Frequently Asked Questions

The salaries and associated fringe benefits of State University of New York (SUNY) employees who perform services on Research Foundation-administered sponsored projects while remaining on the SUNY payroll are reimbursed by the Research Foundation to SUNY through the IFR (Income Fund Reimbursable) process.

These individuals are not Research Foundation employees and therefore are not subject to Research Foundation salary and wage rules. Reimbursement is calculated to ensure that compensation is made solely for work performed on the Research Foundation-administered sponsored project.

Effort reporting is required as part of The Research Foundation for The State University of New York’s (RF) process to ensure and document that individual effort directly charged to FEDERALLY FUNDED sponsored programs is accurate and reasonable in relation to the actual effort dedicated to the sponsored program.

The semi-annual EFFORT STATEMENTS must be certified in a timely manner after the statements have been reviewed by campus effort reporting administrators and released to certifiers. Certification should occur no later than 120 days after the end of the period of performance (i.e., the base effort dates), unless EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES exist. If EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES exist so that an effort statement cannot be certified in a timely manner campus effort reporting administrators must document the reason that certification required additional time.

Certain sponsors limit the salary rate that can be expended and reimbursed from their awards. This is known as a "salary cap." When a person's salary rate exceeds the salary cap (limit), only the amount up to the limit (prorated for the effort) can be charged for reimbursement to the sponsored award. The difference is charged to a non-federal or RF Funded award.