How To Disburse A Grant

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This page is a guide to disbursing grants.

Before Disbursing A Grant

When a grantee's items are available, e-mail them with your availability. Ask them to specify an exact date and approximate time at which they will be coming in. Inform them that they should go to the front desk and ask for (insert your name here) in grants. If they need directions, point them to our website.

When they respond, update the calendar with the title of the RT ticket (number included) at the appropriate date and time. This is private calendar. You will need an invitation from the grant coordinator to access it.

When The Grantee Arrives

When the grantee arrives, the front desk will call the grants phone. Ask for the name of the organization if the front desker doesn't provide it. Look up the grant recipient in RT. Find out what they are picking up and who is picking it up. If they are receiving systems, see if they are eligible for FG-PDX systems (grantees within Portland city limits). If the grantee does not have appointment, it is always okay to say that you cannot disburse their grant to them at this time. Call the front desk and tell them you are unavailable.

When you meet the grantee, introduce yourself and shake their hand if that seems appropriate. This is friendly and it gives you a chance to check if they are the person you were expecting. If they are not the person who you are expecting, you made need to make a phone call or two to figure out if this person can receive the grant.

If the grant recipient is coming back with you to pick up their stuff, you need to sign them in at the Front Desk. The grant recipient should usually come back with you, but it's okay if they don't.

If they are picking up a lot of stuff grab a cart from Receiving. Receiving appreciates it when you let them know you are taking one of their carts and if you take one that is not near the door.

Take the printmes from any systems and load the items safely on the carts. Make multiple trips if necessary. I like to bring the printmes to my desk and then grab the resource packet and class handouts.

If you are giving out monitors, note if any are uncovered. You will need to know this later for entering the grant into the database.

Ask what operating system they will be using. If they are unfamiliar with Ubuntu, let them know that it is great for lots of things, including word processing, creating spreadsheets, and surfing the web. This is what the majority of our systems are used for. Go over the resource packet with them and let them know that tech support is there to answer any questions they might have if they keep Ubuntu on the systems. If they have technical questions that you can't answer, tell them that you will get back to them later after you've talked to someone who knows the answer. Also let them know that all of our classes are free.

Make sure that you give them any cables or small peripherals (like keyboards and mice) that they need. It's nice to put these in a bag; you can find bags in receiving.

Walk them out of the building. This prevents anyone from thinking that the grantee is stealing. Make sure that they sign out. Help them load their vehicle. This is a nice thing to do.

Get their first and last name. This will be important for filling out the RT ticket later.

Wish them a good day!

After Disbursing The Grant

Enter the disbursement into the database. You will need database access to do this.

Enter the disbursement into into RT. Update the "GizmosToBeGranted" field to reflect what you have granted. Also make a comment saying what you disbursed and to whom. Resolve the ticket if the grant is filled.