General Information
The UCS Grant is designed to support your school’s inclusive programming by reimbursing eligible expenses. Here’s how the process works:
- Purchasing & Payments: Your school or district will handle all purchases, pay invoices, and distribute stipends directly.
- Requesting Reimbursement: After making these payments, your school can submit a reimbursement request to SONJ within 30 days.
- Eligibility: Reimbursement requests are only considered from schools that are in good standing.
- Please keep in mind the items which are not reimbursable. Just because they’re not reimbursable by our grant doesn’t mean you can’t purchase them! You may use school, district, fundraised dollars, etc. for these items.
- Pre-approval is required for:
- Individual items costing $500 or more (if you’re ordering a bunch of track equipment that totals $500, preapproval is not required. But if you’d like to purchase a new basketball hoop for $500, approval is required.)
- Purchase of uniforms (both the design and the purchase must be approved)
- Any items using Special Olympics, Special Olympics New Jersey, Unified Sports, Unified Champion Schools, etc. logos
- To request pre-approval, please email UCS@SONJ.org with: the item(s) you want to purchase, the price, and the item(s) will be used. .
- Pre-approvals from prior years do not carry over. Even if you’re purchasing the same uniforms as prior years, the purchase and design must be pre-approved.
Please submit your reimbursement requests within 30 days of making payment.
- December 15, 2025: Deadline to order t-shirts through SONJ
- January 20, 2026: All reimbursement requests for expenses incurred and paid out in 2025 are due
- April 20, 2026: Deadline to purchase and receive physical supplies
- July 3, 2026: Final day to submit 2025-26 reimbursement requests
- Reimbursement requests submitted before April 20 will be processed if the school is in good standing at that time; requests submitted after April 20 will be processed as soon as all of the school’s monthly reports, activity trackers, and the UMass survey are completed.
To ensure a smooth reimbursement process, please keep the following in mind:
- Award Letter: Reimbursements can only be processed after your school’s award letter has been completed and returned.
- School Standing: Your school must be in good standing, which includes attending required meetings and submitting required reports.
- Documentation: All reimbursement requests must be supported by your school’s monthly reports and activity trackers. For example, if you’re requesting reimbursement for track supplies or a coach’s stipend, your documentation should clearly show track-related activities and participation. Note: Expenses that are not supported by the appropriate monthly documentation will not be eligible for reimbursement.
- Required Training: Coaches whose stipends are being reimbursed by SONJ must have current and valid coach trainings on file. More information is on the Unified Sports Dashboard.
Grant funds are designated exclusively for the school named in the award letter. They may not be transferred or shared between schools, even within the same district.
If your school ordered t-shirts through SONJ, the cost of those shirts has been deducted from your school’s grant award.
UCS T-Shirts
