Professionalize your Approach to Grantseeking

Stanley Geidel

Sponsored Projects Administration

Professionalizing your Proposal

• Context– Sponsors receive many more proposals than they

can fund– Many worthy proposals go unfunded

• How can we better position our grant proposals for success in the very competitive world of external funding?

Understanding Sponsor Expectations

• How can we fully professionalize our proposal such that it meets sponsor expectations?

• What are sponsor expectations?• What are the elements and characteristics

that sponsors often look for in a proposal?• How can we represent those elements in each

of the documents that form the proposal package?

Preliminary work:Before you apply

• Get to know your sponsor’s recent funding history• Obtain copies of abstracts of funded grants as well

as funded full proposals – Abstracts of funded proposals

• Sponsor websites and annual reports• Grants Resource Center

– Funded full proposals• SPA• Reach out to proposal authors

Language and Ideas• Reading funded abstracts and proposals illustrates the language and

ideas to which the sponsor responds– Proposal language

• Discipline specific?• General audience? • If a general audience, how is the language of the discipline translated to reach

those outside the discipline?– Proposal ideas

• Seeing the ideas that are funded helps identify the sponsor’s current funding priorities

• Does your idea align with the funded ideas your are seeing in the proposals of others?

– Proposal characteristics• Are there elements that are included in funded proposals above and beyond the

guidelines?

Steep yourself in the culture of the sponsor

• Connect with the sponsor via– Social media• glasspockets.org

– Sponsor meetings, events, webinars

Get personally involved with your sponsor

• Serve as a reviewer• Talk with a Program Officer about your project

idea

The Elements of a Proposal Package:The Sponsor Perspective

• The common elements of a proposal package– Project summary– Biographical Information– Literature Review– Project Description

• What are sponsors looking for in each of these documents?

Project Summary

• Also known as an abstract or executive summary

• One page or less• Typical Elements of the Project Summary– Needs Statement – Goals and objectives– Summary of the Project Plan– Anticipated impact

How do sponsors use theProject Summary?

• Be cognizant of general sponsor characteristics– Sponsors fund their needs, not yours– Sponsors are risk-averse problem solvers

• In the project summary– Connect with the sponsor’s mission, goals, and values

• State your project idea as the answer to a question; or the solution to a problem or need

• Explain the linkage between the sponsor mission and values and your project idea

• Echo (but do not parrot) the sponsor’s language– Demonstrate a basis for success

• Pilot data; earlier phase of the project; a basis in the prior work of others

Next:Two Critical Documents

• The next two documents are key documents that tell the sponsor why they should fund you– the literature review– the biographical sketch

• Do not underestimate the crucial importance of these two documents to the sponsor– Be certain to devote sufficient care to the

preparation of these documents

The Critical Importance of the Lit Review / Review of Prior Work

• The lit review is not a perfunctory, annotated listing of relevant publications

• A good lit review reads like a narrative and should lead the sponsor to conclude:– that the next logical step is to fund your proposal idea;– an idea that includes a novel, innovative approach;– an idea for which there is early evidence for a successful

outcome• The lit review tells sponsors why they should fund

your idea

The Lit Review:Where does your project fit?

• Why should a sponsor fund the work you propose?– Are you filling a gap in the literature?– Are you building on prior work?– Are you at the leading edge of innovation?– Are you addressing a new problem?– Are you addressing an old problem in a new way?– Are you applying known solutions to new situations or

conditions?• The lit review creates the context for the sponsor to

say yes, we should fund this work

Biographical Information

• What does a Biographical Sketch or Statement of Qualifications look like?– May either be a short narrative statement or in

itemized format– If a statement:• Normally no more than 1 or 2 paragraphs

– If in itemized format: • Normally no more than 2 pages • A full CV is normally not appropriate

How do sponsors use the biosketch?• The biosketch is not simply a recounting of

your education, experience, and accomplishments

• Helps the sponsor determine your capacity to produce outcomes and deliverables

Shaping your biosketch• Your academic products– Focus on experiences, publications, and

presentations that are relevant to the proposed project

• Can be useful to include activities that demonstrate your capacity to deliver results– Leadership roles– Project management experience

