3 - Becoming a CoC Partner/Funded Project
Section 1- Financial Management
This is the process of protecting and using federal funds effectively, efficiently, and transparently.
All organizations receiving federal funds must follow overarching cost principles established by the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB.
The OMB Cost Principles define what is an “allowable, reasonable and allocable” expense.
Is the cost allowed by our funding sources?
Is the cost reasonable, meaning, is the cost what a prudent person would pay in this situation; is it an ordinary cost, and is it necessary?
Lastly, can the cost be allocated to a specific funding source based on what we know about the cost and what it is paying for?
Section 2- Budget & Allowable Spending
Every project must be guided by a budget.
The budget is the plan for how much we will spend overall within a given timeframe; and, based on careful analysis, how we expect this spending to be distributed across the different parts of our operations.
Allowable spending can include:
Personnel costs (salaries/benefits) for time devoted to activities funded by the grant
Cost of materials for the purpose of the award
Equipment and other approved capital expenditures
Travel expenses incurred specifically to carry out the award
Unallowable spending can include:
Entertainment costs
Costs of legal defense related to civil or criminal fraud
Contributions or donations
Fundraising costs
Lobbying costs
Prohibited by award regulations
Section 3 - Match
CoC funded projects require a 25% match of the awarded grant amount minus funds for leasing. Cash or in-kind resources will satisfy the match requirement.
Cash Match- Spend actual funds on eligible program costs during the eligible grant term.
Grants from private, local, state, and federal resources (if not prohibited by source)
Cash resources
Revenues from fundraising efforts organized by recipient
Organization staff working on grant eligible activities who aren’t paid from CoC Program grant but from other agency resources.
In-Kind Match- value of any real property, equipment, goods, or services contributed to a CoC Program grant that would have been an eligible CoC Program activity if the recipient or subrecipient paid for them directly with CoC Program funds. In-kind match can be donations provided directly by the recipient, subrecipient, or third party.
Section 4 - Grant Administration
Use of CoC Program Funds
Operating or Supportive Services- must demonstrate having control of the assisted site within 12 months of award announcement. (Deed or Lease)
Acquisition, Rehab, New Construction, 24 months to prove site control. (Purchase Agreement)
Acceptable documentation of site control- deed or lease, purchase agreement
Amendments & Extensions
Significant changes- change of recipient, change of project site, additions or deletions in the types of eligible activities approved for the project, shift of more than 10% from one approved budgeted line item to another, reduction in number of units, change in subpopulation served.
Program components cannot be changed through grant amendment, this would be done by creating a new project.
Please remember to include CoC staff in communication on any amendments and extensions with HUD field office.
Monitoring to review performance and ensure compliance.
Organizations should self-monitor funded projects and any sub-recipients annually.
The CoC & HUD will monitor projects. Focus at these reviews can be financial, housing, participant, and/or project performance.
Section 5 - Learning Management System (LMS)
The CoC Grant Competition Task Group partnered with staff from the Institute for Community Alliances (ICA) to create a training course on the Learning Management System (LMS) focused on expectations of CoC funded projects, called CoC 101 Training. If you are a current Wellsky system user, you can click here to enroll for the training.
If you are not currently a user, please contact support@icalliances.org to get set up within the Wellsky system.