Cost Share | SPA | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Cost share (or “matching”) is the portion of a sponsored project that is not funded by the sponsor. It can be:

Mandatory – Explicitly required by award terms, for example:
- Cash - Actual expenditure of funds (e.g., for salaries, equipment, travel), which follow the same allowability rules as the grant-funded expenses
- Non-Cash (AKA “in-kind”) - Contributions to a project other than cash (e.g., effort of non-employee volunteers)
Voluntary Committed - Cost associated with project, identified in a proposal, but not requested from the sponsor, for example:
- Effort - Stated in the proposal, for which compensation is not requested
Voluntary Uncommitted - Cost associated with project, not funded by sponsor, and not identified in proposal, for example:
- Effort - Beyond what was committed in the proposal and not included in the budget

Cost-sharing may be appropriate:

For certain types of programs
If a program won’t pay for faculty salaries, because the PI must commit some level of effort