Title: Strategies for Writing Competitive Proposals
1Strategies for Writing Competitive Proposals
- 7 October 2009
- Office of Proposal Development
- Office of Research Graduate Studies
- Texas AM University
- http//opd.tamu.edu
- John Ivy, PhD
- johnivy_at_tamu.edu
2Topics
- "How To" Strategies to Find Research Funding
- Analyzing the RFP Its Role in Proposal
Development - Analyzing the Agency Culture, Mission, and
Research Priorities - Understanding the Review Process Writing for
Reviewers - Writing a Competitive Project Summary and
Proposal Narrative
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4OPD Member List
- Jean Ann Bowman, PhD jbowman_at_tamu.edu
- Physical Geography/Hydrology, earth, ecological,
environmental - Lucy Deckard, BS, MS (Materials) l-deckard_at_tamu.ed
u - New faculty initiative, fellowships,
engineering/physical science proposals,
equipment, and instrumentation - John Ivy, PhD (Molecular Biology) johnivy_at_tamu.edu
- NIH biomedical and biological science initiatives
- Phyllis McBride, PhD (English) p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
- Proposal writing training, biomedical, editing
- Libby Pasciak libbyp_at_tamu.edu
- Scheduling, workshop management, project
coordination - Robyn Pearson, BA, MA (Anthropology) rlpearson_at_tam
u.edu - Social sciences and humanities proposals, editing
and rewriting
5Office of Proposal Development OPD-WEB
http//opd.tamu.edu/
- For an electronic version of this presentation
- Funding opportunities
- Junior faculty support
- Proposal development resources
- Grant writing seminars and workshops
- Craft of Grant Writing Workbook
- Agency Toolkits
- PI perspectives on competitive proposals
6- There is no amount of grantsmanship that will
turn a bad idea into a good one, but there are
many ways to disguise a good one. - William Raubformer Deputy Director, NIH
7Types of University Proposals
- Research (basic, applied, mission, applications,
contract) - Educational
- Hybrid research and education
- Small , few PIs
- Large , multiple PIs, centers
- Supplements to grants
8Solicited Unsolicited Proposals
- Proposals may be initiated in two general ways by
the university researcher - 1) in response to a published solicitation
(solicited proposal, RFP, BAA, PA) - 2) initiated by the investigator (unsolicited
proposal)
9Unsolicited, Investigator-Initiated Proposals
- Program Description, Program Announcement, or
Parent Announcement (NIH) instead of a
solicitation - More general statement of interests of funding
agency or program - Typically the main source of research funding for
individual researchers funded by NSF, NIH, DoD - Majority of external research funded by NSF
(50) and NIH (80) result from unsolicited
proposals - Formatting guidelines often in a separate
document - NSF Grant Proposal Guide
- NIH SF424 Application Guide
- DoD long-term Broad Agency Announcements
10Funding unlikely to pan out
- Grand visions
- Ambitious plans to improve the world
- Administrative infrastructures
- Bricks mortar
- Unfocused ideas enthusiasm
11If you dont write grants you wont get any
- Target the proposal at the intersection where
- research dollars are available
- your research interests are met
- a competitive proposal can be written within the
time available
12Search in the right places
- Talk to funded colleagues in your discipline
- Read research publications for references to
funding sources
13Focus on your research interests
14Searching for research funding
- Define a general disciplinary domain of interest
(e.g., science, social science, humanities,
education, health and biomedical sciences,
engineering, etc.) - Characterize the nature of the research interests
within the disciplinary domain (basic, applied,
applications, contract, mission agency) - Identify funding agencies whose mission,
strategic plan, and investment priorities are
aligned with the specific research interests
15Searching for research funding
- Further align research interests with funding
agency funding opportunities by - reviewing past funding solicitations
- reviewing agency mission statements
- reviewing strategic investment plans and related
documentation.
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20Grants.gov
- The Grants.gov web portal serves as a single
point of access for all federal agency grant
announcements. New funding announcements from
federal agency are posted to this site daily, and
a range of other features allow subscribing to
email funding alerts, linking to agency web
sites, and searching for funding among agencies.
