Award Administration

Once you have received a notice from the Division of the Arts that your application will be funded, you need to ensure success by complying with accountability requirements. Here are the following steps to take to administer your grant agreement.

Award Notices and Grant Agreements

• An award letter and grant agreement will be mailed or emailed to all awarded applicants.
• Applicants must send a completed, signed grant agreement before the Division of the Arts will disburse any funds. The approved budget, the application and grant guidelines are considered part of the grant agreement.
• The grant agreement must be completed , signed and returned within 30 days of mailing, or the grant will be revoked and reallocated.

Changes in Grant Activity

1. If you would like to request a change in the contracted grant activity, please contact the Division of the Arts Staff.
2. A written request for amendment and a revised budget (Attachment B of the grant agreement) to the original grant agreement must be approved by the Division of the Arts Executive Director before any changes to the activity can occur.

Payments

1. Grant payments to organizations are usually paid in two installments: 75% upon receipt of the completed, signed grant agreement and the remaining 25% upon receipt and approval of the final report. 
2. If the grant-funded activity takes place before payment arrives, the grantee should have sufficient funds on hand to implement the project until reimbursed by the grant funds.
3. All grantees are required to register as vendors in the LaGov Supplier Portal. Click here to complete registration. Be sure to submit the organization's W-9 form to complete the registration process. The W-9 form can be e-mailed to: DOA-OSRAP-LAGOV@la.gov
4. All grantees are encouraged to complete the Electronic Funds Transfer from for faster payment. Please contact the help desk for assistance at 225-342-8010 or vendr_ing@la.gov 

Standards for Financial Management

1. No grant period may extend beyond the end of the state's fiscal year. Funds not expended at the end of the grant period must be returned to the Division of the Arts.
2. All Division of the Arts grant funds and the grantee's matching funds must be used exclusively for expenses incurred within the grant period specified in the grant agreement. Grant funds are not transferable and must be used only to pay for services listed in the approved budget.
3. A grantee organization must comply with generally accepted accounting procedures. The accounting system should clearly separate grant funds from other revenues. Records should adequately identify the source and use of funds for grant-supported activities.
4. All expenditures authorized under the grant - both grant funds and cash match - must be itemized and documented with verifiable receipts and in sufficient detail to show the exact nature of each expenditure as requested in case of audit. All expenditures must be in the grant period: July 1-June 30.
5. A grantee must retain records for three years from the date of the Final Report or until all audit findings involving the records have been resolved, whichever is longer.
6. In order to be eligible to receive grant funding from any LDOA Statewide Grants Program, the applicant must be in good standing with the IRS, Secretary of State, and Legislative Auditor.

Documentation

1. All organizations receiving funds must submit retain a copy of the following, subject to audit by the Legislative Auditor:
   1. the most recent Internal Revenue Service Form 990 that they have submitted
   2. an annual audit
   3. a notarized Profit and Loss Statement or an Income Statement.
2. The Division of the Arts may require copies of the documents supporting all expenditures of grant funds to be submitted with the Final Report.
3. The Legislative Auditor of the State of Louisiana, and /or the Office of the Governor, Division of Administration auditors and/or the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Auditors shall have the option of auditing all accounts of Grantee that are related to this grant.

   R.S. 24:513(A)(1)(b)(iv) defines a quasi public agency or body as "Any not-for-profit that receives or expends any local or state assistance in any fiscal year. Assistance shall include grants, loans, transfers of property, awards, and direct appropriations of state or local funds."

   R.S. 24:513(H)(2)(a) states that the Grantee "shall designate and individual who shall be responsible for filing annual financial reports with the legislative auditor and shall notify the legislative auditor of the name and address of the person so designated."

   Pursuant to R.S. 24:513(J)(1)(c), the financial statements of the Grantee shall be audited as follows:

   Amount received in revenues and other sources in any one fiscal year	Audit requirements
   $75,000 or less	Not required to have an audit but must file a certification with the legislative auditor indicating it received $75,000 or less in funds for the fiscal year.
   More than $75,000 but less than $200,000	Cause to be conducted an annual compilation of its financial statements, with or without footnotes, in accordance with the Louisiana Governmental Audit Guide. At the discretion of the legislative auditor, may require an audit of its books and accounts.
   $200,000 or more but less than $500,000	Cause to be conducted an annual review of its financial statements to be accompanied by an attestation report in accordance with the Louisiana Governmental Audit Guide. At the discretion of the legislative auditor, may require an audit of its books and accounts.
   $500,000 or more	Annual audit.

