1. Funding Searches that Pay Off
Faculty development workshop
Presented by: james Denney
Director of sponsored programs
Division of Academic Affairs

2. Agenda First things first What to look for in a sponsor
How to choose an opportunity
Sponsoring Agencies databases
Today we are going to talk about first things first. What are the things we need to consider and do before we begin writing our proposal.
Then we will take a look at What to look for in a Sponsor
We will discuss how to go about Choosing an Opportunity to Apply for.
And then we will take a look at some of the Sponsoring Agencies Data Bases

3. First Things First How should it work Develop your idea
Conceptual Outline
Look for a Sponsor
Lets start out by talking about How should it work. What I mean by this is How should the process work for locating a funding announcement to apply for. Many people start out by saying you know I would like a grant. That would be fun but they really do not know what they want a grant for. So they go out to all the different agency websites looking for something they think they can do then they develop their idea based off of the funding announcement. This is NOT how it should work. You should start out by developing your idea first then look for an announcement that will fit your idea.
To develop your idea the University has a Conceptual Outline to help facilitate this process. Lets take a look at the Conceptual Outline. You will find it attached to the back of your handout.
Now Once you have sat down and developed your conceptual outline you will want to look for a Sponsor or Funding Agency that fits your idea/concept. From reviewing the conceptual outline you should see how important it is for you to develop this first.

4. What to Look for in a Sponsor
Purpose and Priorities
Eligibility Restrictions
Deadlines
Review Process
Application Structure/Process
Recently Funded Programs
So now that you have your outline you are ready to start looking for a Sponsor to meet your needs.
Lets start by talking about Purpose and Priorities. Every Agency that awards funding will have a list of what their priorities are or what they are interest in funding. This is important to know because your idea/concept may not fall within the guidelines of what they are willing to consider.
Eligibility Restrictions – Are we as University able to apply to that organization. The announcement may only be available for individuals, for-profit entities, for k-12 organizations, etc. so you need to know this information before you start the proposal process.
Deadlines – What is the due date for the LOI or the Proposal and do you have time to prepare an acceptable application and gather all of the required material within the timeframe allowed.
Review Process – How will your proposal be reviewed. Will it be reviewed by a review board of your peers, Will it be reviews by a Board of Directors, or will a program officer be the one reviewing your proposal.
Application Structure/Process – How does your proposal have to be submitted to the funding agency? Does it have to be submitted Hard Copy, If so when does it have to be post marked by, How many copies have to be made. Does it have to be submitted electronically? If so how? or Online and is the University registered with the Sponsoring Agency. Also, do you understand all of the forms that are associated with the process. How much outside assistance will you need for putting your proposal together. Also , what will be the process of the proposal once submitted. Will it take the proposal 1 month to be decided on or will it take 6-8 months for the Sponsoring Agency to award or decline or application. Their review deadlines may not fall within the needed time frame.
Recently Funded Programs – Most Agencies will allow you to view the abstract or narrative of programs they have funded in the past. This is important to read these so you will know how your idea/concept stands up to proposals that have been awarded in the past

5. What to Look for in a Sponsor – Cont.
Types of Sponsors
Federal Agencies
State Agencies
Foundations
Now Lets take a look at the types of Funding Agencies or Sponsors out there that are willing to issue funding.
There are Numerous Sponsoring Agencies: We are going to look at today Federal Agencies, State Agencies and Foundations. But there are also, Corporations such as IBM, Research Institutions such as MIT, Internal Funding from the University and Other Universities. Collaboration projects with other Universities and with other professionals at other Universities is a wonderful way to get your feet wet and to start Learning the grant process.

