Grant Reporting FAQ click here

Full Proposal FAQ click here

Letter Of Intent FAQ click here

2003 Meeting FAQ

What are the deadlines for the semi-annual report on my Spiritual Transformation grant?
Answer (Posted 11/26/03): As stated in the “Deliverables and Reporting Requirements” section of your grant award letter, a semi-annual report is due by the fifteenth working day of the month following the end of each six month period.  If your grant award has been dated beginning May 31, 2003, this would mean that your semi-annual report is due December 15, 2003.

What are the requirements for submitting the semi-annual report on my Spiritual Transformation grant?
Answer (Posted 11/26/03): We require that you submit three (3) copies of your semi-annual report by mail and an electronic version via email by the deadline.  This report includes a narrative report, which describe the progress of the research plan and any deviations from the proposed timeline, and a financial report, which describes the expenditures of the grant award.  The narrative report is expected to be 2-6 pages in length.  For the financial report, there is a Financial Progress Report.rtf document available for download here for you to fill out.  If there have been any changes in your approved project budget, please detail these changes on a separate page attached to the financial report, including any change in personnel or any expected revision in budget line expenditure.

What is the format for the semi-annual narrative report for my Spiritual Transformation project?
Answer (Posted 11/26/03):  The semi-annual narrative report should consist of a cover page and a 2-6 page progress report that includes the following specific information:

• The cover page lists the grant awardee name, project title, institution, the period of effort being reported, the grant awardee’s names and address, the author(s), and the date of this submission;

• SECTION I – A brief introduction covering the purpose and scope of the effort being reported;

• SECTION II - A description of overall progress plus a separate description for each task or other logical segment of work on which effort was expended during the report period. The description shall include pertinent data and/or graphs in sufficient detail to explain any significant results achieved and preliminary conclusions resulting from analysis and scientific evaluation of data accumulated to date under the project; in addition, Section II should contain a brief description of current technical or substantive performance and any problems encountered and/or which may exist along with proposed corrective action.  An explanation of any difference between planned progress and actual progress, and a brief explanation of differences that have occurred, and corrective steps should be provided.

• A brief discussion of the anticipated work plan for the following six months.

• All preprints, reprints, and abstracts referred to in the report shall be submitted along with the report.  If there have there been any inventions and patents conceived or reduced to practice during the course of work under this project, please detail this on a separate page. We also encourage you to share any current findings of your research on the Spiritual Transformation Web forum.

What if I have revisions to key personnel or budget in my Spiritual Transformation project?
Answer (Posted 11/26/03):  Here are details for reporting on changes in key personnel or budget:

• Key Personnel: Has there been a change in the support of key personnel since the last reporting period?  If yes, explain the change(s).  Key personnel are defined as individuals who contribute in a substantive way to the scientific development or execution of the project, whether or not a salary is requested.  If you have added any key personnel to your project, download and complete a biosketch form from the Spiritual Transformation Web site.  Biosketch forms can be found by first clicking on the “Request for Proposals” in the Primary navigation bar and then clicking on “Application Process” from the secondary navigation on our Web site. 

Will there be, in the next budget period, a significant change in the level of effort for key personnel from what was approved for this project?  If yes, please explain.   A significant change in level of effort can be defined as a 25 percent reduction in time devoted to the project.  For example, if a key person on the project is expected to reduce his/her effort from 40 percent to 30 percent, which represents a 25 percent reduction in the level of effort, an explanation must be provided.  If any personnel have had an increase or decrease in effort or salary, discuss this in the financial section of the report.

• Budget: As stated in the “Terms and Conditions” of your grant award letter, reallocation of the grant funds within the approved budget categories must be approved in writing by Metanexus Institute if the reallocation is for personnel, consultants or capital equipment, or if for another category where the reallocation exceeds the larger of $1,000 or 20% of the budgeted line item.  If you need to request a reallocation in your budget, you may submit this request along with your financial report.