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22Search Grants.gov Opportunities
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24Funding Resource Links
25Funding Resource Links
26Funding Resource Links
27Funding Resource Links
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30Solicitation Modifications
- RSS feeds and email alerts also post
modifications to program announcements that are
made prior to the due dates - This is particularly important for DoD BAAs that
have long open periods, or RFPs from mission
agencies - Grants.gov New/Modified Opps by Agency
- http//www07.grants.gov/rss/GG_OppModByAgency.xml
31RSS Funding Feeds
32RSS Funding Feeds
33Identifying funding opportunitiesSUMMARY
- Develop search protocols to fit research
interests - Know relevant agencies
- Learn grant cycles
34Analyzing the RFP Its Role in Proposal
Development
35What is a Solicitation?
- It is an invitation by a funding agency for
applicants to submit requests for funding in
research areas of interest to the agency.
36What is in the Solicitation?
- The key information you will need to develop and
write a competitive proposal that is fully
responsive to an agencys - submission process
- research objectives
- review criteria
- budget requirements.
37What it is what it is not
- The RFP is a non-negotiable listing of
performance expectations reflecting the goals and
research objectives of the funding agency. - The RFP is not a menu or smorgasbord offering the
applicant a choice of addressing some topics but
not others, depending on interest, or some review
criteria but not others.
38No irrational exuberance!
- Understand the RFP for what it isnot what you
want it to be. - It is not a speculative investment
- Invest your time, resources, and energy wisely
39The RFP as Treasure Map
- Follow directions
- Review step by step
- Understand it
- Understood by all PIs
- Keep focused
- Dont wander off path
- Continuously calibrate ideas, objectives, and
details to the RFP
40Map your expertise to the RFP
- Is it a fit?
- Is it really a fit?
- No partial fits allowed
- No wishful thinking
- Close doesnt count
- If you are not a fitdont submit!
41Relationship to Program Officer
- Never be hesitant about contacting a program
officer for clarifications. - Timidity is never rewarded in the competitive
proposal process, but - Ambiguities are always punished!
42Reviewing the RFP
- Clarify ambiguities if unresolved
- Get clarification from a program officer.
- Ambiguities need to be resolved prior to proposal
writing so the proposal narrative maps to the
guidelines with informed certainty.
43Never be Timid!
44The RFP as Reference Point
- Use the RFP continuously through-out proposal
development and writing as a reference point to
ensure that an evolving proposal narrative fully
addresses and accurately reflects the goals and
objectives of the funding agency, including the
review criteria.
45Role of RFP in Proposal Organization
- Use the RFP to develop the structure, order, and
detail of the proposal narrative. - Use the RFP as an organizational template during
proposal development to help ensure every RFP
requirement is addressed fully.
46Keep on Track
- Copy and paste the RFPs key sections, research
objectives, and review criteria into the first
draft of the proposal narrative - The RFP then serves as an organizational template
for the proposal and a reference point to ensure
subsequent draft iterations of the narrative are
continuously calibrated to the guidelines.
47RFP template ensures a proposal
- Fully responsive to all requested information
- Written in the order requested
- Provides the required detail
- Integrates review criteria into the narrative
- Does not drift off topic or sequence.
48Address the Review Criteria in the RFP
- The description of review criteria is a key part
of the RFP. - A competitive proposal must clearly address each
review criterion, and the proposal should be
structured so that these discussions are easy for
reviewers to find. - Subject headings, graphics, bullets, and bolded
statements using language similar to that used in
the RFP can all be used to make the reviewers
jobs easier.
49Read Material Referenced in RFP
- If the RFP refers or links to publications,
reports, or workshops - Read the referenced materials
- Understand how the references influenced the
agencys vision of the program - Cite those publications in the proposal as
appropriate - Demonstrate in the narrative you are fluent with
the ideas underpinning the RFP.
