Grant Writing Terminology

The grant community is diverse, and so is the terminology used to describe roles and aspects within the grant lifecycle. Below is a list of common grant terms and their definitions, based on federal grant policies.

Term	Definition
Budget	The financial plan for the project that the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity approves during the federal awards process or in subsequent amendments to the federal award.
Close Date	The deadline designated by the grant-making agency designated for submission of a particular grant application.
Closeout	The process by which the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity determines that all applicable administrative actions and all required work of the federal award have been completed.
Continuation Grant	An extension or renewal of existing program funding for one or more additional budget periods that would otherwise expire.
Cooperative Agreement	A legal instrument of financial assistance between a federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and a non-federal entity that is distinguished from a grant in that it provides for substantial involvement between the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and the non-federal entity in carrying out the activity contemplated by the federal award.
Cost Sharing or Matching	The portion of project costs not paid by federal funds.
Date of Completion	The date on which all work under an award is completed for the date on the award document on which awarding agency sponsorship ends.
Discretionary Grant	A grant or cooperative agreement for which the federal awarding agency generally may select the recipient from among all eligible recipients; may decide to make or not make an award based on the programmatic, technical, or scientific content of an application; and can decide the amount of funding to be awarded.
Federal Award Date	The date when the federal award is signed by the authorized official of the federal awarding agency.
Funding Period	The period of time when federal funding is available for obligation by the recipient.
Pass-Through Entity	A non-federal entity that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal program.
Posted Date	The date the grant-making agency published a funding opportunity of Grants.gov.
Recipient	A non-federal entity that receives a federal award directly from a federal awarding agency to carry out an activity under a federal program.
Subaward	An award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a federal award.
Subrecipient	A non-federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass-through entity to carry out part of a federal program but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program. A subrecipient may also be a recipient of other federal awards directly from a federal awarding agency.