Grant Getting Tips

Carol Sigelman

Associate VP for Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs

February, 2008

Types of Sponsors

Federal agencies (NIH, NSF, etc.) State/local governments Private foundations (e.g., Spencer

Foundation in education, Howard Hughes in biomedical research)

Non-profit organizations (e.g., American Cancer Society)

Corporations (e.g., Sun Microsystems)

Some Categories of Proposals

Research vs. education vs. service proposals Solicited (e.g., by a Request for Proposals on

a specific topic) vs. unsolicited Preliminary (e.g., for foundations, letters of

inquiry, brief proposals) vs. full/formal proposals

Guidance on Proposal Writing

See www.gwu.edu/~research/prodevl.htm for guidance and training on successful proposal writing

Foundation Center Proposal Writing Short Course: fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html

Agency-specific proposal guides

Finding Funding Sources

Word of mouth—Ask mentors, notice who funded articles you read.

Office of Graduate Student Assistantships and Fellowships—Sources of funding for graduate student fellowships and dissertation research (www.gwu.edu/~fellows/fellows.html#source )

Community of Science: Searchable database of grant opportunities free to GW students and faculty (www.cos.com ).

Finding Funding Sources

IRIS (another grants and fellowship database, available through www.gwu.edu/~fellows or www.gwu.edu/~research )

Foundation Center (visit 1627 K St. NW or fdncenter.org)

Federal grants site www.grants.gov (Plan to be terrorized by it!)

Office of the Chief Research Officer (www.gwu.edu/~research)

Help in identifying funding opportunities Help with interpreting sponsor guidelines,

preparing budget, completing required forms, etc.

Review of proposals before submission Institutional signoff on proposals that must be

submitted through the University See www.gwu.edu/~research/propsubm.htm

General Tips

Have a good idea: Interesting, theoretically and practically significant, important to the intended sponsor.

Communicate why it’s a good idea. Don’t just assume it will be recognized as great--Sell it!

Communicate why you’re the right person/team to pursue it.

General Tips

Tell the right funder. Research potential funding sources, find one whose goals align with yours.

Aim to please that funder. Know and speak to your audience; use their lingo, adopt their perspective.

Seek help. Mentors, colleagues, program officers. Follow instructions. Answer the sponsor’s

questions, don’t use nanofonts or exceed page limits!

General Tips

Don’t slip up. Missing a key reference, failing to control variables, having a poor measure or an incorrect statistical test can kill a good proposal.

Edit and edit some more. Sloppiness will be held against you.

Try and try again. You’re allowed to submit to more than one sponsor at a time. Count on being rejected; revise and resubmit and resubmit again.

Good Proposal in a Nutshell(Peg Barratt, formerly at NSF, now Dean of CCAS)

A good proposal is a good idea, well expressed, with a clear indication of methods for pursuing the idea, evaluating the findings, and making them known to all who need to know.

Build on the Literature

Don’t say: “In recent years, much research has been done on BROAD TOPIC. Abraham found X, and Martin found Y, and John found Z. Little is known about MY CHOSEN SUBTOPIC so that’s why I want to study it.”

Do say: “Recent studies by Abraham, Martin, and John answer some questions but leave us with an important unanswered question. Answering it will significantly advance our knowledge and transform our thinking.”

Lay Out a Clear Plan

State the research question and why it is interesting and important

Show how your questions and hypotheses grow out of the literature and a theoretical framework

Point to any preliminary work you have done Describe your methods in detail, convincing the

reader that doing what you propose to do will answer your research question

Describe likely products, implications

Package Your Ideas Well

Follow the sponsor’s guidelines to a tee Organize; match your section headings to the

sponsor’s for easy navigation Leave no critical questions about the design

and methods unanswered Don’t use too much jargon—speak to

generalists, not just experts in your specific area

Catch the typos and errors

Package Your Ideas Well

Make the proposal easy to read with the help of boldface, bullets or numbered points, underlining, charts or diagrams, reasonably short sentences, short paragraphs with topic sentences, etc.

Try to engage the reader with thought-provoking questions, perfect examples, apt analogies.

Let your enthusiasm show (but without exclamation marks!!!!)

The Abstract: First Impressions Count

If you are asked for an abstract, don’t slap one together as an afterthought. First impressions really count!

It should convey the research question and why addressing it is important, the method or approach, the likely gains from the project.

Address the Questions Sponsors/Reviewers Ask

How sound is the proposed project? How significant is it likely to be in advancing

knowledge/producing something of value? Is it doable? How well-qualified is the proposer to do it? Will the proposer have the resources with

which to do it?

Don’t Let Budget Preparation Scare You Off

Be aware of sponsor’s funding limits Estimate likely costs honestly In budget justification, explain why each

budget item is needed to do the project Don’t bid too high or too low Consult sponsored research office for help in

estimating costs and calculating fringe benefit rates, projected salary increases, indirect costs, etc.

NIH Grant Review Criteria

Significance (Does it address an important problem?)

Approach (Are the design and methods appropriate to address the aims?)

Innovation (Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches, or methods?)

Investigator (Is he/she appropriately trained to carry out the research?)

Environment (Will the scientific environment contribute to the probability of success?)

NSF Review Criteria

Intellectual Merit: Will it advance knowledge and understanding, is it original and potentially transformative, is it well conceived?

Broader Impacts: Will it also enhance teaching & learning, broaden participation of underrepresented groups, enhance infrastructure, be disseminated broadly, benefit society?

Reviewer Reasons for Rejecting NIH Proposals (Allen, Science, 1960, 132, 1532-34, based on reviewers’ judgments of 605 proposals)

The problem isn’t of sufficient importance or project is unlikely to produce any new or useful information

The proposed tests, or methods, or scientific procedures are unsuited to the stated objective

The description of the approach is too nebulous, diffuse, lacking in clarity to permit evaluation

The investigator does not have adequate experience or training for this research

After It’s Submitted (to a Federal Agency) If in by deadline and if compliant with sponsor

guidelines, it undergoes review Review panel meets, discusses reviews, and

recommends proposals for funding Agency reviews review panel decisions and decides

how much each project should get Whole process may take 4 to 8 months Proposer receives the expert reviews and decision If funded, hurray! If not, learn from it and decide

whether to revise and resubmit or rethink your line of research.

You Can Do It!