Economic development programs are usually funded by grants or contracts that require them to report back measurable results to their sources of funding. For example, most SBDCs and WBCs are primarily funded by the SBA while most APEX Accelerators are primarily funded by the DoD. However, some programs receive funding from multiple sources and may need to categorize their activities accordingly in order to accurately report back to their various funding partners. The Funding Source field found in Neoserra's client activity records allows them to easily accomplish that task:

In addition to the system-defined funding sources, you can also create your own funding source option that correlate to your funding partners. The system-defined SBA and DoD funding source options trigger unique system behaviors in Neoserra. Both the SBA and the DoD have specific data reporting requirements that must be adhered to. When either SBA or DoD is notated as the funding source for client activity, Neoserra recognizes and enforces those requirements.

Choosing a Funding Source

With an understanding of the role of the Funding Source field as defined above, choosing the correct funding source in Neoserra should be a less confusing task. The key thing to remember is that the funding source entered for a particular activity should indicate where the funding for your center is coming from.

The primary area where we have seen users make mistakes when designating funding source is in the completion of capital funding and award records. Capital funding records track capital that is obtained for use in a client's business and award records track government contracts awarded to a client. Because both of these client activity record types track funds that are being provided by an entity, Neoserra users sometimes misinterpret the purpose of the Funding Source field, erroneously assuming that it's related to the entity providing the capital funding or government contract when it's actually meant to track your center's funding for the capital funding or award assistance provided.

To reiterate, the Funding Source field should reflect the center's source of funding that allows you to provide the assistance you are bringing to the client, not the source of funds that the client might be receiving. The Capital Funding Type and Institution fields found on an capital funding record, not the Funding Source field, should be used to track a client's source of funds for capital infusion into the business. Similarly, the Agency Name and Agency Type fields found on an award record should be used to track the source of the government contract.

What is the Sub-Funding Source Field

The Sub-Funding Source field is primarily used by SBA-funded programs who receive two layers of funding from SBA. Separate grants issued by the SBA to some SBDC programs for disaster relief; for the President's Jobs Act; the CARES Act; or for other portable assistance programs, need to be tracked using the sub-funding source:

Sub-funding sources that need to be uploaded to the SBA backend system will be added to the Neoserra system-defined library of codes by OutreachSystems to ensure proper integration. If you have other (non-SBA) Sub-Funding sources to add then you can add them as a custom drop down pick list choice.

If you have a need to identify activity and assistance provided under a grant from another federal, state of local agency then this assistance should probably be tracked under its own funding source, not sub-funding source. Any records with a primary funding source of "SBA" and a non-SBA-recognized Sub-Funding source, will be exported by Neoserra without the Sub-Funding source. In other words, Neoserra will never export records with non-SBA-recognized codes.

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