NYSCA's Top 10 Prequalification Tips

Please note:  A reminder that applicants must be Prequalified in the Grants Gateway at the relevant application deadline to be eligible for funding from NYSCA.

We’ve compiled our top 10 tips to help you get Prequalified. To learn more about Prequalification, read our FY2024 application manual at FY2024-Application-Manual.pdf (nysca.org). If you have additional questions, please email [email protected]

1. Don’t Wait: You may Prequalify at any time – we recommend you start now. New organizations have to register before you can start submitting documents. (See section 8 of our application manual above for instructions.) Once you are registered, review of the required documents may take up to seven days once all correct documents have been uploaded and your Document Vault has been “submitted” by you for review. 
2. Update Contact Info: Make sure email addresses you have provided to Grants Gateway are up-to-date. If the address on file are incorrect, you will miss important email notifications, instructions, and requests.
3. Check your Status: Open and view your Prequalification Application Status Report regularly, and be sure to do so at the start of the NYSCA application cycle. Your vault status, key expiration dates, and notes posted for your review and action can be viewed in the State Prequalification Application Status Report located in the Management Screens section near the bottom of your document vault main page.   
4. Designate Roles Carefully: You must be logged into Grants Gateway as the Delegated Administrator to upload and save documents and submit your vault for review. Be sure the Delegated Administrator is available when you need to submit; NYSCA cannot submit Vault materials on your behalf. Read more about roles here.
5. Prepare Policies: You must certify that you have the required policies for your size organization. For example, NYSCA understands that a small arts organization with no current staff may only need a simple pragmatic policy regarding management review of staff should there be any in the future. Generally, these policies need to be approved by your board, so do not wait until the last minute. NYSCA does not mandate any particular policy form or language and the policies do not need to be uploaded at this time. View a sample MBWE Policy here. We are always available to discuss what policies you need so please contact us. 
6. Format Board Information: Grants Gateway requires your organization to upload your Board information. Grants Gateway has a sample profile template: https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2019/01/sample-board-directors-profile-v2.pdf  This document should include board member names and affiliations, a list of the board committees and chairs, a list of board officers, and the year they were appointed.  Please do not submit a copy of a website page. 
7. Update Audit: You must update the Audit/Reviews and Findings Section annually-regardless of the size of your organization’s budget.
8. Review Contract Question: If you answer Question 1 in Organization Capacity and Question 8 in Organization Compliance that the same person signs your contracts and pays them, you will not be Prequalified. 
9. Check Dates and Documents: Delays can result if fiscal year dates you enter when Prequalifying do not correspond to the financial documents you are uploading, or if documents are incorrect or incomplete.
10. Hit Submit: After your updates have been completed be sure to submit your Vault for review --NYSCA is not able to review any Vault materials that have not been technically submitted to Grants Gateway for review. To submit your document Vault for review, scroll halfway down the main document Vault page to the Status Change section, click the link to submit document Vault, follow the prompts to review, update if necessary, and save the three indicated pages, click submit again, and then click "I Agree" to submit. Your Vault status will change to “In Review” and an automated message from Grants Gateway will be emailed to the email addresses on file in Grants Gateway immediately.