Congratulations! Your project is funded and you can hardly wait to get started. You are about to reap the rewards for the hard work of all those involved in planning and developing the innovative project described in your proposal. Your project competed with other projects and was selected for funding because it best matched the priorities and criteria of the funding source in a well-written, high quality proposal. Now you are ready to implement the project described in the proposal.
If you are a new Project Director, you may have many questions about how to get things done so you can implement project activities. For example:
The purpose of this Grants Management Handbook is to provide you with much of the basic information you need to get things done in the Maricopa Community Colleges’ system so you can implement project activities and effectively manage the project. The first few weeks of a new grant are both hectic and crucial to its success. If you “hit the ground running,” your project is much more likely to be successful. A project that gets off to a good start usually ends well. Delays in getting Governing Board approval, budget set up, hiring personnel, securing computers and supplies at the beginning can cause problems throughout the grant. Delays in the hiring process have a particularly detrimental impact upon reaching grant objectives on time, in the manner planned and also upon fully expending grant monies.
As Project Director, you will have to simultaneously learn College and District policies and procedures needed to accomplish project activities and also learn funding source regulations and policies. If you are a newly hired Project Director who was not involved in the development of the project proposal, you need to read and reread the proposal and talk to and ask questions of those who were involved in its development. You should also carefully read the award letter and the terms of your grant.
Supervisors of Project Directors (Project Administrators) need to keep in mind that they are responsible for grant paperwork and activities until the Project Director is hired and in the event that the Project Director’s position is vacated prior to the completion of the grant. Funding sources are increasingly intolerant of failure to accomplish objectives due to vacancies or extended delays in hiring. Since our employment process can take several months, it is critical to start the process of hiring a new Director and other new positions as soon as you are notified that the project will be funded. Failure to do this jeopardizes the attainment of objectives, the project’s ability to make adequate progress in the first year of the project, and continuation of the grant for a second and subsequent years.