Mandatory vs. Voluntary Cost Sharing

Several sponsored projects require that some effort be expended on the project without direct compensation from the sponsoring agency.  This effort must be subsidized by other unrestricted University funding sources and is referred to as mandatory cost sharing.  Voluntary committed cost sharing is effort that was not required by the sponsoring agency in order to receive the award, but was offered in the project proposal and accepted by the sponsoring agency.  Both of these types of cost sharing must be funded through unique accounts that are identified as cost sharing and are linked to the sponsored activity.  Effort on a project that is over and above the effort committed in the proposal documents is considered voluntary uncommitted effort, and usually should be reported as departmental research.

The funded cost sharing activities will be identified as sponsored activity on the PAR, and effort posted to these accounts will be automatically linked to the sponsored project.

Last reviewed: 12/26/2022