Shaping your biosketch (2)• Helpful to include experiences that

demonstrate your ability to work on a team– Collaborative successes; successful partnerships– Remember, you are proposing a partnership with

the funder!• Funding history– Indicates good stewardship of sponsor funds

• The biographical sketch creates the context for the sponsor to say yes, we should fund you

The Project Plan

• Also referred to as the Project Description or Methodology

• Conceptualize this as an detailed activities plan that will, via a set of objectives, contribute towards a larger goal, thus creating one or more specific impacts

The Project Plan:General Concepts

• Demonstrate that your project has a manageable scope given the boundaries of your proposed project

• Grants, by their very definition, are mechanisms with several limitations and boundaries– Specific activities; project period; funding level; project

team• Make certain your goals and objectives are aligned

with the limited resources defined in your grant– Don’t promise too much with regard to outcomes and

deliverables

The Project Plan:Specifics

• Operationalize every element of your program• Give special attention to explaining your

innovative approaches – What are they; what is new and different; how

they will advance your processes and outcomes• Place each activity on a timeline– Narrative, with clear milestones– Chart (e.g., Gantt chart)

Include an Evaluation Plan

• Strengthens your proposal by adding the element of accountability– Provides accountability for you• Proves to the sponsor that you are accountable for

delivery– Assures accountability for the sponsor• Sponsors are accountable to their agency directors (and

ultimately, the public) or to foundation boards to display due diligence with regard to assuring outcomes

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Who Should Evaluate?

• You? Internal evaluator? External evaluator?• Factors to consider:– Sponsor’s requirements– Cost– Availability– Knowledge and experience within the program area– Neutrality / perceived objectivity

• Make the best choice for the project

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Writing the evaluation plan

• Examine the RFP/Guidelines Document(s) to determine the weight given to evaluation in the overall scoring rubric– Keep the scoring weight in mind when

determining the proportion of your narrative devoted to evaluation

– Example: if evaluation counts 20% of your score, devote 20% of your narrative to the evaluation component

What should an evaluation plan look like?

• The strongest evaluation plans proceed in parallel with the project

• Allows you to make course corrections during the project, thus maximizing outcomes and subsequently delivering to the sponsor the best possible results

Helpful Additional Considerations

• Dissemination; sustainability

Include a dissemination plan

• How are you going to share your results to maximize the continuing benefits of your work?

• Do you have a credible dissemination plan?– Publication• Will it occur?• Will it hit the target audience preferred by the sponsor?

– Symposium; forum; public presentations; webinar• Invite the sponsor

Include information on project sustainability

• What happens after the money runs out?• Primary: programmatic sustainability– Will your outcomes be preserved?– Will your new processes and innovations be integrated into

ongoing work?• Secondary: funding sustainability– Will be project become self-sustaining?– Will the university support a continued effort?– Can fees for services be charged?– Can the work be transferred to the community, business &

industry, non-profits, or other sectors?

Summary:Sponsors want to know…

• Why the work you propose should be funded– Lit review or review of prior work

• Why they should be the ones to fund it– Abstract – via a linkage to their mission and values

• Why they should fund you to do that work– Biographical sketch – via relevant education, experience,

academic products, project leadership experience, funding history

• How you will accomplish your work– Methodology or project plan – an innovative approach that

focuses on fully detailed processes and activities

Sponsors want to know…

• Why their investment in you will be successful– Proof of concept

• How you will be accountable for results– Evaluation plan – runs in parallel with your project

• How the results of your work reach their maximum potential– Dissemination plan and sustainability plan

• credible dissemination plan• Sustainability plan that focuses on retention of outcomes and

integration of new processes

Funding is achievable • Get involved with your sponsor

– Study prior funding– Keep current with their priorities and activities– Serve as a reviewer– Work with the program officer

• Understand the sponsor’s perspective– Their mission, goals, values, and purposes– The questions, needs, and problems they are trying to address– Their nature…often risk averse, typically detail oriented

• Understand what sponsors look for in a proposal– Linkage with their mission– A novel approach – A manageable project – A basis for your project’s success– Accountability for delivery of outcomes