1. Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal
Lesley A. Brown
Director of Proposal Development
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2. Make the Right Match

3. What Motivates Sponsors?
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.

4. Unpacking the Proposal Guidelines

5. Solicited and Unsolicited Proposals
Unsolicited proposals: open proposal submission windows
Solicited proposals: agency requests proposals on a specific topic
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6. Unsolicited Proposals
Assess your field
Find out what’s being funded
Agency databases
Evaluate your position within the field
Evaluate sponsor’s needs
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7. FOA’s,PA’s, RFP’s, NOFA’s, etc.
Funding Opportunity Announcements
Program Announcement
Request for Proposals
Notice of Funds Available
Solicitation
Request for applications
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8. How To Find FOA’s 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: or
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9. Low-level, but important details
Due date
Submission method
Page limits
Formatting instructions
Supporting documents
Budget restrictions

10. Higher-level, important details
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?
These may guide the formation of the team and the development of the proposal.

11. Before You Write
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12. Planning Your Grant Determine what resources and support you have
Determine what resources and support you might need
Discuss your ideas with colleagues, mentors and program officers
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13. Define Your Project 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?
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15. Understanding Proposal Writing Conventions

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

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

18. Proposal Writing Conventions
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. Proposal Writing Conventions
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. Place the Project in a Clearly Defined Context
Explain how you will contribute to knowledge in your field
Provide up-to-date, comprehensive bibliography/references
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21. Writing for Review Committees

22. Writing for Review Committees
Find out how your proposal will be reviewed
Most foundation proposals are read by the board of directors
Most federal agencies use peer review
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23. Writing for Review Committees
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
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24. Types of Proposals Letter of Inquiry
Concept Papers (White Papers, Pre-Proposals)
Full Proposals
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25. Letters of Inquiry
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
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26. Letters of Inquiry 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
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27. The Concept Paper
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?)
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28. The Concept Paper 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)?
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29. Sections of a Full Proposal
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
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30. Sections of a Full Proposal
Feasibility of proposed research
Program objectives
Methodology
Budget
Key personnel/institutional information
Evaluation/dissemination plan
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31. Abstract/Executive Summary
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
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32. Statement of Need/Problem Statement
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
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33. Significance
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
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34. Background 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
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35. Feasibility of Proposed Research
Show that you have valid, testable hypotheses
Discuss the qualifications of the investigators
Discuss available resources to carry out the project
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36. Methodology 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
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37. Methodology
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
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38. Budget 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
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39. Key Personnel / Institutional Information
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
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40. Evaluation Plan Measures extent to which objectives have been met
Formative (during the project)
Summative (after the project)
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41. Dissemination Plan
A dissemination plan tells how the results will be reported
Conferences, papers, websites
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43. The Professor Is In
Dr. Karen Kelsky’s website and blog have very useful information for new faculty.
The Foolproof Research Proposal Template

44. Does Spelling Count?
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46. Does Spelling Count?
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
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47. The Importance of Editing
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
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48. The Importance of Editing
Joy McAuley in OPD can help you edit and format your proposal
Joy’s contact information: or
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49. Other Writing Tips 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
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50. Are you sure spelling counts?
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51. Reasons Proposals Fail
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
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52. Reasons Proposals Fail
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
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53. Reasons Proposals Fail
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
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54. What To Do If (When) Your Proposal Is Rejected
Conquer your fear of rejection
Revise and resubmit—4 in 5 proposals are turned down for things that can be fixed
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55. What To Do If (When) Your Proposal Is Rejected
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
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56. Acknowledgements
Information for this presentation came from: Bob Lucas—The Institute for Scholarly Productivity Liane Reif-Lehrer —Tech-Write Consultants
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57. Acknowledgements
“The Art of Writing Proposals” ―The Social Science Research Council
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58. Acknowledgements
“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.
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59. Acknowledgements
“Proposal Writing Short Course” The Foundation Center— Office of Proposal Development Online Resources:
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