This would not be an allowable use of university funds, including grants, contracts, or gifts. At the discretion of the Dean/Director, discretionary funds may be used for these costs.

The food and beverage cost, including any applicable taxes, tips, and service charges, may not exceed the per diem allocation for the meal. Some non-federal sponsors may allow meal costs to exceed the standard per diem rate. Written sponsor approval is required in these instances. 

In planning a meeting/conference, ensure that the vendor will itemize food purchases separately from other costs. If the vendor embeds food and beverage costs into the total cost of the meeting space, the department should work with the vendor to have the food and beverage costs identified separately. Refer to PAFC's web page Food Purchases on Sponsored Awards for more information.

First, check the Award and sponsor regulations to ensure the expense is allowable. 

If the expense is allowable, it can be allocated across more than one Award as long as the allocation is in proportion to the benefit provided to each Award. The allocation of the visa cost should match the effort that the person will be expending on each Award. For example, if the person’s effort is allocated 80/20 between two Awards, then the H-1B visa cost should also be allocated on a similar 80/20 split. 

Visa costs are allowable and should be allocated to the Award(s) on which the individual will be allocating their time. Visa costs cannot be covered based on budgetary convenience.

It is recommended that written sponsor approval be obtained for Travel. Travel expenses are allowed provided that:

• There is documentation describing how the travel benefited the Award, if the specific travel was not included in the Award budget.

• The length of the trip coincides with the travel objectives.

• The trip takes place during the Award period.

• Per diem amounts are within limits; follow UW guidelines for any excess amounts.

Institutional policy does allow the cost of passports, and federal regulations allow us to follow our own travel policy, so it would appear that this cost would be allowable if it is necessary for a particular award. If it is applicable to multiple awards and/or non-sponsored award activity, the cost should be allocated to each benefiting award/activity on some reasonable basis (e.g., the individual's FTE allocation).

"Stipend" is a troubling term, as different entities and individuals use it in different contexts. For most federal sponsors, a stipend represents a fixed amount provided to someone in a training program to offset their living expenses. It is not remuneration or compensation provided for work performed; therefore, the payment does not represent FTE or effort. Some non-federal sponsors will use the term synonymously with compensation for work performed.

So, in this case, a stipend would not be allowable, but salary or wages (compensation) would be allowable.

Institutional subscriptions may be allowable when directly related to the objectives of a sponsored Award. An example of an allowable direct charge of an institutional subscription would be where the Award objective is to compile data from articles into a database, or if the subscriptions are needed as reference material to support the Award.

Federal regulations allow the cost of the institution's membership in business, technical, and professional organizations as part of F&A, but do not mention individual memberships. Per GIM 23, memberships are allowable only as an indirect cost. This is because memberships benefit the individual in all of their professional work; the cost cannot benefit just a single Award. Thus, the cost cannot be included on an Award budget.