What is the difference between “mandatory” and “voluntary” cost sharing?
Mandatory cost sharing is required by the sponsor as a condition of the award. Ordinarily this requirement will be indicated in the program announcement. Voluntary cost sharing is not required by the sponsor but is nevertheless offered in the proposal by the investigator; ordinarily this is in the form of contributed effort. Cost sharing that is proposed voluntarily by the investigator becomes mandatory (or also known as ‘voluntary committed’ cost sharing) once the award is made. One other kind of voluntary cost sharing occurs in the case of over-expenditures, if the additional costs are covered by University funds. All committed cost sharing, whether mandatory or voluntary committed, must be accounted for and tracked.
