Chapter 4. Award Letter 

In the best bureaucratic speak, the answer is "most likely." LSTA is unfortunately one of those pieces of federal legislation that is not forward funded. Although the legislation has been in place for eight years, an annual appropriation still must be made by Congress for LSTA and that does not usually take place until September. When you received your award letter in August, we could not be certain Congress would appropriate the money some months later. So. . . yes, you will get the money IF we get it. Got it?

The award letter (See SAMPLE 1 [pdf]) notifies the subgrantee that tentative approval has been given to its project and it is "provisional." Since we don't know if we will get the money, all grant awards are based on an assumption of level funding from the previous year. If Congress reduces the appropriation, it may be necessary to reduce your award as well as everyone else's. Likewise, if Congress increases our allotment, those funds can then be saved for the Carryover year. The letter also tells you who your Project Consultant from the agency's staff will be and when your project may start (or maybe not, as was discussed in the last chapter).

If you have a "targeted" project, enclosed with with your award letter is a copy of the recommendation form that was submitted to the Board (See SAMPLE 2 [pdf]). It includes basic information on your grant, a summary of the activities that will take place, the amount recommended for funding by the review committee, any conditions that must be met before the award will be made, and any comments the review committee felt were important to note for the Board. In some cases, the amount of the award is less than what you requested, in other cases it is more (rare, but it does happen). Your Project Consultant will discuss with you changes in your project that will be required by the final award amount and any specific conditions. You may not wish to proceed with the project given these changes. For Mini-Grants, no individual recommendations are made.

The MBLC, when it is assured that sufficient funds are available, will notify you (by sending your contract) that the project will proceed and issue a press release. You should wait until this happens before making a public announcement. Announcements made in August for a project that does not begin until October can cause disappointment and a break in momentum. You can, of course, inform staff and trustees and any advisory group informally. You should not encumber any funds until your contract has been signed by your library, has been sent back to us, and has been returned to you, signed by the MBLC Director, and never before October 1st, in any case.