Internal Grant Award Management

Award acceptance: All internal grant awards must be formally accepted by the faculty/staff awardee. Email your award acceptance to the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, at grants@uwlax.edu by the deadline specified in your award letter.

Account set-up: After you accept the award, the Internal Grants Manager will initiate account set-up with the Budget Office, and a university account will be established in your name*. Funds will be accessible beginning on the date specified in your award letter. You will receive an email from Business Services (businessservices@uwlax.edu) with your account information once set-up is complete.

*For Eagle Visiting Scholar/Artist Grants, funds are transferred directly into a college account. Please work with your ADA and college Business Manager to access the funds.

Internal grant account numbers are communicated as a funding string that includes a 3-digit Fund Code, 1 digit Program Code, 6-digit UDDS, and unique 7-digit Project ID - e.g., 102-4-361698-ABC1234. Funding strings are used to charge expenses to grant accounts. The 6-digit UDDS for most internal grant accounts ends in 98 (XXXX98).

Account access: WISER is the primary system for view accounts and financial data. Department chairs/unit directors are generally considered to be the account managers for accounts within their department and are listed as such within the system. Department ADAs assist their chairs with managing their departmental accounts and usually have the same access as the chairs do. WISER can be accessed at the following link: https://wiser.wisc.edu/. 

Faculty and staff that receive grants can also request access to view their grant account in WISER. The form to do so is available here: WISER – Getting Started. 

Early spending requests may be invited for some programs - i.e., some of the awarded grant funding may be made available for expenditures occurring before the start date indicated in your award letter. Availability of early spend funding is not guaranteed, not an option for all grant programs, and is subject to the requirements outlined in the award letter (e.g., deadlines by which requests must be submitted).

If invited, early spend requests submitted by the specified deadline are evaluated and approved by the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, based on available funding. Do NOT make any early purchases until you have approval to do so. If approved, early spend funds MUST be spent within the fiscal year (FY) in which they are awarded and will NOT be available during the following FY. Note Business Services' FY end deadlines typically require expenditures to be completed several weeks in advance of June 30 (the FY end). For example, if a Faculty Research Grant awarded for FY2025-26 (ending 6/30/2026) has early spending of $500 for travel approved for FY2024-25 (ending 6/30/2025), the $500 in early spending funds must be spent before 6/30/2025 and will not be available during FY2025-26.

Contact the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, for help with any of the following:

• Making modifications to your budget or project scope
• Requesting early spend funding
• Requesting carryover of funding into the following fiscal year
• You cannot use your funding

Grant funds must be spent in the fiscal year(s) (FY) for which they were awarded. The university FY is July 1-June 30. Refer to your award letter for the specific FY(s) for which your grant was awarded. Note Business Services' FY end deadlines typically require expenditures to be completed several weeks in advance of June 30. For example, a Faculty Research Grant awarded for FY2025-26 will have funds become available 7/1/2025, and funds must be spent before the Business Services' FY end deadlines leading up to 6/30/2026.

Expenses should be moved to your grant account in a timely manner. Work with your ADA to make sure that appropriate transfers are occurring close to the time that the bills are being paid.

Funds will not be carried forward into the next FY unless prior approval is sought through the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, and such extensions are extremely rare and must be for extenuating circumstances.

Activities, including all project-related spending, generally must be concluded by June 30 of the fiscal year (FY) for which funds are awarded. Note Business Services' FY end deadlines typically require expenditures to be completed several weeks in advance of June 30. Funds will not be carried forward into the next FY unless prior approval is sought through the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse. Such extensions are rare and must be for extenuating circumstances.

Contact Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, for questions about:

• Account set-up
• Award management
• Budget modifications
• Changes in project scope
• Early spend & extension requests
• Final reports
• Changes in employment status during project period (e.g., FMLA, leaving UWL employment)

Contact your Academic Department Associate (ADA) for questions and help with:

• Spending funds
• Account balance
• Purchasing
• Booking travel
• Submitting travel expense reimbursements
• Hiring and paying personnel*
  • *For Eagle Visiting Scholar/Artist Grants, awardees should also work with their college Business Manager. Funds are transferred directly into a college account.

For internal grants, equipment is considered any tangible property that has a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost of $1,000 or more. Work with your ADA to purchase equipment that costs $1,000-$4,999. If equipment will cost $5,000 or more, contact Purchasing for assistance. Refer to the Purchasing website for guidance.

All equipment purchased with university funds is university property and must be treated accordingly.

Payments of incentives to research participants must follow the documentation and payment requirements of the Business Services policy. Also refer to the ORSP Payment of Incentives to Research Participants guidance webpage.

