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Award Set-Up to First Spend: Getting Post-Award Right from Day One

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

1:00pm – 4:30pm pm (Eastern Time)

Virtual Workshop

Description

The transition from award receipt to project spending is one of the most critical…and often most inconsistent…phases of the research lifecycle. Decisions made during award set-up directly impact compliance, financial accuracy, audit readiness, and the overall success of a project. In this highly interactive workshop, participants will work through the full award set-up process from notice of award to first spend. Through guided exercises, real-world scenarios, and facilitated discussion, attendees will explore how to review and interpret award terms and conditions, establish budgets and accounts, align institutional systems, and effectively coordinate with principal investigators and internal stakeholders. The workshop will also surface common breakdowns in this phase…such as misinterpretation of sponsor requirements, delays in account setup, and communication gaps…and provide practical tools and frameworks to address them. Participants will leave with actionable strategies, checklists, and process improvements they can immediately apply to strengthen accuracy, efficiency, and compliance at their institutions.

Level: Overview

Target Audience

• Pre-award and post-award administrators seeking to strengthen lifecycle coordination
• Departmental administrators and grant managers
• Central office staff focused on improving consistency and compliance

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Analyze a Notice of Award (NOA) to identify key financial, compliance, and administrative requirements that impact award set-up.
2. Translate award terms and conditions into accurate budget structures, account setup, and spending parameters.
3. Apply a step-by-step framework for moving an award from receipt to first spend, including roles and responsibilities across pre-award, post-award, and departmental teams.
4. Evaluate common risks and process gaps (e.g., delayed setup, misaligned budgets, unclear restrictions) and determine strategies to mitigate them.
5. Develop a standardized checklist or workflow to improve consistency and efficiency in award set-up at their institution.
6. Demonstrate effective communication approaches for engaging PIs and stakeholders during the transition from award to spending.
7. Assess how early decisions in award set-up impact downstream compliance, reporting, and audit outcomes.

Participants receive .325 hours of continuing education units for 3.25 hours of content.

You can access your certificate from the box on the right side of the screen, after filling out the webinar evaluation.

To confirm that you are ready to participate, please test your browser before joining the live streaming event.

• It is recommended that you use a PC or MAC with an updated Internet Browser either Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge or Safari.  
• Make sure you have pop-ups blockers disabled in your Internet browser settings.
• A wired (Ethernet) connection is highly recommended for the most stable experience. If using Wi-Fi, ensure you have a strong, stable signal and try to limit other high-bandwidth activities on your network during the event."
• Audio (sound) is projected through your computer speakers. Be sure your computer speakers are unmuted, or use headphones for the best audio quality in shared workspaces.

Member Price: $495.00
Non-Member Price: $690.00

Your registration includes one log-in. We are pleased to provide the opportunity for you to register additional sites at your institution for no additional charge.

When you are checking out, click the "Add Extra Login" button in your cart, and type in the email address of your colleague that you would like to register. If they already have a profile in the registration system, their name will pop up and you can add them to your registration.  

If that person has never logged in to the Online Learning Center their name will not come up. Please have them go to the NCURA website to create a profile, then log into this registration site. This initial login is required for the registration site to communicate with NCURA's database. After that, you will be able to add them to your registration.*

If you add at least one additional registration with yours, you will be able to change or add more registrations for the webinar in the future by clicking “My Registrations” in the menu at the top left of the home page, then clicking the “Purchases for Others” button.

*If you have already checked out without adding any additional logins but would still like to invite others from your institution, please refer to the extra logins tab for a registration link for your institution. Note, this tab will only appear after you have completed your paid registration.

Handouts will be available 24 hours before the live webinar. 

Closed Captioning is available at no additional fee. Click on CC at the bottom of the video. 

For technical assistance email ncura@commpartners.com