Frequently Asked Questions

• Matching Funds / Cost-Share (What is This?)

  Matching/Cost-share

  There are two kinds of matching/cost-share: cash and third-party in-kind.

  1. Cash:  includes cash spent for project-related costs. The allowable cash match must include costs that are necessary, reasonable, and allowable under the federal program.
     
     Matching and cost share funds have the same restrictions as federal funds. These funds must follow the same allowable and unallowable guidelines in their federal award. If, for example, a conference is unallowable under the grant award that has matching requirements, then grantees would not be able to use the matching funds instead. The expense must be allowable with federal funds for it to be allowable with matching or cost share funds.
     
     
  2. Third Party In-Kind: this includes, but is not limited to, the valuation of non-cash contributions provided by a third party. An in-kind match may be in the form of services, supplies, real property (excluding land donations or purchases), and equipment. The value of the service may be used for the matching requirements, if the services are necessary, reasonable, and allowable under that federal program. Grantees are allowed to use unrecovered indirect costs for matching or cost sharing requirements; however, this requires prior approval of the federal awarding agency.
     
     For third-party in-kind matching—such as supplies, equipment, or space—the value must not exceed the fair market value at the time of the donation.
     
     For volunteer services, the rates must be consistent with the rates normally paid for similar work in the organization. If an employee from another organization conducts services free of charge, the services should be valued at that employee's regular rate of pay, in addition to their fringe benefits and allowable indirect costs. There are online resources to help you determine the value of volunteer time, such as: https://independentsector.org/resource/value-of-volunteer-time/.  It is important to maintain a record for tracking and reporting volunteer time and services.
     
     Grantees are required to maintain records, which clearly show the source, amount, and timing for all matched contributions. While grantees are not required to submit their supporting documentation to the Department of Justice, their records must be available in the event of an audit or site visit.