BEST PRACTICES by Gil Harootunian, PhD, Director, ORSP A Dozen Pieces of Tested Advice

#1: Program Guidelines  Read (then re-read) the sponsor’s Program Guidelines. explicit  The guidelines clarify explicit ‘eligibility thresholds.’  Research or teaching priorities  Funding ceilings, floors, or allowances  Standards for evaluation  Supplementary requirements or documents, etc.

#1: Program Guidelines  Entire ‘Program Guidelines’:  National Endowment for the Humanities National Endowment for the Humanities  Department of Education Department of Education  National Science Foundation National Science Foundation  Outline the critical requirements for complex grants.  Create a “Summary Sheet” of critical points and priorities.  “Summary Sheet” is a quick guide during planning and during submission.

#2: Past Awards implicit  From past awards, you can deduce implicit expectations (vs. explicit expectations in Program Guidelines).  What are they actually funding?  You are ‘reading between the lines’ of the Program Guidelines.  Discern Funding Trends.  Department of Education Department of Education  NSF NSF

#2: Past Awards  Other examples  National Endowment for the Humanities National Endowment for the Humanities  National Science Foundation National Science Foundation  Department of Education Department of Education  Outline—then consult frequently.

#3: Touch Base w/ ORSP  We will—  Translate ‘sponsor-ese’ into plain English.  Share experiential knowledge of what gets funded (and what does not).  Explain both internal and external procedures.  Contact program officers on administrative / budget / technical issues

#3: Touch Base w/ ORSP  We will—  Elaborate on sponsor prerogatives like “positive accountability.”  Example: “GRPA”GRPA  Elaborate on most common reasons for declension of a grant application.  An excessive or poorly justified budget (NSF).  Why? Indicates that project is poorly designed.  (Repeat: We are happy to do budgets!)

#4: Touch Base w/ Program Officer  Example: After you have studied the program guidelines and talked w/ ORSP, contact sponsor’s program officer to see if your idea is competitive.  NSF requirement NSF requirement  NSF updates NSF updates  Keep in touch w/ program officer between applications or between pre- and post- award.

#4: Touch Base w/ Program Officer  Cycle back: discuss w/ staff in ORSP the highlights of your discussion w/ sponsor’s program officer.  Share and store knowledge for future applications.  Verify program officer’s comments (no human is infallible).  Be careful you do not hear what you want to hear.

#5: Heed the Reviewers  Question: Whom should you heed?  Answer: Always heed the reviewers.  Team of experts reviews and—importantly—responds to your project.  Reviewers have more say than anyone else in the funding of your project.  That is why second-time submissions have the highest funding rate.  Most program officers (if asked) will repeat all this.

#6: Form Teams  Disciplinary  Interdisciplinary  Multidisciplinary  Readers  Mentors  “De facto team” w/ reviewers [who remain anonymous]

#7: Leverage, leverage, leverage  A.k.a., “Bang for the Buck”  Example: National Science Foundation’s “EarthCube”EarthCube  Leverage ≠ Cost Share  Cost share = Commitment measured in cash resourceful  Leverage = Bringing resources to bear; being resourceful

#8: Network, network, network  Read notices in professional journals.  “How I Got My First Grant” tale  Ted Stevens’ Amendment  Visit sponsor booths at professional conferences.  If in D.C. area, try to talk w/ program officer(s).  If time and resources permit, go to federal agency workshops.  The feds are fast becoming the ‘gold standard’ in external funding.

#9: Be Resourceful  Use resources.  ORSP resources ORSP resources Sample Budget Narratives Evaluation guidelines Letters of support guidelines and samples  Sponsor resources NIH “OppNet” ― Basic Behavioral &OppNet Social Sciences Opportunity Netwo rk  Do not re-invent the wheel.

#10: Disseminate….  Shows you are valuable member of the field.  Advances knowledge in field.  Assures sponsor of mileage (a.k.a., bang for the buck).  Does not apply to salary or proprietary information.

#10: Disseminate….  Examples  Articles, conference papers, etc.  Fresno State’s ADCC Faculty who deposit data in digital collections have higher # of citations  NSF: National Science Digital LibraryNational Science Digital Library  NIH: Pub Med CentralPub Med Central  NEH: Publicly accessible resultsPublicly accessible results

#11: Evaluation—Make It Good  Sponsor ensures it is getting what it wants through on-going evaluation.  So important, we have session on this.  Examples: Department of Education IMLS NEA NSF

#11: Evaluation—Make It Good  New standard = positive accountability (vs. old standard of negative accountability)  External vs. internal evaluator?  Formative and Summative Formative = strategy to monitor project as it evolves to provide feedback Summative = strategy to measure overall effectiveness and extent to which goals met

#12: Align w/ Sponsor’s Priorities  Examples  Scalability (a.k.a., Replication). Does sponsor want a project that can be scaled up regionally or even nationally? U.S. Department of Education National Science Foundation  Sustainability Does sponsor want projects that can be institutionalized? The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (a.k.a., Fulbright Program) The Council for International Exchange of Scholars

#12: Align w/ Sponsor’s Priorities  Examples  Community Engagement Does sponsor want more fluid boundaries between academy and surrounding community? National Endowment for the Arts  Infrastructure Does sponsor want to strengthen institution’s long- term capacity to support your work? National Endowment for the Humanities

#12: Align w/ Sponsor’s Priorities  How can you be sure that you are aligning your project’s goals with the sponsor’s goals?  Cycle back: Re-read the program guidelines.  Talk w/ grants managers  Talk w/ program officer

Questions?

Follow-up Questions Gil Harootunian, PhD Director, ORSP