[Research] Agency News, Funding Opportunity, and More

Tue Mar 24 16:33:53 PDT 2026

*~~ Please disseminate this information with those researchers and research
administrators in your department who may find it noteworthy ~~*

*AGENCY NEWS*

*NIH Example Scenarios Regarding Reportable Monetary Donations *

Dear Colleagues,

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires Principal Investigators
(PIs) and senior/key personnel named on NIH proposals and awards to
regularly disclose the resources available to their research endeavors. *We
are writing to alert you to recent NIH guidance clarifying when monetary
donations must be reported as “Other Support.”* In September 2025, NIH
issued the example scenarios here:
https://grants.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIH-Examples-Scenarios-Monetary-Donations.pdf
.

The examples make clear that NIH considers gifts that are designated,
whether by the donor or the University, to support an individual’s research
to be reportable. The examples describe different scenarios in which
“donated money” is placed “into an account used to fund the research of the
investigator.” The examples indicate that investigators should be looking
at the purposes of their gift funds to determine what is reportable.  Gift
funds with terms broader than a specific investigator’s research (e.g.,
support for general operations or broader research infrastructure) may not
require reporting, depending on the facts and circumstances.

As background:

   - NIH guidance
   <https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/write-application/forms-directory/other-support>
has
   long stated that “Other support does not include training awards, prizes,
   or gifts. Gifts are resources provided where there is no expectation of
   anything (e.g. time, services, specific research activities, money, etc.)
   in return. An item or service given with the expectation of an associated
   time commitment is not a gift and is instead an in-kind contribution and
   must be reported as such.”
   - In March 2025, the US Department of Health & Human Services, Office of
   Inspector General issued a report
   <https://oig.hhs.gov/documents/evaluation/10245/OEI-03-22-00570.pdf>
stating:
   “NIH’s guidance documents do not convey how specific or explicit a donor’s
   expectation must be for monetary donations to be considered other support
   rather than a gift.” The report concluded that NIH should clarify which
   monetary donations must be reported.
   - In response, NIH issued the example scenarios
   <https://grants.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIH-Examples-Scenarios-Monetary-Donations.pdf>
of
   monetary donations that must be reported. Note that the NIH’s definition of
   a ‘gift’ differs from, and does not align with, the University’s
   definition, meaning that the same funding may be classified differently
   under NIH guidance than under UC policy.

This clarification has operational implications for campus advancement
teams:

   1. When reporting to NIH, investigators must include gifts that are
   designated for their research. It will be important to understand which
   gift funds are designated (whether by the donor(s) or by campus
   allocation/reallocation processes
   <https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/6000435/Gifts-Regents>) to an individual’s
   research.
   2. Investigators and research administrators may begin requesting
   information about gifts that need to be reported, including fund purposes
   and gift totals.
      1. Regarding pledges, the Other Support FAQs
      <https://grants.nih.gov/faqs#/other-support-and-foreign-components.htm>
note
      that pending resources must be reported based on the project period.
      2. Situations where campuses reallocate funds containing gifts from
      multiple donors to support a specific PI’s research may present reporting
      complexities and will require careful review.
   3. Campus websites and internal documents related to NIH reporting may
   need to be reviewed and updated to reflect NIH’s clarified position.

We will continue to share additional guidance as it develops and plan to
discuss this in our Friday Gift & Endowment Policy call (March 20, 10am).
In the meantime, please feel free to circulate this information within your
campus.

Best,

Oriel

Oriel Nolan-Smith

Director of Gift & Endowment Policy

Institutional Advancement

University of California, Office of the President

Oriel.Nolan-Smith at ucop.edu

*NIH Salary Cap*

Congress legislatively mandates a limitation on salary for individuals
under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards. The amount of salary that
can be provided to an individual through grant and cooperative agreement
funds cannot exceed Executive Level II of the Federal Executive Pay
Scale (Office
of Personnel Management Salaries & Wages
<https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/>).

The Office of Personnel Management recently released new salary levels for
the Executive Pay Scale.

