Clarification
Q & A
NCAA Division III Strategic Initiatives
Grant Program
Overall:
Q: When
does the new Grant Program take effect?
A: The
program begins with the 2006-07 budget year. Initial communication of the grant
program began during fall, 2005 Conference and Association meetings.
______________________________________________________________________________
Q: What role should presidents and
chancellors play in the new grant process?
A:
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Q: How should conferences establish the
policies to govern the distribution of funds and the selection of grant
recipients?
A: A broad-based, conference-wide
dialogue should occur to determine the best approach. Each constituent group within member
conferences and Association of Independents should participate in this
process. Conferences should not
simply rely on the conference executive to “hand pick”
recipients. At a minimum, a
representative of the presidents/chancellors; athletic directors, faculty
athletics representatives, senior woman administrators and SAAC should also be
designated, as they will be expected to sign off on the Requisition and Impact
Forms prior to submission.
Involving other campus constituents (e.g., CHAMPS/Life Skills
coordinators; coaches; student personnel) may also be appropriate.
______________________________________________________________________________
Q: Will there be an annual request form
or will the funds come automatically?
What will be submitted at the end of the year?
A: There will be both an annual
Requisition Form, due
________________________________________________________________
Q: Will the conference be
“audited”?
A: The Strategic-Planning Subcommittee
and NCAA staff reserves the right to request further details and information on
allocation and use of funds at any time.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Are
provisional members eligible to receive resources from grant program?
A: Provisional members (06-07) are not
included in financial allocations.
Only Division III active members are included. Affected conferences that have
provisional members may choose to share grant resources with provisional
members on an annual basis.
________________________________________________________________
Q: What if my institution is a member
of two conferences?
A: Conferences that have members
involved with another conference will receive a “half-member”
allocation of resources (Tier Two).
Institutions in more than one conference should discuss their role in
the resource allocation process with each conference.
________________________________________________________________
Q: My institution is an Independent but
not a member of the Association of Division III Independents. How do I access grant resources?
A: The Association of Division III
Independents has agreed to manage and support the resource allocations for all
independent institutions (21 schools during 2006-07). Affected institutions should contact the
Association of Division III Independents for details.
________________________________________________________________
Q: What if all funds are not used in a
given year in each Tier?
A: Unused funds totaling less than
$1,000 (all three tiers) may remain with the conference; however, a
justification and plans for their future use must be submitted as a component
of the Impact Form. Further, Tier
One excess resources must remain in Tier One. Flexibility exists for moving excess
resources of less than $1,000 between Tiers Two and Three only.
________________________________________________________________
Q: This program represents the
allocation of significant additional funding to the membership. How is this being paid for?
A: Additional allocations will be paid
primarily through administrative savings at the national office. Division III currently is assessed an
overhead fee of approximately $160,000 on the affected programs. Moving program administration to the
conference level will generate approximately $55,000 in net savings, also being
allocated as part of the Conference Grant Program. This includes the allocation of a $2,500
administration fee to each conference/independent.
________________________________________________________________
Q: What happens if conferences do not
request all resources appropriated in a given year (e.g., Conference A is
allocated $44,000 and requests only $30,000)?
A: For 2006-07, inaugural year, the
resources will remain with the NCAA.
There will not be retroactive approval for additional funds from other
conferences. It is likely that the
NCAA would use the unallocated funds during the following year to enhance
conference allocations and programming.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Can a Conference/Association of
Division III Independents request “additional resources” beyond
their basis due to their number of member institutions?
A: For 2006-07, there is a maximum
allocation per Tier and therefore a total conference allocation, as noted in
the Grant Program Composite. The
Strategic-Planning Subcommittee will discuss this concept further as a
component of its first year evaluation.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Can a Conference/Association of
Independents request to carryover more than $1,000 to support multi-year
programming?
A: The intent of the program is for an allocation
of resources to support annual programming. For 2006-07, carryover is limited to
less than $1,000. The
Strategic-Planning Subcommittee will consider additional flexibility for
multi-year programming and resource carryover for future use.
_______________________________________________________________
Q: Do Strategic Initiatives Grant
policies governing the distribution of funds universally apply to all
Conferences/Association of Independents?
A: Established stated policies apply
across the board. Beyond that,
Conferences/Association of Independents are allowed flexibility, provided the
spirit of the program and strategic plan is fulfilled.
_______________________________________________________________
Tier One - Professional Development, Education and
Communication - Annual:
Q: Do
commissioner meeting and SID meeting expenses cover the same items as the
current arrangement?
A: Yes. The Division III budget will continue to
cover on-site expenses such as meeting room charges, audio visual, and food and
beverage fees. The commissioner and
SID will use grant funds to pay for
______ _________________________________________________________________
Q:____ How could a conference develop a
process for distribution of the funds to support
A:____ The group of
·
Top
priority: Any newly appointed FAR
in the conference.
·
Second
priority: FAR that has not attended
FARA within last four years.
______ A Conference may also decide that
they have other priorities that best meet their needs. Whatever the case, the constituency
groups most affected should have ample opportunity to develop an approach that
works best for them.
______ _________________________________________________________________
Q: What if two or three vice presidents
from my conference are already going to the NCAA Convention on institutional
funds; may I use that allotment elsewhere in Tier One? How about Tiers Two or Three?
A: If all remaining vice presidents from your conference were solicited
about the opportunity to access resources to attend the Convention, you are
clearly following the Strategic Plan.
Feel free to use the money in a justifiable way to support other
individuals in Tier One.
Unused resources under $1,000 can carry over within Tier One, with a
justification submitted on the Impact Form. You may not use the unused funds from
Tier One in Tiers Two or Three.