Work with your ADA to purchase supplies. Minor out-of-pocket expenditures may be able to be reimbursed through the online e-reimbursement system, which your ADA can help you submit. Supplies include consumable items (e.g., lab glassware, pipettes) and other items under the equipment $1,000+ cost threshold. Refer to the Purchasing website for guidance.

Services from businesses: Contact your ADA for assistance:

• Invoices from businesses can be paid via the standard process in ShopUW+ (see Purchasing). Check with Accounts Payable regarding whether the business needs to complete a W-9.
• If invoicing is not an option, these costs may be paid via procurement card, and then the expense(s) may be moved to the grant account.

Services from individuals not employed by UW System: Contact your ADA for assistance:

• If the service is from an independent contractor, is of a unique or noncompetitive (sole source) nature, and supports instruction, research, or public service, complete an Academic Support Service Agreement (ASSA). For other independent contractors, complete an Independent Contractor Services Agreement. Refer to Contracting for Services for the forms and procedures.
• Check with Accounts Payable regarding whether the business needs to complete a W-9.
• Before work begins, the agreement and W-9 (if required) must be on file in Business Services.
• Following completion of the work, complete a Payments to Individuals Request (PIR) to request payment for the services rendered. PIRs must be processed through ShopUW+.

Services from individuals employed by UW System: Individuals employed by UW System must be paid via UW payroll. Contact Human Resources for assistance.

Internal services are those provided by UWL employees/centers/departments/divisions/entities:

• Obtain an email or other documentation that describes the services and the associated costs.
• Contact your ADA or Business Manager to transfer the funds to the appropriate account.
• Questions regarding internal chargebacks can be directed to General Accounting.

Work with your ADA to make travel arrangements via Concur and/or Fox World Travel (608.710.4172). Be mindful of associated travel agent/booking fees. Travel must follow UW System rates, policies, and procedures. Refer to the UWL travel website,  UW TravelWise, and Business Services Expensive Reimbursement webpage for more information.

Work with your ADA to make travel arrangements via Concur and/or Fox World Travel (608.710.4172). Be mindful of associated travel agent/booking fees. Travel must follow UW System rates, policies, and procedures. Refer to the UWL travel website,  UW TravelWise, and Business Services Expensive Reimbursement webpage for more information. 

For activities involving international travel, faculty/staff must also complete a UWL Export Controls Screening Survey well in advance of the planned travel. Additional prior screening, permits, or processes may be required by the UWL Export Controls Officer (Assistant Controller) to assure compliance with federal export control regulations. For more information, see Export Controls Overview & FAQs.

After travel occurs, work with your ADA to submit a travel e-reimbursement. E-reimbursements must be submitted within 90 days of the end of the trip. Travel reimbursements must be paid out within the fiscal year (FY) for which the grant was awarded and in accordance with Business Services' fiscal year end deadlines.

Refer to the Business Services Expensive Reimbursement webpage and UW TravelWise for the online e-reimbursement system, documentation requirements, current rates, and guidance.

Summer salary or overload payments: Current faculty/staff being paid summer salary or overload payments from an internal grant will have an Overload & Summer Payment Form processed by the Internal Grants Manager and Academic Affairs Business Manager. Watch your email inbox for the form and sign it quickly. Before the project work begins for which the individual is being paid, the Overload & Summer Payment Form must be signed by multiple parties, including the faculty/staff member being paid, chair/unit director, dean/division director, Budget Office, UWL Human Resources (HR), and System HR. Grants funded by CATL must additionally have the forms signed by the CATL Director and AVC for Academic Affairs. Contact Bryn Rouse with related questions.

Course release: For course reassignment, faculty must work with their department to coordinate.

Please note that if hiring multiple students, each action outlined below will need to be completed for each student. Work with your ADA to complete the required forms.

Required final reports on project outcomes/accomplishments must be submitted to grants@uwlax.edu by the deadline communicated in the award letter. See the Internal Grants Final Report Forms & Processes webpage for program-specific final report forms and due dates. Failure to fulfill this obligation will make faculty/staff ineligible for future internal grant funding until the report(s) is/are submitted. Contact the Internal Grants Manager, Bryn Rouse, with related questions. The grant programs listed below require the submission of a final report:

• Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Grant
• Course Improvement Grant
• Curricular Redesign Grant
• Extraordinary D&I Service: Faculty Research Award
• Faculty Development Grant
• Faculty Research Grant
• International Program Development Grant
• International Scholarship Grant
• Lesson Study Grant
• Margins of Excellence Fund
• Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Grant

If your project involves any of the following, please complete the required actions before project work begins.