Your Project Was Funded! Now What?
The CSF is far from a traditional grant program! Post-approval, the CSF Committee is here for you to ensure that your project is as successful as possible.
Project Facilitators
The Fund believes ongoing communication and collaboration between the CSF Committee and Project Managers can build connections, community, and successful projects.
Once a grant has been approved, the Project Managers will hear from a CSF Committee member who will be their designated Project Facilitator. While Project Managers are responsible for leading and completing their project, the Project Facilitator from the Committee is there to help you along the way.
Your primary point of contact for the duration of your project will be your Project Facilitator. It is the expectation that Project Managers meet with their Project Facilitator monthly or as needed. These meetings allow the CSF Committee member to stay updated with your project while also helping to enhance your project’s impact and reach when appropriate.
Project Facilitators can assist at workdays or tabling events, attend planning meetings, provide support to social media or communication efforts (like designing social media posts, writing up blog posts for newsletters, and so much more). In some cases, CSF Project Facilitators are less involved and can act more in more of a consultive role when appropriate.
Your Project Facilitator can also provide insight into how past projects have overcome obstacles, how to bolster areas of your project to make it more dynamic, and how to connect with specific contacts or departments. The Committee has extensive background in student and community outreach and can offer Project Managers with advice on outreach efforts, event planning, social media campaigns, and more.
This is your project, but the Project Facilitator is there to give an extra hand.
Tracking and Reporting - Work Plans and Progress Reports
Once a grant has been approved, the Project Manager(s) will be asked to complete the Project Timeline and Work Plan document to provide a cover sheet for the project and outline key goals, deadlines, and objectives to keep the project on track. Your Project Timeline and Work Plan will be the baseline for comparison when evaluating project success in your Impact Report. This also gives the CSF Committee a reference point for your expected progress.
Project Managers will also be asked to select metrics to report on throughout their projects to demonstrate the funding's impact. The CSF will review and approve the selected metrics. The Project Timeline and Work Plan and Metrics Database will be updated throughout the year with regular support and feedback from the CSF. These documents will inform the final, cumulative Impact Report.
The Impact Report is your way of reporting on the requested metrics and narrating your projects' impact on campus! This is a required document and will provide a final record of requested metrics and comprehensive qualitative and quantitative measures of project accomplishments. It can be submitted anytime from May – June will be requested once all data is collected and finalized.
Accessing Funding
Connecting with the Department Fiscal Officer or Business Office staff member identified in the proposal will be critical to ensuring you have timely access to utilize project funding. Please ensure that you and your team become familiarized with the department’s process and protocols for purchasing. Each department is different and uses different methods for purchasing! We recommend setting up a meeting with your Fiscal Officer or Business Office staff member to gain a shared understanding of purchasing protocol and expectations.
Project Managers and Advisors will coordinate with their Department Fiscal Officer or Business Office as needed to make purchases (ie University-card, purchase order) or to add personnel to the award. Project Managers are responsible for ensuring that their means of purchasing have been approved prior to making purchases. The Campus Sustainability Fund does not recommend using reimbursement methods.
Project Managers must communicate to their Department Fiscal Officer or Business Office that project expenses must be posted to the account and sub account designated for this project.
Project Managers and Advisors are responsible for adhering to the terms of their proposed project and ensuring that project expenditures are in line with the approved budget. Each purchase made by Project Managers and Advisors must be clearly aligned with the line items detailed on the approved budget.
Recognition of the Campus Sustainability Fund in the Communication of Your Project
Recognition of the Campus Sustainability Fund and its support is required. Each Project Manager will receive Campus Sustainability Fund logos and information on how they can and cannot be used. The CSF must be recognized in all project marketing, communications, and signage materials by its full name. The CSF logo must be included whenever the department’s logo is used in advertising events or other outreach for the project. Each use of the CSF logo must be approved by the CSF prior to publication.
The CSF will amplify each funded project’s public-facing upcoming events, presentations, and other outreach opportunities if received at least two weeks in advance via its own and the Office of Sustainability’s platforms.
If you are interested in collaborating with the Office of Sustainability's Instagram account and wish to have your post featured on their feed, please communicate this with your Project Facilitator(s).
Please note that the CSF assumes all photos and videos shared by project team members may be used by the Office of Sustainability in project communications, including social media and on our webpages, unless otherwise specified.
Additionally, a webpage will be created for your project on our Funded Project webpage that will share your application, budget, Progress Reports, photos, and project team names.
In the event that the project establishes a permanent facility, the CSF requires a permanent commitment through the display of a sign acknowledging the support of the Campus Sustainability Fund in founding the initiative.