Your Questions Answered | Part II: What Are Some of the Funniest Things That Were Allowable That Normally Wouldn’t Be?
Each month, the Catalyst will feature a question posed to our panel of SRAI Distinguished Faculty members to get their take on all sorts of topics encompassing research administration. Do you have a research administration question for our experts? Send your questions to catalyst@srainternational.org!
This month, we continue with our experts responses to this question: What are some of the funniest things that were allowable that normally wouldn’t be?
Susan Wyatt Sedwick, Senior Consulting Specialist, Attain Partners, SRAI Distinguished Faculty
- There are so many to choose from…but one I have not seen mentioned here is the approval of grant funds to purchase snake boots and other protective hunting gear for field work.
- Another fun one that we would not allow was feminine hygiene products for a Principal Investigator (PI) who was on a trip to a conference presenting results from her National Science Foundation (NSF) research when mother nature called. When we would not allow her to charge it to the project, her response was that she would deduct it from her taxes. She also later tried to charge her teenage son’s airfare, as he was accompanying her on another conference trip. Her justification for that was she needed him for IT support.
- Another PI tried to charge a leather recliner to a project because he needed a “thinking chair.” I thought not.
Dara Little, Associate VP for Research/Executive Director Sponsored Programs, Northern Illinois University, SRAI Distinguished Faculty
- We once had a PI try to charge his grant for dinner while at a conference…because the conference buffet line was too long and not worth his time.
Domenica G. Pappas, CRA, Associate Vice Provost for Research, Office of Research, Illinois Tech, SRAI Distinguished Faculty
- This reminds me of a PI who tried to charge his morning coffee to his grant because he “needed the caffeine to get him started.”
Rebecca Claycamp, Independent Consultant in Research Administration, SRAI Distinguished Faculty
- Modifying this slightly to what is the funniest thing a PI/Institution presented as an allowable cost on an application budget. The application was for a large P50 Center grant in support of neuroscience research. Buried in the budget was a large amount for an abstract neuroscience statue justified to draw attention to the program. The grant was ultimately awarded, but sans the funds for the statue; broke the cost principles on all counts!