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Grants

This guide provides information on grant opportunities in Pennsylvania.

Grant Reporting

During the grant period, the grantee is required to submit project reports.  The reports are made up of the following:  Narrative Activity Worksheets, Financial Reports, Final Narrative Report, and supporting documents for the project such as surveys, printed materials, articles, photos and/or other products that are created.  View your relevant grant timeline posted on the Apply for a Grant section of this LibGuide.  Your grant contract will indicate how often they must be submitted.

Award recipients must:

  • Prepare and submit activity worksheet(s) including supporting documents, and financial report(s) using OCL’s required forms and format; 
  • Submit a final report using the required forms and format no later than 30 days after the project ends, or by July 30, whichever occurs first; 
  • Conduct and submit cumulative results from a program evaluation; and
  • Agree to work with OCL staff to resolve any discrepancies identified on submitted reports.
Tip:  Reports should be written in past tense as the information being provided has already happened. 

Financial Report

Financial reports are required of all federally funded grant projects. 

The financial report captures actual expenditures submitted for reimbursement along with an explanation of charges within each budget category.

In addition, it reports local matching funds spent in support of the project to date. The local match is the portion of total project costs contributed to support the project. These funds may be from local or private sources, including corporations and foundations.

Submit financial reports to ra-edbldadmin@pa.gov.  In the email subject, list:

  • [YOUR LIBRARY NAME] Financial Report, FC# [NUMBER FROM CONTRACT].

The financial report must be submitted to the administration and data unit.  It is routed for approval within the Bureau of Library Development.  The reimbursement request is approved for payment AFTER it is checked against the completed approved financial report.  The reimbursement request figures must match the financial report.

Save report(s) prior to completing.  The 'Submit Form' button will only work from the locally saved form.

Activity Worksheets

Activity Worksheets are narrative reports that capture how your project was implemented. 

Each Activity Worksheet summarizes:

  • What activities have been completed, including data;
  • What you have accomplished;
  • What problems you have encountered; and
  • Activity outcomes.

 

Activities are action(s) through which the intent or objective of a project are accomplished. 

Grant project activities are categorized under four (4) general areas, each with further defined activity areas.

Activity Type Activity Description
Instruction  Involves an interaction for knowledge or skill transfer.
Content Involves the acquisition, development, or transfer of information.
Planning and Evaluation Involves design, development, or assessment of operations, services, or resources.
Procurement Involves purchasing facilities, equipment/supplies, hardware/software, or other materials (not content) that support general library infrastructure.
Only submit the type(s) of activity worksheets that apply to your project activity.

 

Final Narrative

A Final Narrative Report is required of all federally funded projects.

Due dates are listed in Appendix C of your contract. 

Submit the Final Narrative Report to ra-edbldadmin@pa.gov.  In your email subject, list:

  • [YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME] Final Narrative Report, FC# [NUMBER FROM CONTRACT].

The report provides:

  • A project abstract;
  • Project accomplishments, data, and outcomes;
  • A list of participating organizations; and
  • Best practices that may have emerged during the project.

The final narrative report’s information and data are reported to and reviewed by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in OCL’s annual State Program Report. Once approved, information about most projects is publicly available on the IMLS website.

Save the report prior to completing.  The 'Submit Form' button will only work from the locally saved form.

Project Evaluation

Evaluation is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing information about the activities, characteristics, and outcomes of projects to make judgments about the overall project, improve effectiveness, and/or inform decisions about future project development. It's a useful tool to assess the value and impact of the project. 

In conjunction with the 2023-2027 plan, we are intentionally centering decisions around those who directly benefit from grant funded projects.

The requirement objectives are for greater transparency and sharing of data, better accountability, and program improvement.  

This is not the required IMLS survey data collected with some project activities.  However, the information collected in those surveys could be leveraged as part of the overall evaluation.

When completing the evaluation consider the following:  

  1. How is the project operating?
  2. Are there areas for improvement?
  3. Is it working as intended?
  4. Has it achieved its objectives, outputs and/or outcomes?

These are things to consider when conducting the project evaluation.  Currently, we have chosen not to be overly prescriptive as this is new and need this to benefit you, OCL and more importantly those who benefit from the grant funded projects.