Lesley A. Brown Director of Proposal Development

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1 Lesley A. Brown Director of Proposal Development 10/23/2013 1

3 Sponsors want to solve problems. Sponsors want to make life better for groups and communities. Sponsors want to add to knowledge. Your job is to match your project and capabilities to what the sponsor wants to achieve.

5 Unsolicited proposals: open proposal submission windows Solicited proposals: agency requests proposals on a specific topic 10/23/2013 5

6 Assess your field Find out what s being funded Agency databases Evaluate your position within the field Evaluate sponsor s needs 10/23/2013 6

7 Funding Opportunity Announcements Program Announcement Request for Proposals Notice of Funds Available Solicitation Request for applications 10/23/2013 7

8 Grants.gov. Agency and foundation websites. Sign up for automatic s from COS. Susan Robinson in the Office of Proposal Development can do a custom funding search for you. Susan s contact info: ssrobins@uncc.edu or /23/2013 8

9 Due date Submission method Page limits Formatting instructions Supporting documents Budget restrictions

10 What is the sponsor trying to achieve? Who has the capacity to meet the sponsor s needs? People, institutions What resources are required? What will it take to meet the review criteria?

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12 Determine what resources and support you have Determine what resources and support you might need Discuss your ideas with colleagues, mentors and program officers 10/23/

13 What do you want to do? How will you accomplish want you want to do? How much time will you need to do it? How much money will it cost? 10/23/

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16 Writing conventions are the generally accepted standards for written English. Examples include spelling, punctuation, verb tense, grammar, capitalization, sentence structure.

17 Grant proposals have their own set of writing conventions. Most of these conventions are intended to make the reviewer s job easier.

18 Reviewers are busy people who have volunteered for a difficult task. They will be asked to read many proposals. It s your job to write in a way that makes it easy for the reviewer to find and remember your most important ideas.

19 Use short, direct sentences. Use action verbs. Avoid jargon. Write to the review criteria. Use section headings to help reviewers find important ideas. Use bolding and italics to emphasize important ideas. Use white space to break up text.

20 Explain how you will contribute to knowledge in your field Provide up-to-date, comprehensive bibliography/references 10/23/

22 Find out how your proposal will be reviewed Most foundation proposals are read by the board of directors Most federal agencies use peer review 10/23/

23 Knowing who will review your proposal helps you know how to write it If you are writing for non-experts, you will need to carefully explain all key concepts, avoid jargon and define all discipline-specific terminology 10/23/

24 Letter of Inquiry Concept Papers (White Papers, Pre-Proposals) Full Proposals 10/23/

25 Most foundations want you to begin with a one- to two-page letter of inquiry A letter of inquiry should cover the following points: What you want to do Why the funding agency would be interested in your proposal 10/23/

26 Why the project is needed Who you are How you plan to reach your goal(s) and how long it will take you to do so How much money is required for the entire project and how much you are requesting from the agency or foundation 10/23/

27 Purpose statement: a simple statement of the purpose of your project that conveys the essence of your idea in a few sentences Preliminary outline (addresses 6 questions): What is the problem? Why is the project significant? (What difference will it make?) 10/23/

28 Preliminary outline (addresses 6 questions) What exactly are you going to do to solve the problem (methods and objectives)? Who are the key personnel? Why should your organization, rather than someone else, do the project? What resources do you need (cost estimate)? 10/23/

29 The form of a full proposal will be dictated by the funding agency, but most will include the following sections: Abstract or executive summary Statement of need/problem statement Significance of the proposed work Background of the problem and your work in the area 10/23/

30 Feasibility of proposed research Program objectives Methodology Budget Key personnel/institutional information Evaluation/dissemination plan 10/23/

31 Make a good first impression Don t use the first two paragraphs of your narrative as the abstract Write the abstract last Make sure it presents a snapshot of your proposal If there are specific instructions about what to put in the abstract, be sure to follow them 10/23/

