This Power Point Presentation is designed to:

• To learn/review how to create/complete and submit an eGrants VISTA Grants Continuation Application based on the previous year’s awarded application.

Kapila WewegamaeGrants Coaching Unit

JBS International/Aguirre Division1-888-333-8272

To begin your eGrants application completion process, logon to CNCS homepage at www.cns.gov

Please click on “eGrants” link to open the eGrants Welcome Page.

Please use this link to log on to your eGrants account.

Log into eGrants system by entering your user name and password.

If you disable the pictures, it will speed up screen refreshes.

Once you login to your account home page, click “Continuation/Renewal” link to begin to create a continuation application for your grant.

This window will display the grant applications that can be continued. Choose your VISTA Grant Application that was awarded last year which you want to create a continuation. “Its ID number will be listed under the App. ID column and will be labeled as “Awarded” under Status column.

Once you identify your VISTA application, please click on “continue” link for that application.

Choose the NOFA and click “next.”

This will create your Continuation application which will consist all the 9 sections from the previous awarded grant application:

1.Applicant Info

2.Application info

3.Narratives

4.Project Plan

5.Documents

6.Budget Section 1

7.Budget Section 2

8.Review

9.Authorize and Submit

Application type will be labeled as “Continuation.” Please write down the ID number, in case if you need it in the future.

Project Information will be populated from the awarded application. Please make sure that the Project Director name and contact info is correct.

Information from your awarded application will be populated here.

Enter your next year’s project period that coincides with a pay period. This date will also appear on your Agreement.

Choose a VISTA Program Type.

Check this box to indicate, if cost sharing. Click on “save.”

According to the application instructions you should try to keep your response for each section heading to no more than one page (250-400 words). Please verify this with your state program specialist.

All the narrative fields will have data populated from your awarded application, and therefore, will be indicated with a green check mark. Revise these sections as necessary to reflect your next year plans.

Whenever you enter text into eGrants text fields, we strongly encourage you to create that information on a word document. Then you can copy the data from your word document and paste it in the eGrants text field by having your cursor in the text field and right clicking your mouse.

Three Good Reasons to do your text on a word document:

1. You will have a back up record.2. You can do a character count to find out the size of your text.3. You can spell check your work.

Don’t forget: eGrants cannot take formatted text.

All the goals & performance measures you had entered in the awarded application will be listed here. In order to open any goal statement & performance measures, click on “view/edit” next to that item.

Select a result type and click on “Add a Result Type” to add a new result type.

This will open up the performance worksheet for the selected goal/performance measure.

List all of your activities that relate to the new year which are part of this goal.

Do not change the goal unless you have approval from your SPS.

If the results listed for last year are already accomplished, click on “Delete this Result Type.” If not accomplished do not delete the results.

If you check the “Performance Measure” box, more additional text fields related to performance measure elements will appear to input data.

You are required to identify a total of 3-5 results within your project plan as Performance Measures. Within those Performance Measures, you are required to include at least:

One out put;

One intermediate outcome; and

One end outcome

When you identify a target for a output, it has to always be a number (#). Out comes can be a number (#) or percentage (%)

The list of documents from your awarded application will be listed here. Review the status for each document. If there are no changes to these documents, you don’t have to change anything. Otherwise choose the appropriate status based on the change. You cannot have “Not Sent” for any of these documents. If you have “Not Sent” chosen, you will not be able to verify and submit your application.

To add a budget item click on this link. It will open up a secondary window worksheet for data input.

When you input numbers, please don’t use commas to separate thousands and don’t use decimal points.

Click this link to validate your budget.

If there are no errors, you will receive this message. If there are errors, it will show you what the errors are.

Once you validate your budget, this link will appear in green with a check mark. If you happen to change data in your budget, you can use this link again, as many times you like, prior to submitting your application to validate your budget.

Review section/screen will show a summary of the data you have entered into the application. Whenever you login and open your grant application, it will always open this “Review” section.

If you click on “view/print report,” it will pull up a PDF document that will have data from your application in relation to the type of report you choose. You can print it for proof reading purposes or save the PDF document for your own use. In order to use this feature, you should have acrobat software installed in your computer.

Here’s a sample PDF document that gets created when you click on “view/print report.”

The staff who is responsible for completing the “authorization,” “Assurances” and “certifications” should have an eGrants account to logon to this page to complete this part. When he/she click “I agree”, it will populate their name and date by “I Agree” button.

In order to complete the “Assurances” and “Certifications” the view/print certification link needs to be clicked. It will open up a PDF document that needs to be viewed and closed, then the “I agree” feature/button will be active for clicking.

When you click on “Verify this Grant Application” it will check whether there are any errors. If there are any errors, it will pull up an errors list. On the errors list, it will indicate the specific error that you need to fix.

Once you are able to verify your application, you can click on submit link to submit your application. When it get submitted, you will receive a message indicating your application was submitted successfully.

Once you submit your application, the status of your application will change from “initial entry” to “submitted.” After you submit your application, you will not be able to edit it again unless it is open by the cncs for rework.

Once you submit your Continuation Application, please send an email to your SPS informing your application submission with the applicationID number.

For Guidance in regard to Application Guidelines and Policies, please contact your CNCS State Office

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For eGrants related Technical Issue and Problems, please contact:

eGrants Help Desk: 1-888-677-7849 (Ext. 533)

email: eGrantshelp@cns.gov

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For assistance in Developing your Performance Measurements, Contact:

Project Star: 1-800-548-3656Projectstar.org

Additional eGrants Related Resources

You can access the following resources at:

http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/resources/online_pubs/egrants/egrants_acv.php

These resources are listed towards the bottom of the page under Training Materials sub-heading.

AmeriCorps*VISTA PowerPoint Presentations (As PowerPoint Presentations and PDF documents):•Creating and Managing an eGrants Account •Creating, Completing and Submitting a VISTA Concept Paper •Completing and Submitting a VISTA Full Application•Creating, Completing and Submitting a VISTA Continuation Application•Completing and Submitting a VISTA Project Progress Report

AmeriCorps*VISTA Instructional Guides (As Word Documents and PDF documents):•Creating an eGrants Account - DRAFT •Creating, Completing and Submitting a VISTA Concept Paper •Completing and Submitting a VISTA Full Application

Kapila WewegamaeGrants Coaching UnitAguirre International

1-888-333-8272

Hope you enjoyed the presentation