Proposals Submitted through the Florida Atlantic University Foundation


Foundations who provide funding often require that the submitting entity be designated as tax-exempt by the IRS in order to be eligible for funding. FAU is designated as a 170c tax-exempt entity and may apply for funding as a tax-exempt entity.

However, some Foundations may require that the submitting entity have the 501(c)3 tax-exempt designation to be eligible. The FAU Foundation is a 501c3 tax-exempt entity. For those foundations/sponsors that require the submitting institution have the 501c3 designation, the grant proposal will be submitted through the Florida Atlantic University Foundation, Inc. (FAUF). In most cases, proposals that do not require the designation of 501c3 will be submitted through FAU. However, all grant proposals that will be submitted to Private Foundations a notification should be sent to the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations for three reasons: to coordinate grant submissions with the OSP, to provide useful information about the funder, and to ensure that priority-driven relationships are managed with the utmost professionalism.

Regardless of the submitting entity, all grant proposals (research, instructional, program and other sponsored grant activity) must be routed through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for review.

For those grant proposals submitted through the FAUF, the following procedures should be followed:


  1. FAUF personnel, Office of Foundation Relations (OFR) and Development Officers (DO), will work with the Principal Investigator (PI) on the grant proposal and all related documents.

    The PI (or designee) will contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Proposal and Contract Administrator (PCA) and e-mail a copy of the Letter of Inquiry and/or the Request for Proposal (RFP) and any other document related to the submission.


  2. The OSP Proposal Submission Deadline policy, allowing a minimum of five business days for review will be followed. These grant proposals will require coordination between the PI, FAUF and OSP.


  3. The PI (or designee) is responsible for routing the proposal through OSP’s grants management system, following the same process used for all proposals, with the following information:

    • In grantsERA the Sponsor will be FAUF and the Prime Sponsor will be the agency providing the funds.
    • Applicant Name: Florida Atlantic University Foundation
    • Address: 777 Glades Road, AD 295, Boca Raton, FL 33431
    • Phone: 561-297-2891
    • Email: faufoundation@fau.edu
    • DUNS No: 800549219
    • EIN No: 59-0917284
    • FAUF Authorizing Official: Danita Nias, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and CEO of FAUF, dnias@fau.edu
  4. Proposals submitted to federal or federal flow-through sponsors should not be submitted through the FAUF but rather FAU.
  5. F&A (indirect costs) should be added to the proposal based on the RFP/solicitation.

    • If an F&A rate is not identified in the RFP/solicitation, a 20% of the total direct cost (TDC) will be used on all proposals to Foundation sponsors.

    • If F&A is not allowed by the sponsor it should be clearly stated in the RFP/solicitation, in the sponsors official guidelines, or on their website.

    • If F&A was included in the project funded by the Sponsor, the Division of Research (DOR) will reimburse the FAUF the applicable Administrative Fee.

      1. Effective July 1, 2019, the fee is 5% of the total direct costs.
      2. If the F&A was limited by the Sponsor to 5% or less, the fee amount for FAUF will be limited to half of the F&A amount.
    • FAUF will submit a supplier invoice through Workday for the proper amount of the fee. The Research Accounting office will process the payment.


    • The PCA will review all documents to ensure compliance with the Agency and FAU requirements.
    • Any documents from the Agency that require authorizing approval signature will be signed by FAUF since they are the submitting entity.
    • Once OSP has reviewed and approved the proposal in grantsERA, the PCA will notify the PI and the Development Officer that the proposal is ready for submission.
    • FAUF or the PI will submit the proposal to the Agency.
    Proposals cannot be submitted to the funding agency without a review and approval from the Office of Sponsored Programs.

If proposal is awarded to FAUF, FAUF will enter into an Agreement as provided in Exhibit A with FAU transferring the management of the award and compliance to FAU. The Assistant Vice President for Research or other authorizing official in Sponsored Programs and the Assistant Vice President for Finance and Administration (Foundation) are designated to sign this agreement.

  1. Once this agreement is executed, OSP will process the post-award and request the account set up from Research Accounting.
  2. On the post-award document, OSP will indicate the Fee percentage (%) and the amount ($) on the Notes section.
  3. FAUF will transfer the award amount to FAU.

If the project is not funded, FAUF, the DO or the PI will contact OSP via email at (sponsoredprograms@fau.edu) with that information. OSP will mark the proposal “not funded” in grantsERA.

FAU will provide a quarterly report of all private foundation awards to FAUF. The Florida Atlantic University Division of Research and the Florida Atlantic University Foundation, Inc. approve this process, which is effective on July 1, 2019.