Secure Your Partners

Steps to Apply

You need to secure your partners as early in the proposal preparation process as possible. Some tips:

Make sure that the roles and responsibilities of each party are clear in the proposal and to each party.
Make sure that the activities of each partner are designed to be implemented effectively.
Ensure that compensation for the partner is adequate for the activities to be undertaken.
All partnerships must be documented (see below).

In most instances, faculty from another institution cannot be paid directly from your grant. Rather, their institution must be included as a sub-recipient. To facilitate this, put their grants office in touch with OSP as soon in the process as possible.

Find out their process, and make sure you leave enough time to create a proposed partnership.
If community partners present terms and conditions on your partnership, you need to forward these to OSP for review before moving further.

Depending on the level of the partnership, documenting this relationship can be easy or complex and time-consuming.

Letter of Support – can be a letter on the organization’s letterhead, signed by a person employed by the organization in a relevant position, that expresses support for the proposal and urges the sponsor to fund it. This does not obligate the other organization.
Memorandum of Agreement – An MOA is an agreement to agree, that is, it presents the expected terms of the partnership without obligating the other organization. It must, however, be signed by a person at the organization who is authorized to commit the organization
Memorandum of Understanding – an MOU is essentially a contract that lays out the responsibilities of each party in implementing the tasks of a proposal. It must undergo legal review and be signed by a person authorized to commit the organization.

Grant terminology can be confusing. When is an entity a partner, versus a vendor or sub-recipient?

Recipient – the entity that receives the grant award and funding. That could be BMCC, or another entity if BMCC is a sub-recipient.
Sub-Recipient – an entity that is substantially involved in the activities of the grant. The Recipient passes some or all the duties to the sub-recipient, who will ultimately receive its own budget to manage.
Vendor – an entity that provides specific goods or services to enable the recipient to implement the grant and achieve its purpose
Partner – falls between the vendor and the sub-recipient. Like the vendor, the partner provides specific activities and is listed on the budget in the same way as a vendor. But like a sub-recipient, it plays a significant role in activities that are critical to the success of the grant.