COVID-19 - Grantee/Contractor Communication

• If you wish to extend your grant period follow the instructions for requesting an extension provided in the grantee portal. If you do not have access to the portal, you may send an email to GrantReports@rwjf.org with a brief explanation for the extension (1–2 sentences) and the proposed new end date. We will respond quickly.
• If you believe that it will be necessary to alter the scope of work as outlined in your grant proposal, as a result of COVID-19, we want to hear from you. Please touch base with your Foundation contact. We will aim to be as flexible as possible.
• If you wish to make budget changes to your grant (e.g., shifts in line items of the budget), and these changes will not materially change the scope of work as outlined in your proposal or otherwise violate the terms of your Grant Agreement, you do not need any advance approval from the Foundation until further notice. If you have any questions about whether a change to the scope of work is material, discuss with your Foundation contact.
  
• If your grant is overseen by a national program office, program center or similar coordinating entity (“program office”) and you wish to discuss changes to the terms of your grant, please touch base with your program office contact first. They will help you and seek guidance from the Foundation as needed.
• Changes to the terms of subgrants or subcontracts within a grant should be made in accordance with the policies and procedures of the grantee organization. We do encourage grantee organizations to be flexible under the circumstances, but RWJF is not the direct grantor in these cases and cannot approve or direct changes.
  

If you believe that it will be necessary to alter the budget or scope of work as outlined in your contract proposal, or you wish to extend your contract period, please touch base with the RWJF staff member overseeing the contract. They will work with you to be as responsive as possible and make any changes efficiently.

Annual and final narrative reports that are due through December 31, 2022, are not required for all grants except for those grants structured as expenditure responsibility. However, please do continue to submit interim and final financial reports for all grants, which are needed to trigger periodic and final payments.

If your RWJF grant or contract includes travel plans, please note the following:

• Follow your current local, state or federal travel guidance and your own organization’s policies with respect to booking travel.  If it seems impractical or imprudent to proceed with the travel plans you anticipated for your project, you are not obligated to make them at this time.
  
• RWJF will cover the costs associated with canceling or changing grant-related travel due to the coronavirus if these were approved activities in the grant and contract budgets.
  
• The travel policy has been amended to suspend the booking of non-refundable air tickets. Until further notice, all new air travel should be booked as refundable.
  
• The Foundation will not reimburse travel to a country with a level 2 or level 3 travel notice in accordance with CDC guidance. At this time, we will still cover domestic travel because no public health entity has called for limitation on domestic travel.
  
• Please refer to this additional helpful information provided by the CDC: (1) general information for travelers (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.php) , (2) FAQs for travelers (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/faqs.html) , and (3) CDC’s Traveler’s Health Notices (http://www.cdc.gov/travel) for the latest guidance and  recommendations for each country to which you will travel.

Based on the available information and our Guiding Principles, we have made the decision not to host any in-person meetings or events of any size with non-staff until further notice. In making this decision, we prioritized the health, safety, and well-being of our staff, grantees, contractors, and partners.  

If your contract with the Foundation includes work on any in-person meetings, please connect with the RWJF staff member overseeing your contract as soon as possible for additional guidance. In some cases, these meetings can move forward in a virtual format. In other cases, the meetings can be postponed or canceled. While we ask that you minimize any cancellation charges (e.g., cancellation of a hotel contract or event space), contract funds may be used to pay cancellation charges. We will work with you to determine any necessary changes to your contract.

As the guidance from state governments, Centers for Disease Control, and public health agencies evolves, we will issue further instructions with respect to planning in-person meetings. 

The Foundation has made the decision not to hold any in-person, non-staff meetings or events of any size until further notice and we strongly encourage grantees to do the same. However, Foundation grant funds still may support in-person convenings if such meetings are permitted by your organization and are carried out in compliance with guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the relevant state government and public health agencies for the meeting location. This guidance applies to meetings supported in full or in part with RWJF grant funds. Before proceeding with an in-person meeting supported with RWJF grant funds, please consider the factors below and connect with the RWJF staff member overseeing your grant about your plans. 