32 Tell the reviewers why the project is necessary Clearly explain the needs to be met, the problem to be solved or what you want to accomplish 10/23/

project Explain the importance of your work to your

33 Clearly establish the significance, relevance, timeliness, generalizability and benefits of the project Explain the importance of your work to your discipline and to fields outside your discipline 10/23/

34 Literature review This section may also describe the preliminary data you have gathered If you do not have preliminary data, some agencies ask you to address your background to establish your experience and competence to carry out the work 10/23/

35 Show that you have valid, testable hypotheses Discuss the qualifications of the investigators Discuss available resources to carry out the project 10/23/

not just a list of research tasks, but an argument for why these

36 Show that your methodology is feasible, and appropriate The project method outlines the tasks that will be accomplished A methodology is not just a list of research tasks, but an argument for why these tasks add up to the best approach to the problem or issue 10/23/

37 Be aware of and discuss any limitations in your methodology Explain what difficulties you anticipate and suggest alternate approaches you might use Be specific about the activities you plan to undertake to collect information and the techniques you will use to analyze your data 10/23/

38 The budget is the financial description of the project Shows how funds will be spent Budget lines must be justified in relation to the project objectives An unrealistic budget (either too high or too low) will hurt your chances of getting funded 10/23/

39 Personnel and institutional information should be relevant to the goals of the funding program and should: Establish your qualifications and credibility and show that you are able to do the work Demonstrate that you have the support of your institution 10/23/

40 Measures extent to which objectives have been met Formative (during the project) Summative (after the project) 10/23/

41 A dissemination plan tells how the results will be reported Conferences, papers, websites 10/23/

43 Dr. Karen Kelsky s website and blog have very useful information for new faculty. The Foolproof Research Proposal Template

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46 Yes! Careless editing can sink an otherwise good proposal You don t want to leave the reviewers with the impression that you do careless work 10/23/

47 Leave time carefully proofread and edit your proposal Use formatting to make your proposal easy for reviewers to read Use headings, bolding, underlining to emphasize important points and to distinguish the different sections of the proposal 10/23/

48 Joy McAuley in OPD can help you edit and format your proposal Joy s contact information: jomcaule@uncc.edu or /23/

49 Write to the evaluation criteria Be sure to address any special requirements Convey a sense of enthusiasm for your work Persuade the agency that the work needs to be done and that you are the one to do it 10/23/

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51 The writer proposed too much The writing was poor The proposal had insufficient information, details or preliminary data The significance of the problem was not clearly stated The research tasks were not shown to be feasible 10/23/

52 The writer didn t follow directions The proposal did not present an original idea The rationale was weak The writing was vague the outcomes were uncertain 10/23/

53 The investigator didn t have relevant experience The proposal was unfocused The literature and background reviews were uncritical or not comprehensive No pilot studies or preliminary data were presented The budget was unrealistic 10/23/

54 Conquer your fear of rejection Revise and resubmit 4 in 5 proposals are turned down for things that can be fixed 10/23/

55 Your chances of success increase with each revision and resubmission At the NIH, 19% of first-time submissions are funded 29% of second-time submissions are funded 10/23/

56 Information for this presentation came from: Bob Lucas The Institute for Scholarly Productivity Liane Reif-Lehrer Tech-Write Consultants 10/23/

57 The Art of Writing Proposals The Social Science Research Council 10/23/

58 The Art of Grantsmanship by Jacob Kraicer. Guide for Proposal Writing (NSF 98-91) National Science Foundation The Psychologist s Companion by Robert J. Sternberg. 10/23/

59 Proposal Writing Short Course The Foundation Center Office of Proposal Development Online Resources: 10/23/

Graduate Student Fellowships. Lesley A. Brown Director of Proposal Development UNC Charlotte

Graduate Student Fellowships. Lesley A. Brown Director of Proposal Development UNC Charlotte Graduate Student Fellowships Lesley A. Brown Director of Proposal Development UNC Charlotte 2 Types of Funding for Graduate School Fellowships Assistantships Grants Loans 3 Fellowships Can be internal