement should include with the final report the codes, license or related technologies developed during the project, or explain how they may be obtained by the Foundation);
8. Future Plans (Plans and goals for the upcoming year);
9. Financial Narrative (A financial section commenting on actual expenditures during the current reporting period as they relate to the proposed budget, and an explanation of any significant variance between projected spending and actual spending in each budget category);
10. Endowment Reporting (For endowment grants, grantees should report on the market value at the start of the reporting period, the market value at the end of the reporting period, the status of any matching requirement, expenditures on the spendable portion, and a general statement on investment strategy).

Financial Reports

Financial reports should include the following elements, which are embodied in the template: 

1. The original signature of an institutional financial officer and date of the signature;

2. The amount of accrued interest income;

3. The original amount of the award; 

4. A column showing the same categories that appeared in the approved proposal budget; 

5. A column showing the expected budget for the reporting period; 

6. An accounting of expenditures during the reporting period of both the grant funds and interest earned; 

7. Foreign grantees should show expenditures in local currency, but should report the total award amount and remaining balance in dollars and local currency, citing the exchange rate at the time of the grant payment.

The budget categories should be customized to fit the needs of your project.  The categories reported must be identical to those listed in the budget of the most recently approved grant proposal.

Please feel free to contact Kristen Van Leuven () with any questions.