UW Research
Policies, Procedures and Guidance

GIM 35 – Effort Reporting Policy for Sponsored Agreements

Contents

Effort Certification

Effort Certifications are reports designed to track the effort of University Washington individuals paid from sponsored awards and/or where they have cost share commitments. Reports for faculty are called Effort Statements and are required semi-annually. Reports for non-faculty are called Project Statements and are required quarterly.

Individuals appear on an Effort Statement or Project statement if they are:

  • Paid on federal and/or non-federal sponsored award(s)
  • Have salary paid on a cost share grant worktag on federal and/or non-federal sponsored awards

The purpose of effort certification is to document the compensation charged to sponsored award(s) is a reasonable reflection of effort. The faculty or PI is responsible for attesting that compensation in the reports are a reasonable reflection of the work. In rare instances, the Dean, Director, or Chair can approve this ECC certification assuming they have suitable means of verification.

Individuals with responsibilities outside of a sponsored award cannot have 100% effort certified to a sponsored award.

What is Faculty Effort?

For the purposes of sponsored awards, effort is the time spent on University activities, including research, instruction, administration, service, and clinical activity.

What is Institutional Base Salary (IBS)?

Institutional base salary is the annual compensation paid by the UW for an employee’s appointment, whether that individual’s time is spent on research, instruction, administration, service, or clinical activity. Institutional base salary excludes any income that an individual is permitted to earn outside of duties for the UW.

The following sections on IBS Salary Sources and IBS Salary Components identify the salary sources and components considered part of the UW IBS as of July 1, 2025.* Salary support funded by Harborview is considered part of the UW IBS, and time spent at Harborview is included in the faculty workweek for effort reporting. Similarly, salary support funded by UW Medical Center (UWMC) or Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) is considered part of the UW IBS, and time spent at UWMC or SCCA is also included in the faculty workweek for effort reporting.

*Prior to July 1, 2025, Administrative Supplements (ADS) and Endowment Supplements (ENS) were included in the University’s definition of Institutional Base Salary.

Although all UW activities are included in an individual’s effort reporting, not all their professional activities are considered UW activities. For example, outside professional work and volunteer community or public service are activities deemed non-UW activities.

Interdepartmental consulting for which supplemental compensation is paid and service on review panels or other advisory activities for federal sponsors that include an honorarium and/or travel reimbursement are also considered outside of total effort.

IBS Salary Sources

IBS Salary Source Includes Salary From:

  • State
  • Grants and Contracts
  • Gifts and Endowments
  • Other UW funds – Including local funds and departmental clinical salary paid through the UW system
  • Clinical Practice Plan Salary – Direct salary paid by: UW Physicians (UWP) & Children’s University Medical Group (CUMG

IBS Salary Source Excludes Compensation from:

  • Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC)*
  • Children’s Hospital Regional Medical Center (CHRMC) *
  • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC) *
  • Outside Professional Work

* Paid direct by those organizations

IBS Salary Components

IBS Components Includes Salary from:

  • Regular Salary (includes sick leave, vacation etc.) (REG)
  • Paid Leave
  • Clinical: UWP and CUMG

IBS Components Excludes Compensation from:

Distribution of Effort

Use of the UW IBS and average Full Time Equivalent (FTE) for the certification period are necessary in proposing, charging, and certifying effort. The total UW IBS must be distributed across an individual’s University research, instruction, administration, service and/or clinical activities.

Proposal Preparation:

Include the full uncapped IBS in the “Institutional Base Salary” and “Requested Salary” sections of proposals. However, when a proposal is restricted by both a total award cap and a salary cap, the “Requested Salary” amount may be based on the lower of the applicable salary cap or the UW IBS at the appropriate level of effort.

Review How to prepare a proposal budget with salary cap?

Charging Salaries:

Salaries should be charged to sponsored projects by determining the percentage of the faculty member’s average workweek devoted to the project and charging no more than that percentage of the faculty member’s UW IBS to the sponsored project. Charging less than the percentage worked is allowable but discouraged per GIM 21, Cost Sharing for Sponsored Agreements.  When this occurs the difference between the actual effort and the amount charged must be recorded as cost sharing if it was committed to the sponsor in the proposal.

Salary Support for Non-Sponsored Award Effort

Salary support for teaching, administration, service, clinical activity, institutional governance, and proposal preparation effort generally must come from non-sponsored funds, except:

  • normal scholarly activity performed during summertime outside of the main nine-month Academic year.
  • sponsored funding is specifically awarded for one of the aforementioned activities (e.g., the award is for instructional (teaching) activities).
  • proposal preparation time charged to a mentored K award or research training grant.
  • effort related to annual or final progress reports, supplemental funding requests, or requests for extension of time

Additionally, non-federal funding may be used to prepare proposals if consistent with non-federal sponsor policies.

Certifying Effort:

Faculty and/or Principal Investigators certify effort (both paid or cost shared) as a percentage of total University effort on the Effort or Project Statements.

Faculty may not delegate signature/certification authority for approval of Effort and Project Statements.

Change in Level of Effort

Changes in effort are reflected as payroll is recorded in the UW financial system. Follow UW guidance and best practice for timely payroll accounting adjustments and sponsor specific guidance on making changes in effort. Sponsor prior approval may be required before effort changes occur.

Recertification

Effort recertifications are required if a payroll accounting adjustment impacts a previously certified effort statement or project statement.

Recertifications must be completed by the Faculty/PI In rare instances, the Dean, Director, or Chair can approve this ECC recertification assuming they have suitable means of verification.

Follow sponsor guidance for changes in effort. In some cases, recertifications for corrections may require reporting to the sponsor.

Related Resources

Change Notes

Details on changes to this GIM are available from the Office of Sponsored Programs, osp@uw.edu