Transferring a Sponsored Project to WFU

If you’re joining Wake Forest with an active award, you may be able to bring it with you. Keep in mind that awards are made to institutions, not to individuals — so a transfer isn’t automatic. It requires your former institution to relinquish the award, the sponsor to approve the change, and Wake Forest to accept it. The process resembles submitting and accepting a new award, can take several months, and is yours to start. The earlier you begin, the more smoothly both the work and the funding move with you.

Start early with your former institution

• Tell your department, GCM and ORSP as soon as you know you’ll be moving an award. ORSP receives, reviews, and negotiates the incoming award on Wake Forest’s behalf.
• Because the award belongs to your former institution, that’s where you begin: work with their sponsored programs office and your sponsor’s program officer to request the transfer and close out the award there.

How a transfer works

• Your former institution formally gives up the award. For NIH, this means submitting a Relinquishing Statement (and a Final Invention Statement) through eRA Commons; for NSF, the sponsor deducts the remaining balance from the original award.
• Wake Forest submits a new application for the remaining work — for NIH, an application marked “Change of Grantee Organization,” typically without competitive review as long as your research aims don’t change significantly.
• The sponsor reviews and, if approved, issues a new award to Wake Forest for the remainder of the project.

Issues that need to be resolved

• Unobligated balance — how much funding remains to move with the project.
• F&A (indirect) rate differences — Wake Forest’s federally negotiated on-campus rate is 45.5% of modified total direct costs, which may differ from your former institution’s.
• Equipment — equipment purchased with grant funds is handled separately from the award itself and may transfer with it.
• Timing and gaps — closing out at one institution and re-establishing at Wake Forest takes time; plan for a possible funding gap, and note that project dates and expenses cannot overlap between the two institutions.

Process at Wake Forest

• Route the incoming award through Cayuse SP, much like a new proposal, working with your Grants & Contracts Manager on the budget and justification the sponsor requires.
• Put your compliance approvals in place here before spending begins — any human-subjects (IRB), animal (IACUC), or biosafety protocols must be approved at Wake Forest, even if they were approved at your former institution.
• Once the award arrives, the Post-Award office sets up the account in Workday and notifies you and your GCM of the grant number so spending can begin.

Don’t forget pending proposals

• If you have proposals still under review that might be funded, some sponsors require your former institution to relinquish its interest so that, if funded, the award comes to Wake Forest. Ask ORSP about any pending submissions when you start the transfer.

Who to contact

• ORSP negotiates and accepts the incoming award and advises on sponsor requirements.
• Your GCM helps prepare the budget and route the award.
• The Grants Accounting () Post-Award office sets up the award in Workday once it’s received.