6. Federal Agencies Specific Project Focus Specific Agency Forms
Strengths
Weaknesses
Formal Guidelines
Set Funds Available
Recurring Deadlines
Formal Review Process
Specific Project Focus
Specific Agency Forms
Reporting Requirements
While looking for a Sponsor to submit your idea to there are strengths and weakness of each of the three we are looking at today that you should consider.
Some of the Strengths of Federal Agencies are:
Formal Guidelines - When applying for a grant thru a federal agency there will be a clearly defined process that you will have to follow. They will issue a set of instructions with each announcement that clearly defines the process that must be follow and all of the accompanying forms.
Federal Agencies will also identify how much funding they have available for the project. They will also establish award ceilings and floors and issue an approximate number of awards they are intending on funding.
Federal Agencies generally also have a Recurring Deadline date. Many of the programs offered throughout the year have reoccurring deadlines. Such and April 15th, July 15th, Sept 15th and if you are unable to meet the first deadline there will be another one coming around in the next few months.
Federal Agencies have a very formal review process and will often times provide you with their scoring system in the Guidelines. With this you will know how much each section of the proposal will be worth and which areas you should focus on.
Even though they have Many strengths they also have some big drawbacks.
First of all their announcements are very specific. Federal Announcements are not very broad they are very specific as to what they are willing to fund. Therefore, locating announcements that will fit your idea are sometimes difficult to find.
They have forms that are very specific to their agency. With this their applications can be quite daunting because every agency you submit to the process may be different.
Lastly Reporting Requirements are very strict. They have a defined set of reports and guidelines that must be meet and because of this a lot of people do not want to submit to Federal Agencies because of all of the work that has to be done on the back end of the project.

7. State Agencies Formal Guidelines Competitions Limited
Strengths
Weaknesses
Formal Guidelines
Competitions Limited
Direct Access to Program Officers
Difficult to Locate Funding Announcements
Reporting Requirements
Review Process and Notification
Strengths:
State agencies much like Federal Agencies have a very defined set of guidelines that must be followed for the application to be submitted. They will issue a very defined set of Instructions that must be followed.
Another strength of State Agencies are the limits that are set on their competitions. Basically you are not competing with the nation as a whole when you submit to State Agencies like you will be with Federal Agencies. If it is an announcement that is for only 4 year institutions then you know up front who your competators will be.
Also when submitting to State Agencies you often time have direct access to the program staff at the agency and you are able to relate with them on more of a personal level. They know who the MUW is and you are not just one of the many institutions across nation submitting an application.
Weaknesses:
One of the big weaknesses to State Agencies is the difficulty in finding funding announcements. Like the Federal Agencies who have huge data bases for you to search through and sign up for alerts to be sent to you, you have to dig through often difficult websites to locate their announcements.
Many times in dealing with State Agencies Reporting Requirements can be very difficult to manage. My experience with this it that often times they really do not know what information is needed. Because of this you have to keep a lot of information and submit reports on more than one occasion until you meet their needs.
Lastly, when submitting to State Agencies their Review Process and Notification Process can be a drawback. One of the strengths was is that they know who you are. Well this can be a benefit to you or it can be a drawback. Sometimes their decision has been made before they read your proposal. Also often times you are left sitting and waiting to know if you are going to be funded. Typically Federal Agencies are very good about notifying you of your acceptance/denial when State Agencies do not always do this. Also, State Agencies do not have as hard deadlines for this as Federal Agencies do.

8. Foundations Concept Papers Open Announcements
Strengths
Weaknesses
Concept Papers
Open Announcements
Continuous Deadline Dates
Prioritize Submissions
Competition very Intense
Additional Support Documentation
Lastly lets talk about Foundations.
Many times Foundations prefer Concept Papers to Full Proposals. This keeps you from devoting the time necessary to writing a full proposal to just have it ultimately not funded. Typically Foundations will request you to write a short paper then if they are interest in funding you they will ask you to submit the full proposal.
Also there are very Open Guidelines. By this what I mean is that their announcements are very open to a wide range of ideas that provide you with flexibility when submitting. They are often not very specific.
Lastly they have continuous deadlines. Many times Foundations have open solicitations and you can submit to them at anytime during they year and you do not have the hard deadlines you have with Federal and State Agencies.
Weaknesses:
Weaknesses of Foundations involve you having to prioritize your submissions. This happens when the University submits several proposals to the Foundation at one time. They will ask the University to prioritize which proposals they need the most and then we are left with the difficult task of stating this one is #1, #2, #3 etc.
Foundations competitions of often very intense. Because they have such open guidelines you have many organizations trying to receive funding from them.
Lastly, Foundations will often times ask for a lot of supporting information that State and Federal Agencies do not. Like Financial Statements, proof of citizenship, etc.