Grantees should always follow their own organization’s guidance for determining when it is appropriate to hold in person meetings. Other considerations before proceeding with an in-person meeting include: 

• Determine whether the meeting can be delayed or the purposes can be achieved through a virtual format; 
• Follow the guidance from state governments, Centers for Disease Control, and public health agencies for the meeting location; 
• Determine whether potential participants are prohibited from or advised against traveling by employers or by the government of the locations from which they are traveling; and 
• Consider whether participants may have been subject to disruptions related to employment (e.g., furloughed, increased responsibilities) or personal life (e.g., increased caregiving responsibilities) that may make in-person participation difficult. 

If you choose to proceed with an in-person meeting or event: 

• In no event, should an in-person meeting supported with RWJF grant funds be mandatory for participants. We strongly encourage any grantees holding in-person meetings to offer a virtual option so that individuals who may not be able to or prefer not to travel can still participate in a meaningful way. Consider measures to reduce the likelihood of spread of a virus at any in-person event including following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and public health agencies for such events. 
• Establish contingency plans in case the landscape changes and carefully review and negotiate any contracts (e.g., venues, restaurants) to maximize flexibility and limit costs of cancellation. Note, until further notice, we have temporarily adjusted our travel policy to require the purchase of refundable airline tickets. 

If you choose to cancel an in-person meeting or event, we ask that you try to negotiate or minimize any cancellation charges, if possible, but you may use grant funds for any cancellation charges incurred. 

If you choose to move a convening or meeting to a virtual or hybrid format, costs associated with virtual events (e.g., meeting platforms, facilitators) may be paid for with RWJF grant funds. Grantees do not need preapproval for such budget reallocations. 

As the guidance from state governments, Centers for Disease Control, and public health agencies evolves, we may issue further instruction with respect to planning meetings with RWJF funds.

• RWJF strongly encourages that you require vaccination of in-person meeting attendees,​ however you ​are allowed to follow your organization's policies.
• If you decide to follow your organization's policies and they differ from RWJF policies, the Foundation will continue to support your meetings and remain a branded sponsor.

The Foundation envisions no issue in making payments to grantees and contractors. However, you can help us greatly—and expedite receipt of your funds—if you provide us with your banking information ahead of time. This will allow us to make electronic payments to you. If you have not already received email instructions on how to submit your banking information, please send an email to comminvoices@rwjf.org and someone will respond to your request. If you are experiencing a financial hardship, please reach out to your Foundation contact. We want to hear from you.

• If you have any concerns about sustaining operations, we want to hear from you. Please reach out to your Foundation contact as soon as you are able to do so.
• If you have made organizational changes to your employee paid leave or similar policies that change the fringe benefit rate budgeted in your grant, you may repurpose grant funds for additional costs associated with employees working on the grant, provided the total grant budget is not exceeded.
  

If you received a general operating support grant from the Foundation, you may use RWJF funds for lobbying.  You may not use Foundation funds for electioneering activities, because these  activities are prohibited for all charitable organizations.

If you believe the policy activities you wish to conduct with our grant funds will result in a material change to the scope of work in your proposal, as noted above, please reach out to your program officer for a discussion and approval before you change your activities.

So long as you are within your scope of work (the original, or amended approved by your program officer), these policy activities may be conducted with RWJF grant funds:

• You may use RWJF funds to respond to regulatory changes, implementation of new policies, or executive orders without violating any lobbying restrictions.
• You may cover lobbying expenses with funds from an RWJF grant made under a special project grant rule agreement without violating RWJF’s rules, so long as you have secured the non-RWJF funds as outlined in your grant budget and your total non-lobbying costs will continue to exceed the amount of your RWJF grant.  Please note that these are special grants that must be issued under a special kind of grant agreement.  Please reach out to your Foundation contact for guidance.
• In general, you may use funds from other project grants that are subject to lobbying restrictions to educate the public and policymakers so long as you do not:
  • Refer to specific pending or proposed legislation and reflect a view on that legislation in direct communication with legislators, or
  • Refer to specific pending or proposed legislation and reflect a view on that legislation in public communications where you also include a call to action.
  • Special exceptions do apply, please click here for more details and resources.
    
  • You may not use RWJF funds to engage in electioneering activities.
    

Please discuss these with your Foundation contact. If you have trouble reaching your Foundation contact, please send a note through the special email box set up for this purpose: COVID-19questions@rwjf.org. We will continue to provide updates as the situation unfolds.