1. Saturday October 22, 2011

2.  Important to well-rounded graduate education/professional development ◦ An activity you’ll be engaging in wherever you work after graduation  Important to obtain grant support for innovative, cutting-edge research and/or programs  Important to build record of funding  Increases your competitiveness as job candidate ~ even across career tracks

3. As Graduate Students  Stipend/Summer Salary  Tuition  Materials (including equipment)  Project-related travel ◦ Dissemination  Payments to Participants  Undergraduate Resident Assistants

4.  Research grant  Dissertation grant  Innovative program grant or current development grant  Travel grant  Conference grant

5.  State and Federal Government  Corporations  Foundations  Organizations ◦ Sometimes our professional associations

6.  Professional society memberships  Refreshments/food  Travel from home to work  Furniture for lab  Personal computers

7.  Determine why you need grant money  Generate a fundable idea  Determine how much money you need  Find grant/funding opportunities that fit your project idea/topic  Apply for grant/funding ◦ Develop a unique, innovative, fundable project idea ◦ Get as much advice & assistance as you can when applying for a grant ◦ Realize extremely competitive process  Get the grant, conduct the research & decide how to proceed next grant development path

8.  About 70,000 foundations  Identify foundations most relevant to your work  Review annual reports when available and their websites

9.  Less uniform that federal agencies in grant submission procedures and processes  Typical first step is letter of inquiry  Some foundations do not accept proposals/letters of intent- they come to you  Local knowledge of a foundation and its priorities and procedures is critical- but sometimes difficult to set  Word of mouth- talk to related key people others who had funds from that foundation  National (larger) foundations generally more open to search/contact processes than local/smaller foundations

10.  Federal agencies-easiest to search opportunities ◦ More uniform in:  Grant submission process  Web information available  Regularity of procedures Examples: National Institutes of Health National Science Foundation U.S. Department of Education

11.  Scope of agency/opportunity ◦ Map to your working idea ◦ $ limit ◦ Deadline, date, duration of research project (usually number of years) ◦ Proposal format rules/procedures ◦ Criteria/probability for funding

12. It is crucial to keep up to date about funding priorities of funders which can change from year to year, funders’ budgets can change, criteria changes and forms as well as process to submit grants may change

13.  PI = Principal Investigator  Co-PI= Co-Investigator  Postdoctoral Fellow  Research Associate  Research Assistant  Consultant  External Evaluator  Internal Evaluator  Subcontractor  Prime or lead institution  Percent effort

14.  Budget ◦ Direct costs  Salary (AY[sabbatical and course release] & summer)  Fringe benefits  Other direct costs  Indirect costs (facilities) rates vary by institute and type  Total cost= direct costs + indirect costs  Cost sharing= “In-kind contributions” asking institution to split costs with the funding agency (matching funds)

15.  Grant writing is a process  Adopt long-term perspective ◦ Do not prepare at the last minute  Revisions and resubmissions part of long- term journey- build them into your agenda  Develop network of colleagues and others who will read and review work critically and carefully

16.  Grants are rarely awarded the first time  Rarely awarded to new, first-time investigators- often looking for individuals with a track record  Federal government beginning to encourage first-time researchers

17.  Problem statement shows scope of the issue  Avoids jargon and unsupported assumptions  Captures interest of reader  Should be neat and easy to read  Focuses on constituents’ needs  When possible, provides evidence— ◦ Statistical evidence ◦ Statements (including references) from relevant and appropriate experts

18.  How central is the problem you have identified to your school’s or institution’s vitality or the effectiveness of educational services  How does the same problem affect other schools or institutions nationally?  Why are you proposing to take action now?  Have attempts to remedy the problem been made by you or others in the past, and with what types of results?  If your response/solution to the problem is successful, are there other schools likely to benefit or learn from your experiences in ways that would enable them to improve upon their own programs or services?

19.  How does your solution or remedy differ from and improve upon previous efforts?

20.  Program Improvement—Formative Evaluation ◦ Identify strengths and weaknesses ◦ Becoming a learning organization ◦ Seeing to enhance quality ◦ Managing more effectively

21.  Judging the Merit or Worth ◦ Accountability purposes to the granting organization ◦ Deciding programs or services in the future ◦ Accreditation ◦ Information for Cost-Benefit Decisions

22.  Generating Knowledge ◦ Extrapolating principles about what works ◦ Building theories ◦ Looking for patterns across services or programs ◦ Implications for policies

23.  Product Evaluation ◦ The extent to which the program has achieved its stated objectives ◦ The extent to which the accomplishment of objectives can be attributed to the program

24.  Process Evaluation ◦ Determining if the program has been conducted in a manner that is consistent with the original plan ◦ The relationship of different program activities to the effectiveness of the program

25. 1.Have data to provide empirical support for conclusions 2.Limit generalizations and causal explanations to what data can support 3.Be systematic 4.Identify key evaluation questions to be addressed --Who will conduct the evaluation? --How will evaluators be selected?

26. 1.Who will be the audience for the evaluation? 2.How will evaluation data be collected and when? 3.How will evaluation data be analyzed?

27. 1.Will your project be useful beyond the time of the actual grant period? 2.Are there features of your project which will be applicable elsewhere? 3.Will other institutions be able to benefit from your project without their own grants? 4.Who will you disseminate your progress and results 5.Who will you share information with about your project?

28. 1.How adequate are the resources (money, personnel, facilities, equipment, and supplies? 2.How qualified are the key personnel? 3.What is the applicant’s relevant experience and prior work in this particular area? 4.What is the commitment of the organization to the project?

29.  Clearly identify the problem including the scope or magnitude of the issue  Use key literature to support your key assertions especially recent references  Be aware of what others have studied or achieved in reference to your issue  Describe your prior research experience  Describe your short-term research goals  Describe your long-term research goals  Describe your current project and expected outcomes  Keep up to date CV  Details are important  Demonstrate organization clarity in writing and tailor proposals to the grant criteria

30.  Proposers did not demonstrate clear understanding of the problem  The proposal did not arrive by the submission deadline  The information requested in the request for proposals was not provided  The objectives were not well-defined  The procedures and methods were not specific  No evaluation plan was outlined

31.  The overall design was not strong or did not fit the problem and objectives  Budget was not realistic, either too high or too low  Project personnel lacked experience or the necessary qualifications  Proposal was poorly written and not well organized.  Proposed time line was not realistic  Proposal did not follow the organizational pattern specific in RFP