9. Types of Opportunities
Call for Proposals
Program Solicitation
Open Solicitation
Request for Proposals (RFP)
So now that we have overviewed the types of sponsors that are available lets take a look at how they go about advertising their announcements.
Call for Proposal –
Program Solicitation – These are used to requested applications for a specific program or area.
Open Solicitation – These are used a lot of times by Foundations whey they are accepting proposals for any of the areas that are of interest to them.
Request for Proposal – These are used to solicit proposal for a grant or contract; applications are often accepted only on one receipt data.

10. Types of Opportunities
Request for Application (RFA)
Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
Program Announcement (PA)
To Continue:
Request for Application – Are used when a more narrowly defined area for which one or more NIH institutes have set aside funds for awarding grants; applications are accepted on one receipt date.
Broad Agency Announcement –
Program Announcement –These have increased priority and/or emphasizes particular funding mechanisms for a specific area of science; applications are accepted on standard receipt sates or on an on-going basis

11. How to Choose an Opportunity
Read the Full Announcement
Eligibility
Public State Controlled Institute of Higher Education
501 C(3) Organization
Timing/Deadlines
Matching/Cost Sharing
So now lets talk about How to go about choosing an opportunity.
Read the full announcement – This can often time be very time consuming but it must be done to fully understand what the sponsoring agency is looking for and what will make up a successful application. What I do when someone sends me an announcement is I take a highlighter and start reading and highlight all of the pertinate information. Such as eligibility – are we eligible as a university. Is the announcement for Public State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) or is it for 501 C(3) agencies.
What is the Time Line that must be meet and can we meet them.
Is there any Matching of Cost Sharing required in the application and if so can I get my Department Chair, Dean, Department Head to Commit to providing this money or in-kind match.

12. How to Choose an Opportunity - Cont.
Project Abstract
Project Narrative
Budget
Budget Justification
Next you need to mark what all information must I submit.
Project Abstract and/or Narrative: How long must each of these items be and what must be included in them.
What will my budget and Budget Justification have to consist of. Can I charge my salary against the grant, Can I charge that piece of equipment I really need against the grant. Can I hire those subcontactors I need or do I have to do all of the work by myself.

13. How to Choose and Opportunity - Cont.
Review Committee
Talk to Program Officer
Talk to Colleagues
Sign up for Modifications
How will your project be reviewed. Do you want to leave your proposal up to experts in your area or do you want it to be reviewed by a board. This is also help when you start writing you will know how specific you need to be.
Talk to the program officer – This may be one of the most important steps you can ever take. Calling and talking to the program officer will provide you with an idea of what kind of proposal they are looking for. It also allows you to start building a relationship with the agency you are submitting to. Also, they may go ahead and tell you that your idea/plan of action is not what they are looking for and will tell you that you may want to look for another announcement. They may also tell you that this is not the most appropriate opportunity but they have another one available or that may be available soon that will be a better fit for your idea/program.
Talk to your colleagues. There may be people who you work with you have submitted to the same agency in the past that can provide you much needed information about your proposal and what kind of agency you will be dealing with. That can also tell you about their past experiences and possible provide you with proposals they have submitted to help guide your way or tell you what not to day.
Lastly, sign up for modification announcements. Often times, espically the federal announcements will allow you to sign up for announcement alerts. With this anytime the agency issues a modification to their announcement you will be alerted to the changes without having to go and look at the announcements everyday to stay on top of it.

14. YOU ARE READY!!! Now you are ready to start writing your proposal.
Once you have developed you conceptual outline and decided on the type of Sponsor you wish to pursue and found your opportunity you are ready to begin the proposal writing and submission process.
You also should be able to put together a very competative proposal for submission,

15. Questions

16. Sponsoring Agencies Databases
Grants.gov

17. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
U.S. Department of Education

18. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
National Science Foundation

19. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
Mississippi Department of Education

20. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
Lumina Foundation

21. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
Foundation for the Mid-South

22. Sponsoring Agencies Databases – Cont.
MUW Sponsored Programs Website