Grants, Cooperative Agreements and Contracts

This section contains information to help you manage your research project. These are some of the important terms that you will encounter:

Grants are assistance given to organizations for stated purposes or activities to be carried out without substantial sponsor involvement.

Cooperative agreements provide assistance and establish relationships between organizations and the sponsors, in which both parties pursue stated purposes or activities. Substantial sponsor involvement is expected.

Contracts are purchase arrangements where a government agency "buys" goods or services from an organization or an individual to fulfill the agency's responsibilities.

Whether an award is a grant, cooperative agreement or a contract is determined by the sponsor.