In simple terms, the grant is the application you submit to a funding source to obtain money. It includes an overall summary of the "protocols" you plan to conduct with the funding you are applying for.
A protocol includes the specifics of each individual study involved in your grant application. It is possible to have one grant funding several protocols or for one protocol to be funded by several grants.
If you know you will not be able to do the work unless you get funding, then the grant must be submitted to the funding agency prior to or at the same time you submit the protocol to the IRB for review. If you plan on doing the protocol even if your grant is not funded, then the protocol may be submitted stating there is no sponsor. If at a later date you obtain funding to conduct a protocol, then you can submit a modification to the IRB to notify the IRB-HSR of the new funding.
Only grants involving human subjects that are funded by the FDA or another federal agency that does not follow the Common Rule ( 45CFR46) Common Rule Agency (e.g. Department of Justice) require review/approval by the IRB. If your project involves biomedical research with human subjects, then the IRB-HSR would be the IRB to review your grant. Once the IRB-HSR has approved your grant, you can submit the grant approval to the sponsor to obtain your funding. All IRB-HSR numbers of grant approvals have a G prior to the IRB-HSR number (ex: GHSR 1000). For specific steps on how to get your grant approved by the IRB-HSR, please see the Grant Application Submission Process
Please note that IRB-HSR approval of your grant does not allow you to enroll human subjects or perform a study using data/specimens from humans. A protocol approval is required to do this. You will be required to submit the protocol approval to the sponsor. To obtain protocol approval from the IRB-HSR, you must submit an application to the IRB-HSR. A study may meet the criteria of Full Committee, Expedited, or Exempt review.