Purpose:

To define the process of transferring certain funds administered by VMRF to an external organization.

Overview:

VMRF administers funds associated with active research projects or education activities, as well as residual, donation, and enrichment funds. Unless the fund is specifically associated with general purposes of the institution’s infrastructure, these resources are generally assigned to an individual investigator, typically a qualified investigator with an active academic appointment at a Board approved academic institution.

In case an investigator leaves the VMRF/VA research environment, some of these resources may be transferable to a different institution. 

All funds deposited in VMRF are the property of VMRF and are subject to policies and procedures established by the board of directors.

Application:

A. Funds Associated with an Active Research or Education Project
External transfer of an active research or education project and the associated corporation funds may be made only after approval by the VMRF board of directors, the project sponsor and the receiving institution. Such transfers may be made only to another 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the same stated exempt purpose of conducting research, or to a local, state or federal government entity. An investigator who wishes to relocate an approved active research or education project, must submit a written request for such a move to the VMRF Board of Directors through the Chief Executive Officer.  When submitting the request, the investigator must include the VMRF fund number(s) of the activities to be moved and a brief description of why the project or education activities are requested to be transferred. 

Review and approval/disapproval of such a request may take between two and six weeks.

B. RESIDUAL TRANSFER FUNDS
Transfer funds are comprised of remaining funds (residuals) from completed projects or VA education activities.  By definition, these type of funds are unrestricted. Most grant awards and underlying funding agency’s policy statements clarify VMRF’s obligation to not retain excess earnings based on the conduct and administration of the grant award, however some funders and funding instruments – especially those originating from industry sponsors of clinical studies – explicitly allow VMRF to retain residual funds.  Use of such funds for other VA approved research and education purposes is predicated on first fulfilling all requirements specified by the funder or any other donor at the time funds are initially received by VMRF. Residual funds may be used only for scientific and professional expenditures and must further the conduct of VA-approved research or education.

After the project account which includes a residual amount is closed, residual funds may be transferred to a general research account, usually identified by the principal investigator’s name, solely for the sake of convenience. All expenditures must be consistent with policies and procedures established by the Board of Directors and are subject to approval by the Chief Executive Officer.

Exceptions will be made only upon approval of the Chief Executive Officer.  In case of the PI leaving the VASDHS, remaining residual transfer funds will immediately revert to VMRF Administration.  Residual Transfer funds are non transferable to other investigators or external organizations. By exception, the VMRF Board of Directors may approve the transfer of residual funds to another VA Foundation because this will assure that VMRF fulfills its obligation to use VMRF funds in support of VA research.

C.  DONATIONS
If unrestricted donations are made to VMRF in support of VA approved research and/or education activities of a named investigator, VMRF will designate a specific fund usually identified by the principal investigator’s name solely for the sake of convenience. In case of the PI leaving the VASDHS, remaining funds will immediately revert to VMRF Administration.  VMRF Administration will evaluate the funds and may contact specific sponsors to explore if the funds need to be returned to the original donor. Donation funds are non transferable to another institution.

NOTE:  Donations can’t be transferred because they are specifically made to VMRF (check was payable to VMRF, etc). 

D. ENRICHMENT FUNDS
Enrichment funds are derived from the indirect cost collection on federal grants funded at the full VMRF-negotiated federal indirect cost rate and are intended to support investigator-initiated and Service-initiated infrastructure expenditures.  Enrichment allocations must be VMRF Board approved and are usually distributed after the first quarter of the following fiscal year. VMRF designates a specific fund, usually identified by the principal investigator’s name or a VA Service Chief’s name, solely for the sake of convenience.   In case of the PI is leaving the VASDHS, remaining funds will immediately revert to VMRF Administration.  The VMRF policy on Enrichment Funds further defines the use of enrichment funds.

Approved by the VMRF Board of Directors: 05/18/07