Formula grant—Funding that federal agencies are directed by Congress to make to eligible applicants, usually state governments, for which the amount is established by a formula based on criteria that is written into the legislation. State governments disperse funds from some formula grant programs by holding grant competitions on a state level. Prospective applicants would submit a grant application proposal to be reviewed competitively by the state.

Discretionary grant—An award of financial assistance (in the form of money or property in lieu of money) by the federal government directly to an eligible grantee, usually made on the basis of a competitive review process where prospective applicants would submit grant application proposals to the awarding federal agency for consideration.

Nonprofit organization—An organization that is owned and operated by one or more corporations or associations whose net earnings do not benefit (and cannot lawfully benefit) any private shareholder or entity.

Local education agency (LEA): A public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a state for either administrative control or direction of public elementary or secondary schools.

State education agency (SEA): The state board of education or other agency or officer primarily responsible for the supervision of public elementary and secondary schools in a state.

Institution of higher education (IHE): A college, university or other education entity providing educational opportunities at the postsecondary level.

Consortium: An agreement, combination or group formed to undertake an enterprise beyond the resources of any one member.

Federal Register—A daily compilation of federal regulations and legal notices, presidential proclamations and executive orders, federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress and other federal agency documents of public interest. These documents are prepared by the National Archives and Records Administration for public distribution by the Government Printing Office; publication of record for ED regulations.

Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)—Administrative regulations governing the Department's discretionary grant and cooperative agreement programs found in Parts 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85 and 86 of Title 34 of the CFR (defined above); a document issued by the Department that contains a reprint of these regulations.

Grants Policy and Oversight Staff (GPOS)—A component within the Office of the Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer responsible for policy development and oversight of the grants process at the Department. GPOS provides technical assistance to the program offices regarding discretionary grant planning, award, administration and closeout; also responsible for maintaining EDGAR.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—A branch of the Executive Office of the President. OMB helps the president formulate his spending plans, evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony and proposed legislation are consistent with the president's budget and administration policies.

In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the administration's procurement, financial management, information and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)—Publication and database produced by the General Services Administration that lists the domestic assistance programs of all federal agencies and gives information about a program's authorization, fiscal details, accomplishments, regulations, guidelines, eligibility requirements, information contacts and application and award process.

Indirect costs—Costs of an organization incurred for common or joint objectives, which cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular grant project or other institutional activity

RFP—abbreviation for request for proposal; used interchangeably in grant circles with the phrase grant application notice. When a federal agency announces a grant competition for a specific program, a notice for grant application proposals will be announced in the Federal Register.

Cost-sharing or matching—Synonymous terms referring to the portion of project program costs not borne by the federal government which can take the form of either cash or an in-kind contribution such as facilities, equipment, supplies, personnel salaries or any combination thereof. Many federally funded grant programs require grantees to contribute a set percentage of the total grant award to the project from nonfederal sources. For example, a grantee receiving a $200,000 grant might be required to contribute a 50 percent match ($100,000) of the total project award. In cases where there is no matching requirement, a voluntary contribution made on the part of the grant applicant to the proposed project indicates an ability to rally institutional and community support for a project's implementation and can strengthen the over all quality of a grant proposal. The cost-share or matching funds must be treated the same as the federal funds and only used in a manner that is allowable, allocable and reasonable for that specific project.

Section 427 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA)—Beginning in 1994, grant applicants for the Department of Education were required to include a description of the steps the applicant proposes to take to ensure equitable access to and participation in, its federally assisted program for students, teachers and other program beneficiaries with special needs. The statute highlights six types of barriers that can impede equitable access or participation: gender, race, national origin, color, disability or age. However, GEPA is not intended to be a duplication of the requirements in civil rights statutes, but rather it is a measure to ensure that applicants have proactively considered potential barriers that are unique to their area that could hamper the success of their projects. For example, GEPA would require applicants that propose to serve a target population that is in an isolated area with poor roads to describe how they would be able to serve that population in inclement weather.

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)—requires all federally funded projects to demonstrate their level of effectiveness annually by establishing specific indicators and standards to serve as benchmarks for the program. In this way each grant project has an understood level of performance to attain annually allowing individual projects to be compared with one another and for an accurate picture of the program's level of success to be determined.