Financial Report

Interim financial reports should account for grant funds spent during the reporting period.  It is Foundation policy that we will not make interim grant payments until at least 90 percent of the grant funds received to date have been spent, as reported in the interim financial reports.  Interim reports are, however, required even if you received an advance payment due to extenuating circumstances.

Reported expenses must have already occurred.  Planned or scheduled expenditures will not fulfill the requirements for interim or final financial reports.

Please note that financial report requirements are different when the purpose of a grant is project-specific as opposed to general or program support.  The first sentence of the award letter typically discloses the grant purpose, stating whether it is for support of a particular project or the institution (or an institutional program) generally.

Financial reports for project-specific grants:  If the Hewlett grant is for less than 100 percent of the project, your financial report should cover the entire project budget (all sources of revenue and all expenditures, not only the Hewlett Foundation grant) as included in the original proposal, as well as the actual revenue and expenditures for the project in total.  Indicate how these funds have been spent according to the categories submitted in the proposal budget, showing any amount planned to be spent, and actually spent, on propaganda and lobbying activities as (defined for federal purposes in §§4945(d)(1) and 4945(e) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code).  If the Hewlett grant is for 100 percent of the project, please use three columns for the report: Column 1 – present the entire project budget as included in your grant proposal; Column 2 – present the actual expenditures for the project in total; Column 3 – present the difference between the proposed budget and actual expenditures, and any remaining (unspent) amount funded by this Hewlett Foundation grant.

Financial reports for general (or program) support grants should clearly indicate the full grant amount and the grant payment(s) made to date.  The financial statements should report the actual expenditures of the organization or the program as a whole (rather than expenditures from the Hewlett funds specifically), compared against the budget that accompanied the grant proposal.  Expenses should be broken down by category (e.g., salary, benefits, travel, rent, etc.).  If actual expenditures are less than the grant payment(s) made to date, disclose the amount of Hewlett grant funds remaining (unspent).

Comparisons of budgeted to actual expenditures are not intended to narrowly limit a grantee’s expenditure flexibility, especially in the case of general support grants.  When significant changes in expenditures are planned, however, communicate with Foundation program staff before implementing the changes.

Final financial reports should account for the entire grant period (not only for a final year).  Funds not used for the purposes of the grant must be returned to the Foundation.  The grant cannot be closed until all grant funds are reported as spent or returned to the Foundation.  For grantees with pending renewals, new grant payments will not be made until satisfactory final reports for previous grants have been submitted and the previous grants are closed.