50Analyzing the Agency Culture, Mission, and
Research Priorities
51Analyzing the Funding Agency
- Analyzing the mission, strategic plan, investment
priorities, and culture of a funding agency
provides information key to enhancing proposal
competitiveness.
52Analyzsis of the Funding Agency
- To better understand key elements common to every
competitive proposal narrative, determine - Who is the audience?
- How do you best address that audience?
- What is a fundable idea within the context of the
agencys research priorities? - How are claims of research uniqueness and
innovation best supported in the proposal text? - What arguments are likely to be most compelling
in communicating your passion, excitement,
commitment, and capacity to perform the proposed
research to reviewers and program officers?
53Know Your Audience
- Understanding an agencys mission, strategic
plan, research culture, investment priorities,
and the rationale behind them helps you weave a
compelling and competitive proposal narrative. - It helps you better describe how your research
plan maps to the research goals detailed in the
RFP and advances the agencys larger research
plan. - Convincing program officers and reviewers that
your research advances the agencys research
objectives is a key factor in the decision to
fund or not fund your proposal.
54Dont Reinvent the Flat Tire
- Know research currently funded by the agency
- Where does your research fit in that context?
- Is your research a priority at the agency?
55Search for Competitive Informational Gold
Nuggets
- Successful proposals represent an accumulation of
marginal advantage - Funding success occurs at the boundaries of
excellence - Good is not good enough!
56What to look for
- Mission statements
- Research culture
- Investment priority
- Strategic plan
- Org chart
- Management
- Program officers
- Reports, pubs
- Workshops
- Language
- Web speeches
- Public testimony
- Review process
- Project abstracts
- Current funding
- Solicitations
57Know the Context of Your Research
58Analyzing the Agency Mission
- Funding agencies have a clearly defined agenda
and mission. - Funded grants are those that best advance the
mission of the funding agency. - If a proposal does not meet an agency's mission,
it will not be funded.
59Map Your Research to the Agency
- A good idea is required, but alone, is not
sufficient. - Agencies only fund good ideas that are clearly
developed and tightly linked to their mission,
vision, and strategic plan as represented by the
research objectives stated in the RFP.
60Understand the Research Culture
- Understanding the research culture of the funding
agency helps you to more knowledgably embed your
proposed research plan within the research focus
and context of the agency. - While NSF and NIH both fund research in the
biological sciences, they often fund research in
very different areas under that umbrella. - Sometimes the differences are clear, and in other
cases more nuanced, but the distinctions are
there, and you need to be aware of them.
61Understanding Agency Types
- Differentiate between basic research agencies
(e.g., NSF, NIH) and mission-focused agencies
(e.g. DOD, NASA, USDA). - Differentiate between hypothesis-driven research
and need- or applications driven research. - Differentiate research at disciplinary
boundaries, e.g., social sciences, biological.
62Basic Research Agencies
- Independent agency and management
- Independent research vision, mission, and
objectives - Award criteria based on intellectual and
scientific excellence - Peer panel reviewed, ranked, and awarded by merit
- Focus on fundamental or basic research at the
frontiers of science, innovation, and creation
of new knowledge - Open ended, exploratory, long investment horizon
- Non-classified, non-proprietary
63Mission Agencies
- Scope of work tightly defines research
tasks/deliverables - Predominately applied research for meeting
near-term objectives, technology development and
transfer, policy goals - Predominately internal review by program officers
- Awards based on merit, but also on geographic
distribution, political distribution, long term
relationship with agency, Legislative, and
Executive branch policies - Classified and non-classified research
64Intramural vs. Extramural Research
- Some agencies fund only research by outside
scientists (extramural research), while many also
hire researchers who conduct research from within
the agency (intramural research). - NSF and DARPA are examples of agencies that fund
only extramural research, while NIH, NASA, the
National Labs, DOE, and many other agencies fund
both extramural and intramural research. - Furthermore, the proportion of intramural versus
extramural research funding varies significantly
by agency. - The National Labs and NIST primarily fund
intramural research, while NIH mostly funds
extramural research.
