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Writing the Winning Grant
(or What Chance Do I Have?)
You have a great idea, you write an application to get funds
to conduct your research, they love your idea and fully fund you for not only
one year, but 3 more, they honor you at national conferences, you dine at the
White House... then you wake up!
While I want to be your greatest ally and loudest advocate,
the sad reality of grants looms large over your prospective application.
There exists no special language, format or magic fairy dust (at least not that
I am aware of) to catapult your proposal to the highest reaches of funding.
That being said, there are several key activities you should do to make your
chances of obtaining funding more likely.
There are numerous resources available, free of charge, via
the web to assist you in your quest to write the winning grant. I have provided a few of the more
substantial and quality ones here.
As always, writing the winning grant means first finding the
right funding source. One does not precede the other. Sometimes you
find the exact funding mechanism you want to apply for and then you just go for
it. Other times, you may only have an idea and may need to "go back to the
drawing board" a few times before you find something that fits. Either way
you go, searching and writing will usually go hand-in-hand, so refer back to the
Funding Sources and
Opportunities for Faculty page on this site for more guidance.
Step 1: Getting Started
(or Once Upon a Time ... )
While most faculty may think that you just need the time to
write out your proposal, the writing part of it is only a small part.
Science's Next Wave article on Time Management is an eye opening article on the
time and planning that should take place FIRST before you start on this quest.
Time Management
101 for Grant Applicants (PDF)
Step 2: Grant Writing Links
(or Get it Straight from the Horse's
Mouth)
Non-Profit Sites
- http://fdncenter.org/
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mission is to support and improve philanthropy by
promoting public understanding of the field and helping grantseekers
succeed."
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http://fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html
- Proposal Writing Short Course through the Foundation
Center
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- http://www.grantproposal.com
- A site devoted to providing free resources
for both advanced grant writing consultants and inexperienced nonprofit staff
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http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/
- A Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal -- a very good all purpose site for
writing a proposal.
Federal Sites
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http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.GRANT_PROPOSAL_DYN.show
- The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance --
Developing and Writing Grant Proposals
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http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf9891
- NSF's Guide to Proposal Writing
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http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/default.htm
- All About Grants -- this is a very comprehensive site.
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http://www.grants.nih.gov/grants/grant_tips.htm
- NIH Grant Writing Tip Sheets
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http://www.grants.nih.gov/grants/award/success.htm
- NIH Success Rates Information
All Purpose Information
- The Grant Network Resource Page
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http://www.thegrantnetwork.com/resources.htm
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- Writing from the Winner's Circle: A Guide to Preparing Competitive Grant
Proposals by Dr. David Stanley
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http://epscor.unl.edu/rfps/winnerscircle.shtml
This site is a lot of fun with easy to read and to the point text.
Appendix C is particularly timely as it discuss why there are so many forms in
grants administration and why.
Science's Next Wave six-part series on How Not to Kill a Grant Application
- The Charity Channel's Don Griesmann's Grant Opportunities - Glossary of
Terms in the Grant World
- A-C:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=2029&z=26
- D-F:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=2115&z=26
- G-N:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=2213&z=26
- O-P:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=2277&z=26
- R-Z:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=2320&z=26
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Step 3: Resources and Materials
(or Not Another Form?!)
In 1999, the President signed
Public Law 106-107
or what is known as the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act.
This is not an oxymoron. Although it has been around for 5 years now,
there have been changes. Most notable is the use of a standard set of
forms for applying for most grants. There are still some significant
difference across agencies, but even agencies that have maintained their own
application forms, their overall designs are "morphing" into the standard design
more and more. The following are links to the most widely used Federal
sources. For State and Private applications, you might as well use darts
and a dart board. The variety and content of a grant application for these
sources is very wide.
Standard (Generic) Federal Forms
- SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance
- SF-424A, Budget Information -
Non-construction Programs
- SF-424B, Assurances - Non-construction
Programs
- SF-424C, Budget Information - Construction
Programs
- SF-424D, Assurances - Construction Programs
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/grants_forms.html
National Institute of Health
- NIH PHS 398
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http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html#forms
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- NIH Downloadable and Instructions for completing the PHS 398
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http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html
National Science Foundation (NOTE: NSF does not accept paper
applications -- you may only apply using the Fastlane system)
- NSF Grant Proposal Guide
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http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf042/start.htm
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