   The Grantee is notified that no funds appropriated under Act 13 of the 2012 Regular Legislative Session shall be transferred to a public or quasi-public agency or entity which is not a budget unit of the State of Louisiana unless the entity executes an agreement or contract and submits to the Division for approval a Comprehensive Budget showing all anticipated uses of the appropriation, an estimate of the duration of the project, and a plan showing specific goals and objectives for the use of such funds, including measures of performance. The Division shall submit the Agreement, the Budget, and any other required information to the Legislative Auditor for approval at ebudgets@lla.la.gov.

Public Acknowledgment

1. Each grantee must give credit for grant supported activities in public presentations, printed and broadcast promotion, publicity, advertising, and printed programs by including this credit line:"Supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency."
2. Digital copies of examples of printed and promotional materials created for a state-funded activity must be submitted as part of the final report. Failure to include the credit statement on these materials will result in ineligibility for future funding. Click here for current logos. Logos shall appear in close proximity to the name of the grantee organization in all printed and online materials such as broadcasts, promotion, publicity, advertising, printed programs, press announcements, guidelines and other information.

Compliance with Applicable Laws

1. Division grantees must comply with all state laws applicable to the grants program and to those Federal laws required by the National Endowment for the Arts, including: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Federal Executive Order 11246 as amended, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as amended, and the Grantee agrees to abide by the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
2. Division grantees also must comply with administrative requirements of the state and any additional requirements by the National Endowment for the Arts, including those promulgated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): OMB Circular A 128 and A 102 if the grantee is an agency of state or local government or OMB Circular A 110 or A 133 if the grantee organization is a nonprofit organization or university. A list of applicable laws is part of the grant agreement.

Reporting

1. interim and Final Reports and invoices are due in the Louisiana Division of the Arts office the first business day of May of each year in the grand period. Failure to meet the June deadline shall result in the following consequences to the grantee:
   1. 25% of the original grant award will be reverted back to the state.
   2. Failure to submit the final report within 25 business days after the May deadline will result in ineligibility for future grants for a period of 12 months.
   3. If the grantee defaults on this agreement, breeches the terms of this agreement, or ceases to do business, it shall be required to repay funds to the Division of the Arts in accordance with the terms set by the Division of the Arts.
2. It is assumed that by the May deadline that the grant activity will be completed or nearly complete. Grantees should report as much of their actual findings and expenses as of May 1 as possible and include any specific projections of expenditures for the remaining period of the grant.
3. Interim and Final Reports must include a full or estimated accounting of all income and expenditures and an evaluation of the completed project or services. If the report includes estimated amounts, submit an updated budget form at the end of the fiscal year. The grantee organizations should also supply digital copies of promotional materials, newspaper accounts, and other written evidence that the project actually took place as well as photographs suitable for publication. The Interim and Final Report Forms will be available on our online GO grants system in February. You must print the signature form from the system and return the original, signed form to the Division of the Arts office.
4. Grantees that have grant-funded activities after May 1 will be allowed within the interim and final report forms to explain what those activities will be and the amount of funds remaining to be spent.
5. Grantees are required to submit a supplemental interim report by August 1 of year 1 and a supplemental final report by August 1 of year 2 to report all grant-funded activities that take place between May 1 and June 30 of the grant period. 

Penalties

1. If the Division determines that a grantee has failed to comply with the terms and conditions set forth in the grant agreement, that grantee shall become ineligible to receive any remaining payments authorized under the grant agreement. For 12 months following a determination of noncompliance, that grantee will be ineligible to receive any new grants.
2. Grantees ruled ineligible may reapply 12 months after receipt of an acceptable final report. Subsequent failure to comply with Division requirements may result in legal action and the grantee may become ineligible to receive future grants.

Program & Facility Access

Making the arts accessible to all people is a priority of the Louisiana Division of the Arts.

One of the conditions to which organizations agree in accepting a Division of the Arts grant is to assure that their programs and the facilities in which their programs are presented are accessible to people with disabilities.

The regulations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in employment (Title I), state and local government services (Title II), and places of public accommodation and commercial facilities (Title III). (42 U.S.C. 12101-12213). Every nonprofit organization is a beneficiary of Federal Financial Aid; therefore they must be able to provide accommodations when people with disabilities make requests for services.

Accessibility involves both the location (the facility) and the content (the activity or product) of the program. Costs associated with accessibility improvements may be included as part of a LDOA grant; however, capital improvements, bricks and mortar, and the purchase of permanent equipment are not allowed.