65Know what was recently funded
- Learning about recently funded research in your
area helps you understand what an agency is
looking for in the review process - Review abstracts of funded proposals on agency
web sites - Talk to the principal investigators of funded
proposals in your area - Obtain copies of funded proposals
- Ask the PI
- Ask the agency (funded proposals are public)
66Know Language of Funding Agency
- Agencies often speak in a dialect unique to them.
- Echo the language of the funding agency back to
them. - This is important in writing the proposal
narrative, and helps to frame arguments more
clearly and make them more easily understood by
program managers and reviewers.
67Analyze Agency Language
- Once the funding agencys language is learned, it
allows the appropriate translation to occur
between the language of the funding agency and
that of the applicant. - It often helps the clarity of the narrative text
to translate the applicants institutional
language into that used by the agencys program
officers and reviewers. - This is not an onerous or difficult task, but
involves being alert to any preferred or repeated
terms, usages, and meanings favored by the
funding agency. - Fluency in the funding agency language and
terminology is another factor that will enhance
the competitiveness of the proposal narrative.
68Helpful RSS Feeds
69Federal Awards Made Databases
- NIH Computer Retrieval of Information on
Scientific Projects (CRISP) - NIH Extramural Awards By State and Foreign Site
- NSF Award Data
- NASA NSPIRES Past Solicitations and Selections
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Grants On-Line Database (GOLD)
70Federal Awards Made Databases
- USDA Current Research Information System
- Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally
Directed Medical Research - Department of Defense (DoD) SBIR/STTR Awards
71Federal Awards Made Databases
- Department of Education (ED) Grant Awards
- Department of Energy (DoE) Project Summaries
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants
Information and Control System - Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
Grants Awarded
72Federal Awards Made Databases
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Recent Grant Awards - Federal RD Project Summaries and Awards (NIH,
NSF, EPA, DoE, USDA, SBA) - Health Services Research Projects in Progress
- grants and contracts awarded by major public and
private funding agencies and foundations. - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration - state by state summaries of awards made
73Learn about proposals funded by foundations
- Foundation Center (Find Funders)
- http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/
- Foundation Finder
- http//lnp.foundationcenter.org/finder.html
- 990 Finder
- http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder/
- http//foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990pffly.p
df - http//foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/d
emystify/
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75Understanding the Review Process Writing for
Reviewers
76You must intrigue the reviewers
77If you dont intrigue the reviewers
78Two general kinds of review criteria
- Criteria that are overarching and apply to all
grants - e.g., intellectual merit and broader impacts at
NSF - overall impact, significance, approach,
innovation, invetigators, and environment at NIH. - The second type of review criteria are specific
to the particular program and may be very
detailed in terms of expected project objectives
and outcomes.
79Questions common to all reviews
- Specific review criteria and review processes
differ from agency to agency, as well as by
program within an agency, but the core questions
program officers and reviewers need answered can
be simply stated - What do you propose to do?
- Why it is it important?
- Why are you able to do it?
- How will you do it?
- How does it contribute to the interests and
objectives of the agency and program?
80Simple but challenging questions
- Your challenge is to answer these questions in a
clear, convincing way that is easily accessible
to the reviewersnot a simple task. - You must craft a persuasive argument presenting
the merit, significance, rigor, and relevance of
your research - You must convince reviewers you have the capacity
to perform and the institutional infrastructure
to support your research - You must extend your argument to discuss the
likely impact your research will have in
advancing the field and creating new knowledge,
both in your research area and possibly in other
research fields as well
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82How Your Proposal is Reviewed
83How Your Proposal is Reviewed
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89Addressing review criteria
- A competitive proposal must clearly address each
review criterion, and the proposal should be
structured so that these discussions are easy for
reviewers to find, compare, and contrast.
90The funded proposal
- The author of a funded proposal has
accomplished the basic goal of grant writing - Ensured the reviewers were intrigued and excited
about the proposed research - Understood its significance
- Were confident in the researchers capacity to
perform.