Have there been any changes or revisions to the downloadable documents since they were posted?
Answer (Posted 12/23/02)

Yes. Below is a list of amendments for each document:

** Forms Package

• Form Page 3 (Table of Contents): Disregard the sections labeled “Introduction to Revised Application (Not to exceed 3 pages)” and “Introduction to Supplemental Application (Not to exceed one page)”. They do not apply to our grant program.
• Form Page 4 - TOTAL DIRECT COSTS FOR INITIAL BUDGET PERIOD should refer to Item 5a on the Face Page, not Item 7a.
• Form Page 5 - TOTAL DIRECT COSTS FOR ENTIRE PROPOSED PROJECT PERIOD should refer to Item 6a on the Face Page, not Item 8a.
  

** Grant Instructions

• On Page 5, the following sentence has been modified - “Check "No" if the planned activities involving human subjects are not exempt, and complete the remaining parts of Item 3.”

** Matching Grants Guidelines

• The following sentence has been modified, with the change noted in capital letters - "There is clearly one level of support that is unacceptable to the donor's intent: when a Principal Investigator declares that all of the matching funds have been secured from a grant received by the investigator before he or she received notification of ELIGIBILITY FOR a spiritual transformation grant from Metanexus.

In considering the change in the page limit for the detailed proposed research project from 10 to 25 pages along with NIH guidelines, I am concerned that the proposal I have been working on does not adequately fit the length of the revised guidelines. What do you recommend that I do?
Answer Posted 11/20/02

We recognize that the shift from 10 to 25 pages is an important change and we thought carefully before instituting it. First, from the very beginning, we've wanted to follow NIH protocols. Second, by increasing the page limit by this amount, it gives an opportunity for everyone to represent more adequately the ideas and research plan they want to include. Third, however, there is leeway for considerable variation in the page length of the proposal. This upper limit should not be a deterrent for those who feel they can state a successful proposal in fewer pages. Finally, we seriously considered the usefulness of this application for attracting other funds from NIH or other public and private sources and decided that, overall, this is the best course of action for the program since it may also help some who may not receive funding by us to be able to quickly qualify to receive funding from some other source.

Is the January 6, 2003 deadline a "postmark" deadline or a "received by" deadline?
Answer Posted 12/10/02

The hard copies of your entire proposal must be postmarked by January 6, 2003, but you must also submit all proposal materials electronically by the January 6, 2003 deadline in Microsoft Word format in order for your proposal to be reviewed. With the exception of the face page, which requires signatures, we expect your entire proposal to be submitted electronically.

Am I allowed to include money for course buyout as well as summer salary in my proposed budget? Am I allowed to include travel expenses related to other conferences and meetings that are related to my research on spiritual transformation? Is there a cap on the salary that a Principal Investigator may claim as part of the direct costs of a proposed research budget?
Answer Posted 12/10/02

Summer salary and course buyout are allowable items to include in your proposed budget, as well as trips to other meetings and conferences directly related to your funded research for the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Program. In addition, there is no cap on the salary that a Principal Investigator may claim as part of the direct costs of a proposed research budget. However, you should be very prudent with regard to the degree to which your proposed research program can be justified if a substantial portion of the requested grant funds goes toward the direct salary support of the Principal Investigator.

I am planning to submit a letter of intent and I want to be sure I have emailed all appropriate materials in order to be considered for an award from this program.  What do I need to submit?
Answer: You need to include the following:

• A clear working title that is specifically descriptive of your project;
• Name, title, and organizational affiliation of the principal investigator who is the one person responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the project;
• Provide complete mailing address information (including room number, building, and street address) necessary for postal delivery. All written communications with the principal investigator will use this address;
• If relevant, list the major committed members of your research team, including names, titles, and institutions;
• The text of your letter of intent following the instructions (not to exceed 3 pages in Microsoft Word format) on the 'Letter of Intent & RFP' Web page;
• A curriculum vitae or resume (not to exceed 3 pages in Microsoft Word format) for the principal investigator.

If my academic field is not mentioned in the list of targeted departments, am I still able to submit a letter of intent to the program?
Answer: We encourage an applicant from any field to apply to our program, but you must be aware of the criteria of merit for competitive evaluation. If you feel that your academic expertise does not fully qualify you for the competition, we encourage you to submit a proposal with a co-investigator(s) who can complement and/or supplement the expertise necessary to round out your application.

