Conservation Project Budget Standards

Efforts

Efforts describe the goal-oriented activites of workgroups

• Knowledge Creation
  • Adaptive Management
  • Arts and Crafts
  • Lessons
  • Monitoring
  • Research
• Protection
  • Acquisition
  • Green Infrastructure
  • Regulation
• Restoration
  • Beach Nourishment
  • Engineered Log Jams
  • Fish Passage
  • Revegetation
• Social Change
  • Advocacy
  • Coordination
  • Education
  • Funding
  • Integrated Ecosystem Management
  • Legislation
  • Planning

Effort References

• RCO's PRISM Project Search
• Salmon Recovery Portal
• Ecology's Administration of Grants and Loans
• USACE Regulatory In-lieu Fee and Bank information Tracking System

Wiki Rules

• Wiki text does not reflect the policy or opinion of any agency or organization
• Please adhere to our Social Contract and Style Guide
• Complain here, and be nice.

This project development template allows a project sponsor to develop a single budget worksheet, and from that master worksheet extract the information necessary for multiple grant applications and to track grant funding over the lifecycle of an "effort".

• Introductory Memo
• Project Budget Template v1.0

Background

The Align Grant Coordination Workgroup has been working with South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group and NOAA Restoration Center to develop an optional “conservation project budget standard” for Washington State. This allows a project sponsor to develop a single budget worksheet, and from that master worksheet extract the information necessary for multiple grant applications and to track grant funding over the life-cycle of a project. Some funders may accept the worksheet as a project budget, and this whole project budget may serve as a tool for coordinating funding among sponsors and funders. This capability is important as our projects become more phased and complicated as we rise to the practical challenges of ecosystem recovery and stewardship.

We hope this standardization encourages future incremental reforms to enable large complex conservation projects. Our aim is to develop a conservation funding system, where diverse funding sources apply robust technical priorities, and where competitive projects get the right resources, at the right time, with a minimum of administrative cost.

Our optional prototype spreadsheet is ready for testing during project development in 2020. If you are developing a complex project, and you anticipate developing a portfolio of funding from multiple sources, we would be grateful if you would consider using this standard template as the basis for your project budget description over time. To be clear, you should still review funding program guidance to make sure that application content, format and level of detail is consistent with the needs of each program. The Align Grant Coordination Workgroup in collaboration with the cross-agency Continuous Improvement Initiative will be continuing to evaluate and adjust this template, guided by your experiences and recommendations.

Please share any thoughts or concerns about this effort with your grant program partners, or with the Continuous Improvement Team: Paul Cereghino (paul.r.cereghino@noaa.gov), Laura Rivas (laura.rivas@psp.wa.gov), and Kathy Woodward (kathy.woodward@tnc.org).

2018-19 Project Development Documents

• File:Williamson 2020 streamline grant budgets washington.pdf - described process and findings in developing the budget standard
• File:RCO & ECY 2019 DRAFT interagency agreement budget standards.pdf - add task to SPSSEG to include development of budget standards
• File:NOAA & SPSSEG 2018 DRAFT budget integration scope of work.docx - task breakdown and cost estimate with SPSSEG
• File:Cereghino 2018 DRAFT budget issue analysis.docx - analysis of problems and issues
• File:Cereghino 2018 DRAFT budget structure concept.xlsx - analysis of cost classification among grant programs (driven by ESRP and Salmon)
• File:Large project budget coordination A3.docx - original A3 used in Coordinated Investment process

Notes

• File:Cereghino 2015 grant administrative streamlining.docx describes an analysis of how to move toward a single regional application which includes identification of common language and budget structure.
• Water and Salmon Grant Program Coordination workgroup agreed that working with a Snohomish team would support this effort