91Makes clear to reviewers
- Moreover, the successful author has made clear
to the reviewers - What research will be done,
- Why it is significant,
- What existing research forms the underpinnings of
the proposed effort, - How the proposed research will be accomplished.
92Addressing review criteria
- The description of review criteria is a key part
of the solicitation. - The description of review criteria is a key part
of the proposal template. - Make the reviewers job easier by using language
similar to that used in the solicitation.
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94Pained by reviewer comments? Get over it!
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96Resubmitting proposals
- Take reviewers comments to heart
- Somewhere between advisory mandatory
- Assess next step
- Start over
- Major renovation
- Minor renovation
- Re-conceptualize
- Drop the idea
97Writing a Competitive Project Summary and
Proposal Narrative
98The proposal is the reality
- A proposal is not unlike a novel or a movie. It
creates its own, self-contained reality. The
proposal contains all the funding agency and
review panel will know about your capabilities
and your capacity to perform. With few
exceptions, an agency bases its decision to fund
or not fund entirely on the proposal and the
persuasive reality it creates.
99Charles Mingus on Grant Writing
- Making the simple complicated is commonplace
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple,
that's creativity.
100Writing the proposal narrative
- Contrary to what some people seem to believe,
simple writing is not the product of simple
minds. A simple, unpretentious style has both
grace and power. By not calling attention to
itself, it allows the reader to focus on the
message. - Richard Lederer and Richards Dowis, Sleeping
Dogs Don't Lay, 1999.
101Albert Einstein on Grant Writing
- If you can't explain something simply, you don't
understand it well. - Most of the fundamental ideas of science are
essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be
expressed in language comprehensible to everyone.
102Introductory writing tips
- Sell your proposal to a good researcher but not
an expert - Some review panels may not have an expert in your
field, or panels may be blended for
multidisciplinary initiatives - Agencies reviewers fund compelling, exciting
research, not just correct research - Proposals are not journal articlesproposals must
be user friendly and offer a narrative that tells
a story that is memorable to reviewers
103Narrative iterations
- If I had more time, I would have written you a
shorter letter. Mark Twain
104Goal of the narrative
- The goal for the proposal narrative at the time
of submittal is that it be a well written
document that responds fully, clearly, and
persuasively to the research goals and objectives
and review criteria defined by the sponsor in the
funding solicitation.
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106The competitive narrative
- Synthesizes ideas and detail
- Connects ideas to performance details
- Develops order, logic, transitions, and
connectedness - Integrates research ideas
- Provides a common structure to meld disciplinary
strands - Makes ideas accessible to others
- Converges on a common language
- Requires persistence, continuous revisions, and
many draft iterations to converge on perfection
107Key Narrative Elements
- Project summary
- Format, topics, and scope often defined in RFP
- Proposal introduction
- Format, topics, and scope most often
discretionary - Project description
- Format, topics, and scope clearly defined and
ordered in RFP
108Role of the Project Summary
- Captures the interest of reviewers
- Defines the core idea clearly
- Describes concisely the connectedness of the core
idea to specific research activities and outcomes - Serves as a conceptual and relational roadmap to
the proposal narrative
109The proposal Introduction
- Serves as a mini-proposal
- Connects the vision, ideas, goals, research
objectives, and outcomes - Makes a compelling case for research significance
and uniqueness - Organizes the conceptual framework of the
narrative - Tells who you are what you are going to do how
you are going to do it who is going to do it
why you are going to do it and demonstrates your
capacity to perform - Inspires reviewers to read closely and with
interest the more detailed narrative
110Role of the Proposal Narrative
- Responds fully to sponsors requirements
- Incubator of ideas by draft iterations
- Enforces rigor, clarity, and simplicity
- Tames excesses, defines boundaries, forces
connections - Transforms ideas and anchors them in a common
reality and research context - A reality context shared by colleagues, program
officers, and review panelists - Tests ideas in a language lab
- What seems like a good idea can be illusory
- Verbal epiphanies at meetings are illusive
111Role of the Proposal Narrative (cont.)
