A gift is typically provided with no expectation of direct benefit or deliverables in return, often motivated by philanthropic or personal reasons. On the other hand, a grant is awarded based on specific criteria and is typically intended to fund a project or initiative with defined goals and outcomes. Grants often involve an application process, formal reporting requirements, and may require the recipient to meet certain conditions or milestones. Gifts and Grants are handled by two separate USC Offices, University Advancement for gifts and the Department of Contracts and Grants for research grants and contracts, and are set up at USC in different account types in the Workday system.
In some cases, the distinction between a gift and a grant can be ambiguous and requires consideration of several factors. No single indicator, by itself, distinguishes a gift from a grant, however, the following factors should be considered.
Gift
A gift is a voluntary transfer of property or money without expectation of receiving anything of significant value in return. A gift is a donation of money or other resources to USC in order to support scholarly activities and research. Gifts are typically unrestricted, meaning that USC has the discretion to use the funds as it sees fit. However, donors may make recommendations about how the funds are used.
Proposals that request funding through gift solicitations, including non-programmatic foundations, corporations, or individuals, should be processed through the Advancement Officer assigned to your school.
Grant
A grant is an award of money or other resources from an external funding agency to support a specific research project. Grants are typically awarded on a competitive basis, and the funding agency may impose specific requirements on how the funds are used.
These requirements may include:
- Binding the University to a specific line of scholarly or scientific inquiry which requires either a work statement or the testing of specific hypotheses, methodology, or validation of particular approaches.
- A specific commitment regarding the level of personnel effort or items of output, or achievement of specific performance targets is contemplated as a condition of funding.
- A line-item budget detailing expenditures by activity, function, and project period must be adhered to as a condition of funding, or detailed fiscal reporting is required at intervals during the course of the work or at the end of the project.
- The expectation that any unexpended funds must be returned to the sponsor at the end of the project.
- The proposed agreement with the sponsor provides for the disposition of either tangible property (e.g., technical reports, records, equipment, theses or dissertations), or intangible property (e.g., rights in data, copyrights, inventions) which may result from the project.
- Acquisition of equipment, alteration or renovation of facilities or construction projects which are subject to any of the above requirements as a condition of funding.
Summary
If you are unsure whether a gift or grant mechanism is appropriate, feel free to reach out to your DCG Officer for guidance.