Choose what “in Minnesota” means
Recipient location asks where the award recipient is based. Place of performance asks where the work or activity is reported to occur. These are not interchangeable. A Minnesota recipient can perform work elsewhere, and an out-of-state recipient can perform work in Minnesota. Write the geography choice in the title of your saved analysis.
| Choice | Record it explicitly |
|---|---|
| Time | Federal fiscal year or exact date range; note which date field is filtered. |
| Award type | Grants, contracts, loans, or another category. |
| Money measure | Obligations, outlays, or transaction changes. |
| Level | Prime awards or subawards. |
| Identifiers | Award ID and recipient identifier, not just the display name. |
Obligated is not paid
An obligation is a commitment requiring a payment; an outlay records payment. Awards can be modified and amounts can be reduced through deobligations. A negative transaction need not mean the source data are broken. Read the award’s transaction history before interpreting a change as a new grant or a loss.
Follow the pass-through layer
A state agency can receive a prime grant and pass funding to other organizations. The prime award does not expose every final payment or recipient. Inspect subaward data and its disclosures, then consult the administering agency’s records when needed. Missing subawards may reflect reporting scope, timing, or completeness; absence alone is not proof that no money moved.
Save a reproducible search
Open the official search, select the geography and award categories, set the period, and inspect a few individual awards before downloading. Save the search URL, filters, download date, and data definitions with the export. Keep prime-award totals separate from their subawards so the same money is not counted twice. Our homepage’s dated snapshot is a separate dataset; a current search may produce different totals.
Turn a flag into a research question
If an award looks unusual, compare its program, award size, amendments, and recipient role before making a claim. A large pass-through agency is not comparable to a small direct-service provider. Record what additional document would settle the question. A public-money screen should help allocate attention, not turn incomplete data into accusations.
Sources and further reading
Use these original sources to verify the explanation and check for changes. Practical worksheets and hypothetical examples on this page are our synthesis.