- Synthesizes ideas and detail
- Connects ideas to performance details
- Develops order, logic, transitions, and
connectedness - Helps the timing, logistics, and collaborations
of proposal development - Integrates collaborators ideas
- Provides a common structure to meld disciplinary
strands - Makes ideas accessible to others
- Program officers, reviewers
- A competitive narrative requires persistence,
continuous revisions, and many draft iterations
to converge on perfection
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114Poor planningEverybody has a plan--until they
are shot at, Colin Powell
- Match the RFP
- Schedule a timeline
- Start proposal early
- Partnerships take more time
- Collaborator compatibility
- Let ideas develop slowly
- No midnight warriors
- Periodic calibration to RFP
- Define and schedule development tasks
- Anticipate the unexpected
115Poor Process Planning
- What do you control?
- Proposal narrative
- Collaborators
- Budget
- What do others control?
- Routing signatures
- Budget approvals
- Submission
- Data requests
- Institutional support
116Keep focused on development tasks
- Define and develop goals objectives
- Plan narrative iterations
- Who does what and when
- Review and assess progress of goals objectives
- Budget process by task
117Anticipate the unexpected
- Some ideas dont work out
- Some partnerships dont work out
- Some budgets dont work out
- Some proposals dont work out
118Craft of narrative writing
- Good writing lies at the core of the competitive
proposal. It is the framework for crafting and
structuring the arguments, ideas, concepts,
goals, performance commitments, and the logical,
internal connectedness and balance of the
proposal.
119Good writing is more than mechanics
- Strong, comprehensive, integrated knowledge base
- Organizational clarity (stepwise logic,
connections, sequencing) - Structural clarity (integrative logic, logical
transitions) - Argumentative clarity (reasoning, ordering,
synthesis) - Capacity for synthesis
- Connect, connect, connect! (E.M. Forrester)
120Good writing is more than mechanics
- Descriptive clarity (who, what, how, when, why,
results) - Clear, consistent vision sustained throughout
text - Establishes confidence in your performance and
excitement for your ideas by reviewers
121Grammar and spelling count
- Proposals are not graded on grammar. But if the
grammar is not perfect, the result is ambiguities
left to the reviewer to resolve. - Ambiguities make the proposal difficult to read
and often impossible to understand, and often
result in low ratings. Be sure your grammar is
perfect. - George A. Hazelrigg, National Science Foundation
122Internal consistency synthesis
- A competitive proposal must be internally
consistent by language, structure, and argument - All internal ambiguities must be resolved.
- The competitiveness of a proposal increases
exponentially with the capacity of the author to
synthesize information.
123Internal consistency synthesis
- Synthesis represents the relational framework and
conceptual balance of the proposal. - It is the synaptic connections among concepts,
ideas, arguments, goals, objectives, and
performance.
124Ideas matter (Slogans are not Ideas)
- Shaping ideas by language is hard work.
- Do not confuse slogans, effusive exuberance, and
clichés with substantive ideas. - Show the reviewers something new by developing
ideas that are clear, concise, coherent,
contextually logical, and insightful. - Capitalize on every opportunity you have to
define, link, relate, expand, synthesize,
connect, or illuminate ideas as you write the
narrative.
125Beware of boiler plate
- Boiler plate refers only to the application forms
required by the agency, not the narrative - Thinking of the proposal narrative as boiler
plate will result in a mediocre proposal - Begin each proposal as a new effort, not a copy
paste be cautious integrating text inserts - Strong proposals clearly reflect a coherent,
sustained, and integrated argument grounded on
good ideas
126FinallyBe confident
127- NSF Breakout An Overview of Research
Educational Funding at the National Science
Foundation (NSF) - 4-5 p.m.
- 601 Rudder
-
- NIH Breakout An Overview of Research Funding at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - 4-5 p.m.
- 301 Rudder