Succeeding at Grant Writing

							 Succeeding at Grant Writing

               Stan Shaw
          sfshaw@uconn.edu
       Neag School of Education
   University of Connecticut, Storrs
Presentation to Neag Graduate Student
    Association, February 10, 2009
          Why Write Grants
Grants make a difference for you, your program
  and students: they
  allow you to answer critical questions to
  develop presentations/publications, enhance
  teaching and improve services
  provides resources for GA’s, student
  stipends, travel, equipment, summer
  salary,etc
  give you, your program and institution
  recognition that may lead to promotion, merit
  pay, higher rankings, better students
… Or not to write grants

  chance of getting funded may be 5-10%
  (although many are not really competitive)
  it requires a tremendous time commitment
  over 4-8 weeks
  I’m too busy
  I’ve written a grant and didn’t get funded
  I don’t know how to write a good proposal
         Get a head start

Develop content/research skills
Organize grant writing team/partners
Conceptualize and do initial planning for a
project you want to do
Do early planning for cyclical grant
competitions (i.e., similar each year)
Identify funding streams early on
(newsletters, grants.gov, professional
sources, political action - state or federal)
      Planning to Write
Finding grants
Understanding RFP’s - these are NOT
suggestions
Grant writing process
Reviewer criteria/grant outline
Operational Table
          Finding Grants
You want to find RFP’s in your area of interest
Sources of RFP’s
  a) talk with your advisor, professors, colleagues
  b) professional contacts (professional associations,
state/local agencies, newsletters, web sites)
SPIN Search (www.osp.uconn.edu on UConn
computer which provides access; do a broad search
(tech, disabilities, chemistry) unless it provides too
many grants
      OSP; Funding Sources, SPIN Search
      Instructions >> Funding Search then use
      Search or Advanced Search
     Understanding RFP’s
CFDA Number (Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance) for federal grants
Submission deadline
Purpose of Grant/Authorized Activities
Selection Criteria (scoring, organization)
Size and range of awards
Contact Person/Project Officer
    Grant Writing Process
Best research project doesn’t necessarily
get funded (specific/detailed, clear
outcomes, state-of-the-art methodology)
Must be cutting edge (next great question)
Organize effective grant team and
partners
Take time to clearly conceptualize project
and goals/activities
   Importance of Abstract

basis for outline of grant & Plan of
Operation,
promotes consistency, forces clear
conceptualization of grant propos
informs collaborators, letter writers, review
agencies (state approval),
first thing reviewer reads - must get
reviewer interested and excited about
project
        Writing the Abstract
organization of abstract (whatever RFP calls for)
symmetry (1-4, 1-4)
action words - bold, authoritative, convincing (George
Forman I can, I will!!); you are marketing your idea,
research, project and yourself (not the time to be shy
goals/objectives must be behavioral (VERBS are the critical
component
      1. design, plan, search
      2. implement, sample, collect data
      3. evaluate, analyze data, compare
      4. disseminate, use, revise, distribute, publish
outcomes are increasingly important to funding agencies
(what is the result/product of this grant)
activities - how accomplish each goal/objective
Why Use an Operational Table
 linear (picture worth a thousand words)
 easy to grasp (much more so than narrative
 sentences & paragraphs)
 face validity (looks sequenced and complete
 until proven otherwise)
 forms basis for rest of narrative (e.g., plan,
 personnel, budget)
 use later to run project; use to evaluate
 project
Writing an Operational Table
perfect relationship Concept > Abstract >
Table > Plan of Operation/Research Plan
> Personnel > Budget
it should be written with enough detail to
provide replication of project/research
format of Table is determined by what the
RFP calls for
sequence and detail are critical; when in
doubt be very specific
         Grant Writing
Need, Importance, Background, Rationale
Section
Implementation, Plan of
Operation/Technical Soundness Section
Evaluation Section
Personnel, Capacity Section
Dissemination, Impact, Continuation
Resources
Budget
   a) budget numbers and justification
   b) budget narrative
             Grant Budget
cover all grant responsibilities including fringe
benefits and indirect costs* (could be 50% of
budget)
flexibility (hidden money for changes and surprises)
within stated budget range but cheap doesn’t help
don’t do grant if not enough money provided
justify and explain all expenses thoroughly
(especially travel, equipment and any potential “red
flags” (e.g, participant incentives, “toys”)
narrative must support all expenses
timeline must support expenses (summer,
dissemination usually not in the first year)
Writing the Grant Narrative
page limits, font, margins typically specified in RFP (don’t
mess - a cautionary tale)
identify or request the Review Criteria and scoring rubric
points generally relate to amount of space for each section
(caveats)
write your grant narrative following the sequence that the
reviewer will use to evaluate your grant (i.e., so they don’t
have to remember or respond to the gestalt of the narrative
but clearly see your response to each item
respond to every item or question whether you think it is
relevant or not
         Project Narrative
     (often only 20-30 pages)
Significance
   Choose the right RFP
      Contact the Program Officer
   Don’t assume that reviewers will be familiar with content or
   acronyms
Research Plan
   This is central to success
   Quantitative designs are favored
       treatment integrity/fidelity
       sophisticated analyses
       provide examples of instrumentation
Personnel
   Experienced researchers
Resources
   Explicit commitment indicating availability of sample, use of
   equipment, support for data collection (control group)
      Important Links to Institute
     for Education Sciences (IES)
                         http://ies.ed.gov

Grant writing presentations:
      http://ies.ed.gov/funding/webinars/index.asp


Requests for Applications are available on:
      http://ies.ed.gov/funding


Sign up for the IES Newsflash:
      http://ies.ed.gov/newsflash/
           What’s Next
 Take a grant writing class (role for
   NGSA to foster availability of EPSY
   6103 or equivalent)
Participate in a grant writing team
Get on a grant review panel
Write a dissertation grant
Write a grant