Grant Getting Tips

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Grant Getting Tips

• Carol Sigelman
• Associate VP for Graduate Studies and Academic
  Affairs
• February, 2008

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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)

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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

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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

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Finding Funding Sources

• Word of mouthAsk mentors, notice who funded
  articles you read.
• Office of Graduate Student Assistantships and
  FellowshipsSources of funding for graduate
  student fellowships and dissertation research
  (www.gwu.edu/fellows/fellows.htmlsource )
• Community of Science Searchable database of
  grant opportunities free to GW students and
  faculty (www.cos.com ).

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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!)

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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

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General Tips

• Have a good idea Interesting, theoretically and
  practically significant, important to the
  intended sponsor.
• Communicate why its a good idea. Dont just
  assume it will be recognized as great--Sell it!
• Communicate why youre the right person/team to
  pursue it.

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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 sponsors
  questions, dont use nanofonts or exceed page
  limits!

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General Tips

• Dont 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. Youre allowed to submit to
  more than one sponsor at a time. Count on being
  rejected revise and resubmit and resubmit again.
  

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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.

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Build on the Literature

• Dont 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 thats 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.

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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

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Package Your Ideas Well

• Follow the sponsors guidelines to a tee
• Organize match your section headings to the
  sponsors for easy navigation
• Leave no critical questions about the design and
  methods unanswered
• Dont use too much jargonspeak to generalists,
  not just experts in your specific area
• Catch the typos and errors

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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!!!!)

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The Abstract First Impressions Count

• If you are asked for an abstract, dont 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.

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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?

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Dont Let Budget Preparation Scare You Off

• Be aware of sponsors funding limits
• Estimate likely costs honestly
• In budget justification, explain why each budget
  item is needed to do the project
• Dont 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.

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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?)

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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?

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

• The problem isnt 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

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After Its 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.

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You Can Do It!