Information for grantees

We understand that research does not always follow a straight line and that researchers are humans who do not fit into preconceived plans. With this in mind, the budget should lay out an ideal version of what you are trying to do, but it should not be a burden on your research. However, please try to stick as closely as possible to the approved budget. As the majority of our funding comes from earmarked public funds from the State of Berlin, our grants are subject to certain restrictions (which are reflected in our forward-lending agreements and here > form is only available in German) over which we have no control and which we must abide by. While we try to ensure a maximum degree of flexibility, please make sure you respect the following rules:

• Please calculate all expenses as economically and transparently as possible. 
• All expenses and changes must serve the project objectives.
• If staff members’ or your own salary is lower than applied for, this unused money must not be used for other purposes. 
• It is not possible to carry forward unspent funds from one year to the next. If you can foresee that you will not need all money in one year, please inform your budget administrator. If you are sure that you will need the money in the next year, you must apply for such a carryover.
• There is some leeway within calendar years (= tax years) as long as you spend the money more or less within the approved budget.
• Major changes (more than 20% increase in a budget item) require a short and reasoned explanation to the Foundation, which will then be decided on quickly. 

Transfers of funds between years, cost-neutral extensions of your project or major changes to budget items require a brief application to the Foundation. For that purpose, please fill in the respective form and send it to your institution’s responsible third-party funding administrator who can apply to us (or make sure she/he is in cc). To reduce administrative costs, try to accumulate smaller changes instead of applying for every minor adjustment.

Please make sure you inform your budget administrator in good time if you can foresee that not all funds will be spent by October 31.

In order to check if the grant money is spent according to our rules and regulations and as approved, as well as to be informed about the progress of individual research projects and the objectives of the applications that get funding, we require annual (interim) and final reports alongside the financial reporting.

Please understand that these reports are not only a bothersome routine, but also a useful way to inform us about your achievements and challenges in your projects.

There are some important and helpful things to keep in mind:

• If your funding exceeds six months in a calendar year (e.g. starts before July or lasted until end of July), you need to submit an interim report due March 31 of the following year or three months after the end of the project. If your funding is shorter than six months, you can combine the report about this period with the next interim or final report.
• Please make sure the full-year reporting period of interim reports ends on December 31 of each year. The final report, on the other hand, needs to span the whole funding period, and should ideally present final results and an overview of the entire period.
• There is a section in each report form that asks you to explain the financial report. Please make sure that your report contains the correct figures for the expenditure and really explains what was spent and why. If you do not know the exact numbers, please consult your institution's third-party funding administration.
• There are program-specific forms which you may find under the respective program information on our website. 

Please make sure that each publication, presentation and other output refers to your funding by the Einstein Foundation, e.g. via stating that “X is funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin”. This might not only enhance your reputation and ours, but also shows transparency and can inform others about the Foundation and its funding opportunities and thereby help us fulfill our mission to strengthen Berlin by attracting excellent researchers and ideas. 

We always try to support and promote our grantees and their achievements: be it via our website, our social media channels and newsletters, the podcast #AskDifferent or with events. If there are seminal papers, successful third-party funding acquisitions, or other great news you would like to share with us, please get in touch or tag us on LinkedIn, X or Instagram!