Guide for Requesting New Sponsor Codes

Sponsor codes are used to classify the sponsors of approximately $5.7 billion of extramurally-funded projects at the University of California. UC’s common sponsor code dataset is used by all campuses to assist in the classification and analysis of sponsored projects activity.

This guide is meant to assist frontline UC employees who request new sponsor codes in the Research Enterprise Management System (REMS).

A sponsor code record contains various data elements that are used to classify proposal and award transactions and provide reporting to key University stakeholders, including The Regents and the State of California. Sponsor data also informs how certain University policies, such as intellectual property and indirect cost recovery, are applied to a particular proposal or award.

Each code represents a legal entity that has either funded a project at a UC campus or received a proposal for funding. ISO 17442 generally describes legal entities as "unique parties that are legally or financially responsible for the performance of financial transactions or have the legal right in their jurisdiction to enter independently into legal contracts, regardless of whether they are incorporated or constituted in some other way (e.g. trust, partnership, contractual)." Each legal entity (e.g., an individual subsidiary of a larger corporation, but not a division or office that is legally part of an existing corporation) should receive its own unique sponsor code.

Before Requesting a Sponsor Code

Before submitting a new code, consider if the entity has existed under a different name in the past. We may already have a sponsor code under the previous name. If that is the case, e-mail us at REMS@ucop.edu with the new information and we will update the sponsor code for you. (Providing the necessary information, attachments, and/or links in the e-mail will expedite the process.)

The Sponsor Code Record

A record for a sponsor code contains the following data elements that you may be required to input in order to route your sponsor code request for approval:

Sponsor Name
Alternate Name
Acronym
Parent Sponsor Code
Category
Country
Address
Sponsor URL
Comment
Attachments

Sponsor Name

Provide the sponsor’s full legal name, including suffixes (Inc., LLC, plc, A/S, GmbH, S.A. de C.V., etc.), exactly as it shows on official documents. Note that punctuation, including the presence or absence of periods and commas, will vary depending on state or national practice.

If the sponsor name is not in English, put the English translation of the name here.

If you are unsure of the sponsor’s full legal name, please refer to the name listed on the sponsor agreement form or other official documents. State or national registries should be used as the primary resource, where available. Many U.S. entities are registered in multiple states (e.g., incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in California); in the event that the names differ between state, use the spelling and format as indicated in their state of incorporation. OpenCorporates can be helpful in locating the state/jurisdiction of registration/incorporation if this information is unclear.

If no registry information is available, and if sources provide conflicting information, use the name on the agreement to verify on other official third-party party documents, such as SEC filings, Form 990, SAM.gov, the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) Search, etc. If you can’t confirm the name using an official third source, try an unofficial third party source, such as Bloomberg or Dun & Bradstreet. If the name doesn't match, make sure the name listed on the agreement is correct.

Alternate Name

List other names that the sponsor uses, such as foreign language name, abbreviated name, other known name, or Doing-Business-As (DBA) name.

Please note: The name of a company division or department should not be included in this section. Please provide a note in the comment field if correspondence was conducted with a specific department or division.

Acronym

If applicable, provide the sponsor name's acronym.

Parent Sponsor Code

Confirm whether the sponsor has a parent company. Check the full name and other information on the sponsor agreement. SAM.gov and the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) Search typically identify parent companies. Company profiles on Bloomberg or Yahoo! Finance often list parent companies of for-profit entities, if there is one.

For government entities, if the agency/department is part of a larger government, add the higher-level government code. For example, the State of Maryland would be appropriately listed as the parent code of the Maryland Department of Education.

If applicable (e.g., if the entity is a subsidiary of a parent company), add the sponsor code of the parent organization.

If the parent organization does not have an existing sponsor code, please submit a separate request for one.

Sponsor Category

You will be prompted to select a sponsor category. Some categories, including the State of California and the U.S. Federal government, have additional "Type" and "Sub Type" classification indicators you will be asked to select.

Country

If the sponsor is located internationally, please select the country where this sponsor is located from the dropdown menu. Note that, with some exceptions (e.g., the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), REMS only includes sovereign states. Non-sovereign dependent territories should be assigned to the country that administers the territory. For example, list Denmark for entities located in the Faroe Islands, or the United Kingdom for entities located in Guernsey.

Address

Provide the sponsor’s full legal address, including street, city, and state/territory (if within the U.S.). If the sponsor is located within the U.S., enter the sponsor's 9-digit ZIP code. If the sponsor is located outside the United States, enter the postal code if it is available; note that not all countries use postal codes.

If the sponsor has multiple locations, please provide the address for the sponsor's headquarters. If you are unsure of the sponsor’s full legal address, please refer to the address listed on the sponsor agreement form and other official documents. If sources conflict, use the source that is most likely to be up-to-date. This may be the address on the agreement over the one listed on the website; in other cases it may be the website address over the Form 990 or business registry information.

Please note: If the address contains special characters (such as letters with accents from a foreign language), do not copy and paste the address into the field. Type the address manually; otherwise the characters will appear as question marks or create other database errors.

Sponsor URL

Copy and paste the URL of the sponsor’s website. If the sponsor does not have a website, please make a note of that in the comment field.

Comment

Provide any notes about the sponsor that are important to note, such as:

Confirmation on how the sponsor's address was obtained
Information about sponsor affiliations with other organizations or about subsidiaries
Information that other reviewers of this sponsor code should know
Mailing address, if it is different from the street address

Attachments

Please attach documentation that will help to confirm the legal name, alternate name (including DBAs or trade names), sponsor category, address, and parent sponsor. Whenever available, please include information from the organization's state or national corporate registry.

Additional attachments may include the following:

A screenshot of the sponsor's website
Documentation confirming the sponsor's category code (e.g., Form 990 or charity registry information)
Documentation confirming the sponsor's address
Documentation confirming the parent sponsor
A copy of the agreement

Note: Please convert all attachments to PDF format before uploading.

Research Policy Analysis and Coordination