So my team recently received a 3.5k grant. Hence, this appears on the Lead Mentors FIRST account that 3.5k was received. However, we have yet to pay registration so we still owe $5k. But, after the grant was deposited, it says we only owe $1.5k. It says this grant money was used. So I’m just curious, will FIRST automatically deduct if we owe money or is the website just showing how much I would owe if I used the grant money?
It all depends on the grant, many of the grants administered at the HQ level are restricted to registration. So yes those will be automatically applied to registration and only registration. With an unrestricted grant you can ask FIRST to re-grant it but I’m not sure on that procedure.
The money in your FIRST account can only be regranted if you have paid out registration and have an extra
balance from “unrestricted” grants and donations (i.e: not earmarked specifically for registration). See the link for more details, including a link to the Submittable form for regrants.
Same for us. We have Boeing and Raytheon grants in there, but it says we owe $1k. FIRST assumes that whatever money you have in your account will be used to pay for your registration for the 2019 season.
This. At least the past few years, FIRST applies the restricted grants to event registration first, then any unrestricted grants and finally team payments. Unrestricted grants and team payments above registration fees will be re-granted back to the team after filing a bit of tax paperwork with FIRST and an on-line request. It takes a few days after everything is in place, because they insist on mailing a check rather than an electronic transfer. Search firstinspires for re-grant or regrant for the procedures.
How do you know if a grant is restricted?
I don’t know in general. I know in recent years that NASA Rookie, Second Year, and Sustaining grants, as well as DODSTEM grants are restricted. NASA “House Team” grants (not sure if they’re still a thing) and payments from team & booster club bank accounts are not.
If nothing has changed from last year, your lead mentors should be able to see a list of grants added to your account, with the name of donor, amount, and whether or not the grant is restricted. For grants you are still applying for, the application will likely mention whether or not it is restricted.
Well for us, under the name of the company that gave us the money, it says Picatinny - Restricted. Does this mean it’s restricted?
At a minimum the grant is restricted to registration in general. Something I’d forgotten about is that some grants, like the rookie grant, can be further restricted to initial registration. I’m frankly unsure if there are any other grants that are restricted in this way.