If I submitted a letter of intent by the established deadline and I was not selected to attend the research conference, am I eligible to submit a full proposal for one of the 10 grants?
Answer: Only the 40 participants who are selected for the research conference will be eligible to compete for the 10 awards. Nevertheless, since our long-term goal is to establish a network of investigators who are interested in work on spiritual transformation, we encourage you to stay in contact with us through registration at our Web site. We plan on making strategic partnerships with other foundations and granting agencies that are interested in supporting this work, as well as providing a forum for interested investigators to correspond with each other through a moderated list-serve and other hosted research discussion events.

Can a prospective principal investigator who is not part of a college/university or nonprofit organization be eligible for an award from this program?
Answer: Yes, it is possible for a prospective principal investigator who is not part of a college/university or nonprofit organization to be eligible for an award from this program.  If such a prospective principal investigator is one of the 40 selected to attend the research conference, the requirements for submission of the full proposal in January 2003 for that project will require a consulting and expenditure responsibility
agreement.

If I send in a letter of intent after the June 1, 2002 deadline, can I still be considered for the competition?
Answer: We ask that your letter of intent and all supporting documents be received by us by June 1, 2002. Any letters of intent and supporting documents that we receive after the June 1, 2002 deadline will not be considered in the competition. We will be selecting the 40 participants for the research conference by July 1, 2002, which gives us only one month to review all of the letters and supporting documents. We encourage you not to wait to the last minute; give ample time before the deadline for mailing your letter of intent and all supporting documents.

Is each of the 10 awards going to be $150,000 payable over two years?
Answer: We have $1.5 million to disburse over 10 awards, which means that there is approximately $150,000 per award. Depending on the specific budgetary needs of the 10 projects that we will fund, we may raise or lower the award granted. Care should be taken when constructing the project budget submitted with the full proposal since it is one of the factors that we will take into account when selecting the finalists. In addition, the monies will be disbursed according to the approved budget on a per year basis over two years. In the event that the work is not completed by the end of the second year we will consider requests for "no cost extensions" on a case by case basis.

Can an award from this program be used for salary support?
Answer: Yes, budgets may be used for salary or any other legitimate expense in conducting research. However, as in the case for all budgetary items, salary for the principal investigator or any other personnel needs to be justified in the budget submitted for the full proposal.

Can an award from this program be used to support on-going research that is also supported by other funds? Or use this award as a basis for seeking other funds?
Answer: Yes. If you plan on doing this, be sure to list the other awards you are using and how this award would allow you to expand or improve your current research.  If you have received funding from other sources for a proposed research project, you must use this award to support something new within your existing research. Also, you can apply for other grants and assistance to go along with the STP award, should you receive it. However, we need to know about your plans at the time of submission of the project and outcomes of other funding decisions, if successful. Our intent is to encourage strongly co-funding and/or follow on funding of the research in this area provided that the funding is used for budget items not already funded by the STP program of support. In fact, we are committed to do whatever we can to help you with this process both scientifically and administratively.

Will an award from this program provide additional monies for indirect costs?
Answer: No.  Indirect costs have to be figured into the costs of the proposed project.  The upper limit for indirect costs is set at 10% of the total award granted for this program.

Can the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Program offer any funding to attend the conference for those whose abstracts are accepted for the Roundtable Topic Discussions?
Answer (Posted 04/11/03)
Unfortunately, we do not have funding available to cover the costs associated with attending the conference for those whose abstracts are accepted for participation in the Roundtable Topic discussions. We nevertheless hope that you will be able to attend and share with us in this exchange of ideas and research.

Is there any relationship between the Call for Abstracts put out by the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Program and the Call for Papers put out by the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love for the Works of Love conference?
Answer (Posted 04/11/03)
No. The process for the Call for Papers for the Works of Love conference, with a deadline of March 15, 2003, is a completely separate process and has no relation to the Call for Abstracts put out for the Spiritual Transformation conferences sessions, which has a deadline of April 28, 2003.

When I click on the email link "stproundtable@metanexus.net" to submit my abstract from the Abstract Instructions document, I have received a return message stating that the email was undeliverable. Is there a problem with this email address?
Answer (Posted 04/11/03)
No, there is not a problem with the email address. You should still use this email address to submit your abstract. But, we did find an error with the email link in the Abstract Instructions document for download. We corrected the problem and updated the Abstract Instructions document on April 10, 2003 so that there would be no further problems.