Grant Writing for Women Just kidding!
Principles of Grant Writing AdvanceVT workshop Nancy Dudek Grants Coordinator Friday, February 21st 1:00 p.m.- 2:30p.m Graduate Life Center (Room G)
Agenda What is a grant? What is a request for proposals? What is a proposal? Finding Funding Strategy and Argument Writing Fundamentals
What is a grant?
A GRANT IS Money given to complete a specific purpose in a given amount of time.
What is a grant? SMART Specific NOT A GIFT NOT your money Measureable Attainable Relevant Time-bound
What is an RFP?
aka Request for proposals Solicitation FOA Funding Opportunity Announcement PA Program Announcement
Request for Proposal Highly structured document Advertises a funding opportunity Specifies what service, product, or program the sponsor wants Describes eligibility requirements Lists submission requirements Describes the review, selection, judging process
What is a proposal?
What is a proposal? A persuasive argument to convince a sponsor to fund your idea SMART Specific Measureable Attainable Relevant Timely
Heilmeier s Catechism See handout LCD display inventor Director of DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Composed a series of questions that reveals your argument
Heilmeier s Catechism 1. What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon. 2. How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice? 3. What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful? 4. Who cares?
Heilmeier s Catechism 5. If you're successful, what difference will it make? 6. What are the risks and the payoffs? 7. How much will it cost? 8. How long will it take? 9. What are the midterm and final "exams" to check for success?
GTP GET TO THE POINT ON PAGE ONE
Example of a grant
US Fulbright Student Program
US Fulbright Programs International education exchange Education, culture, science, art +140 countries Students, scholars, teachers, professionals
Notable Fulbright Alumni Aaron Copland, composer Renee Fleming, soprano Jonathon Franzen, author Gabrielle Giffords, congresswoman Philip Glass, composer Julie Taymor, designer & director Sylvia Plath, Poet John Lithgow, actor James Watson, scientist John Steinbeck, author
Parts of a proposal: Fulbright Biosketch Affiliation letter Foreign Language Forms References Transcripts Portfolio Title Abstract Statement of grant purpose Personal Statement (Budget)
Fulbright Due date October us.fulbrightonline.org
Where can you find funding?
R&D Spending by Federal Agency FY2014 (President's Request) $millions USDA $2,476 Interior $945 DOT $922 EPA $550 DOC $2,632 DHS $1,348 VA $1,150 Other $1,696 NSF $6,124 DOD $68,202 NIH* $29,923 HHS $31,450 DOE $12,502 NASA $11,389
Funding for the arts is very different, see me afterwards for numbers
At Virginia Tech
FINDING FUNDING See handout*
Public Funding Databases Grants.gov Sponsor websites NEA, NSF, NIH, EPA, USDA The Grantsmanship Center Tgci.com 28
VT Subscription Databases Grantforward.com Foundation Directory online professional fconline.foundationcenter.org VT OVPR 29 https://secure.research.vt.edu/fun dingopps/
*Not listed: crowdsourcing
Strategy
Know the sponsor
Contact the program manager
Search the award database Search by: Keyword State Institution (VT) Program Program Manager
Know the requirements Times New Roman, Arial and Garamond walk into a bar. The bartender points at Garamond and yells, HEY! We don t serve your type in here!
Know the review criteria
Remember that reviewers are fatigued
Volunteer to review proposals
Compose an argument
What is an argument? Reasons presented to the audience to support your debate, hypothesis, or claim A set of reasons persuading the grant reviewer that your project will fulfill their mission Your proposal must anticipate the reviewer s critiques and offer a rebuttal
What are arguments made of?
What is an argument? Ethos or credibility of the project leader Pathos or emotional appeal to the reader s & sponsor s values Logos or intellectual reasoning
A complete proposal argues with both brains
Writing Fundamentals
USE THE ACTIVE VOICE Have you ever noticed how children talk?
I want pumpkins! Pumpkins are wanted by me!
Use the active voice The ball was thrown by Nancy Nancy threw the ball Fifteen subjects were recruited We recruited fifteen subjects
Use verbs instead of nouns Water consumption was an average of 100 liters per person per day. Residents consume an average of 100 liters of water per person per day.
Keep Subject,verb,object close One study of 235 mice with ataxia demonstrated that only 0.05% of the mice had the gene. One study demonstrated that of mice with ataxia, only 0.05% had the gene (n=235).
Use simple words A variety of crop improvements that may pose negative externalities are in development. A variety of crop improvements that may pose unintended consequences are in development.
Avoid qualifiers Community building is very important for economic success Community building is essential for economic success The use of GMOs has become very controversial The use of GMOs is controversial
Spell chek
Readability
Be early
ACTIVITY Write a Subject Verb Object sentence for the following photo:
ACTIVITY Write a PASSIVE voice sentence and an ACTIVE voice sentence for the following photo. (The subject of the photo is Hokie Bird mascot, Jared Parker)
Writer s Block
BEFORE YOU BEGIN Write down the answers to the following two questions: 62
Answer these questions: What is the sponsor s mission or purpose? How does my project fulfill the sponsor s mission? 63
Talk it out
Writer s Block Prompts I can t write about X because. We know that. We don t know. We want to know because
Professional Conduct
Plagarism Most serious offense in your professional work Easily caught with plagiarism software Several types of plagarism You can not cut/paste your own work
Help With Writing VT Writing Center drop-in sessions and graduate students only Graduate Life Center Thursdays 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Room D www.authoraid.info Supports Developing Country Researchers in Publishing Their Work
Electronic Submission
OSP
Office of Sponsored Programs Every department has one OSP pre-award administrator and one backup admin OSP develops the budget OSP submits the proposal OSP requires departmental and college approval before submission No one can submit their own proposal
Office of Sponsored Programs SPAF is due two working days before the deadline Entire proposal package due 1 working day before deadline
Summary You should only pursue the right grants (strategize) Know the sponsor Know the requirements Budget lots of time Get to the point You should use argument and persuasion You should write with style and clarity ALL THE TIME
THAT SUBMISSION WAS SO MUCH FUN, LET S DO IT AGAIN*! *SAID NO ONE EVER
Questions?