*Effective January 1, 2026, the salary cap limitation for Executive Level
II is $228,000.* This mandate applies to both direct salaries (individuals
working directly on NIH projects) and indirect salaries (executive salaries
in various uncapped cost pools).

For active awards, including awards that have been issued in FY 2026
(continuation and new) that were restricted to Executive Level II, if
adequate funds are available, and if the salary cap increase is consistent
with the institutional base salary, recipients may rebudget funds to
accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level. Recipients may not
draw down funds, whether direct or indirect costs, to pay salaries above
the salary rate limitation, and recipients must have established policies
and procedures that are consistently applied regardless of the source of
funds.

Please refer to the UCR Academic Personnel Website
<https://academicpersonnel.ucr.edu/compensation#local-compensation-policy-and->
for
UCR-specific guidelines on the updated NIH Salary Cap rate. (Here is a
direct link to the guidance: pdf
<https://academicpersonnel.ucr.edu/sites/default/files/2026-03/nih_salary_cap_guidelines_fy2026_3.23.26.pdf>
).

*DoD Dismissed its Appeal Regarding Proposed 15% Indirect Cost Rate Cap*

Good news! UC Legal has advised that the Department of Defense (DoD)
dismissed it appeal to retroactively apply a 15% indirect cost rate cap on
sponsored projects.  Accordingly, please *utilize the indirect cost rates
currently approved* in UCR’s Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate
Agreement (NICRA), dated April 9, 2024, for DoD proposals.  Note: *The
“reservation of rights” language previously provided by UC Legal for
inclusion in proposals should NO longer be utilized.*

*BARD FUNDING OPPORTUNITY*

From: *sarai at bard-isus.com <sarai at bard-isus.com>* <sarai at bard-isus.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 4:02 AM
Subject: BARD Accelerator Extension

Dear colleagues,

In light of the current situation, we are extending the deadline for
submitting pre-proposals for the *BARD Food Security Accelerator Program*
<https://www.bard-isus.org/bard-food-security-technology-accelerator/>*.*

This extension is intended to ensure that all applicants have sufficient
time to complete and submit their materials.

The new pre-proposal submission deadline will be *May 1, 2026. *In
accordance, the new full proposal deadline is July 27, 2026.

We appreciate your understanding and flexibility, and we hope this
adjustment will support everyone during this challenging time.

We wish to note that those who have submitted proposals to the 2026 BARD
Research Tract for and do have potential collaboration with commercial
entities (in Israel and in the US) are also eligible to submit proposals to
BARD Food Security Accelerator Program.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Sarai Kemp
Sarai at bard-isus.com

*Office Hours: Kuali Sponsored Programs*

Please join us for the Kuali Sponsored Programs Office Hours which meets on
the *first and third Thursday* of each month from 9 – 9:30 a.m. via the
following *new ZOOM link*:
https://ucr.zoom.us/j/91549349837?pwd=7acOMgGLk5bLVMXyHSPMSkHPTo0bhA.1&jst=2
.

*We hope to see you there!*

*Kuali Award Closeout Request - Update*

As discussed in last week’s Kuali Sponsored Programs Office Hours, the new
Kuali Award Closeout Request process has been temporarily halted for
workflow process improvements, namely the development of a separate
routing/workflow process for unfunded agreements (e.g., material transfer
agreements, non-disclosure agreements, data use agreements, memorandum of
understanding and other non-cash agreements) while maintaining the current
workflow/approval process for the closeout of funded agreements.

RED will utilize this pause to incorporate additional enhancements into the
revised Kuali Award Closeout Request form and then conduct additional
testing before placing the revised form into production prior to fiscal
year end. Please stay tuned.

*Research List-Serv*

Do you know of someone in your department who is not currently registered
to receive newsletters (such as this one) from the Research listserv, but
would like to?  If so, please forward their name and email address to
Cynthia Johnson at cwells at ucr.edu.

*Calendar*

* Friday, March 27* <https://events.ucr.edu/calendar/day/2026/3/27> -
Campus closed.
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