This example could also apply to other constituent groups.
________________________________________________________________
Q: If a meeting is held in the hometown
of our attendee and we don’t need to pay travel expenses, may I use that
allotment elsewhere in Tier One?
A: If you have a member attending a
meeting as planned, you are clearly following the Strategic Plan. Feel free to use the money in a
justifiable way to support other constituents in Tier One. Unused resources under $1,000 can carry
over in Tier One with a justification submitted on the Impact Form.
________________________________________________________________
Q: I tried to get an SWA to attend the
NACWAA Convention, but no luck. Do
I need to give that portion of the money back? Should I not have applied for it? Can I spend it elsewhere?
A: It is important that you exhaust
every avenue of encouragement that you can. Have you taken the problem to your
presidential group and asked for support?
Beyond that, have you thought about other ways to enhance the SWA
stature within your conference?
What else can you do besides the Convention if all your SWAs are coaching
in the fall?
What
other meetings would they like to attend?
Have you checked with other conferences to learn of other ideas? SWA enhancement is an important part of
the Strategic Plan, like all other parts.
It is hoped that you will make every effort to rectify this situation. If you cannot, then you will be asked to
return those particular funds (because they exceed $1,000) and cease to request
them in the future, until the problem is solved. This example could also apply to other
constituent groups.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Can a Conference/Association of
Independents request more than $9,675?
Can a conference alter the specific constituent amount?
A: For 2006-07, there is a maximum
allocation of $9,675. The specific
constituent funding amounts noted on the Requisition Form are examples of NCAA grant funding
levels used to determine the total $9,675 allocations.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Since there are currently 113
Division III institutions (approximately 25%) participating in the CHAMPS/Life
Skills program, is it possible to consider Tier One funding to support
CHAMPS/Life Skills administrators to attend the orientation and/or continuing
education conferences?
A: The Strategic-Planning Subcommittee
could consider adding CHAMPS/Life Skill administrators to Tier One in the
future. For 2006-07 since no money
was budgeted, Conferences/Association of Division III Independents could choose
to allocate resources from Tier Three.
It should be noted that current support to attend the orientation
program only is an expectation for institutional participation in the program.
________________________________________________________________
Tier Two - Social Responsibility and Integration - Four-Year
Rotation:
Q: Could you explain more about Tier
Two? What happens in the fourth
year if I spend the allotment in each of the first three years in all three
areas? Do I have to designate a
single year for each of the three areas?
A: The program calls for each of the
three areas (Student-Athlete Well Being /Community Service, Sportsmanship, and
Diversity and Gender Equity) to be addressed at the amount your conference
receives. For example, if you are a
10-team conference, you may receive $1,457 times 10, or $14,517 per year. You could spend all $14,517 on
sportsmanship in one year, or spend $3,627 on sportsmanship every single year,
or any other variation thereof.
Once that goal has been met, you may spend remaining funds in any tier
for a worthy project. For example,
if you spend your $14,517 on Student-Athlete Well Being/Community Service in
year one, the same amount on Sportsmanship in year two and again the same
amount on Diversity and Gender Equity in year three, then you
would have the fourth year to use
that amount in any of the three tiers for any worthy effort that meets your
particular needs and falls within a Tier Two topic.
________________________________________________________________
Q: What if I have a great idea for a
Sportsmanship program, but it only costs $10,000 instead of the $13,000 we are allotted
in Tier Two? Can I use the
remaining funds elsewhere in any Tier?
Must I use the remaining funds in a more specific way?
A: It is important that all conferences
follow the spirit of the Strategic Plan.
Similar to the Technology Grant and SAAC Grant, the new Conference Grant
Program will encourage creative thinking.
It is unreasonable to expect that every program will cost the exact
amount that has been allocated.
However, the main purpose of the Grant Program is to closely align with
the Strategic Plan. Conferences are
asked to do the best they can to ensure that they make a significant effort in
each of the three areas over the four-year period. In doing so, you may certainly use
excess funds of less than $1,000 from Tier Three to support Tier Two and
vice-versa. Tier One funds must
remain in that area.
________________________________________________________________
Q: If my institution is awarded
the conference resources for an educational program to support diversity, can
the funds be used to partner with a campus-wide student affairs program and
still classify as Tier Two programming?
A: Yes.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Since approximately 25% (113
institutions) of Division III currently participate as part of the NCAA
CHAMPS/Life Skills program, can conferences/Association of Division III
Independents involved use Tier Two funds to support its Life/Skills
initiatives?
A: Tier Two is exactly the place for
these kinds of initiatives.
CHAMPS/Life Skills administrators may also be involved in
decision-making processes if permitted by the applicable conference/Association
of Independents.
________________________________________________________________
Q: Our conference has established and
held a Weekend/Coaching Symposium for Women to encourage more young women to
enter coaching and create leadership and role modeling opportunities. If we wish to continue the initiatives,
does it fit within the Conference Grant, Tier Two or Tier Three?
A: This is an example of an initiative
that clearly meets the goals of the Conference Grant, specifically Tier Two
– Diversity and Gender Equity initiative. It is likely that given the policy for
Tier Two funding, it will not be considered for annual allocation; however,
Tier Three, optional strategic enhancements, funds are also available for
use. Funds potentially are
available through both Tiers II (at least once every four years and as often as
twice every four years) and Tier III (every year). Given the successful history and data of
currently sponsored weekend symposia, the NCAA Committee on Women’s
Athletics and/or Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee (MOIC) will
commit to put forth a Association-wide proposal to establish a pool of
resources to support such conference programs in a matching grant format for
its next biennial budget cycle (08-10).
________________________________________________________________