Fundamentals of Successful Grant Proposals: A handson workshop on grant writing

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Fundamentals of Successful Grant Proposals A
hands-on workshop on grant writing

• Jack R. Kues, Ph.D.
• University of Cincinnati

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Objectives
At the completion of this workshop attendees
should be able to

• Construct a fundable project and match it with an
  appropriate funding source
• Complete a formal Request for Proposal
• Critically review projected proposals

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Agenda

• 100 PM Introduction and overview
• 115 PM Grantors (who they are and what they
  want)
• 130 PM Grants as partnerships
• 200 PM The anatomy of a grant proposal
• 315 PM Break
• 330 PM Group work (proposal development)
• 414 PM Group presentations/critique
• 445 PM Summary/discussion

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Needs Assessment

• Have you ever written a grant?
• Fewer than 5
• 5-10
• More than 10
• Have you ever been on a grant review panel?
• Have you ever written an RFP?

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Needs Assessment

• What skill or knowledge would you like to leave
  here with?

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The Funding Landscape
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Major US Government Funding Sources

• NIH Budget (FY04) 28 billion
• NSF Budget (FY04) lt 6 billion

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Non-governmental Funding Sources

• 65,000 Grantmaking Foundations in the US
• 2002 15.9 Billion
• A decline of 5 over 2001
• Median grant was 25,000
• 2002 7.27 Billion for higher education
• A decline from 7.34 Billion in 2001
• Health professions receive approximately 10
• These are non-research dollars

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Top Foundations

• Bill Melinda Gates 1.16 B
• Lilly Endowment 557 M
• Ford Foundation 509 M
• RWJ Foundation 360 M
• David Lucile Packard 350 M
• Bristol-Myers Squibb 297 M
• Pew Charitable Trust 239 M
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 223 M
• Starr Foundation 209 M
• MacArthur Foundation 196 M

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Finding Funding Sources

• www.SACME.org
• US Government Grants
• The Foundation Center
• AHRQ (AHCPR)

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Grant Writing Resources

• The Grantsmanship Center
• Non-profit guides
• Powerful Proposals
• Grant Application Basics

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to
improve the health and health care of all
Americans. To achieve the most impact with our
funds, we prioritize our grants into four goal
areas

• To assure that all Americans have access to
  quality health care at reasonable cost.
• To improve the quality of care and support for
  people with chronic health conditions.
• To promote healthy communities and lifestyles.
• To reduce the personal, social and economic harm
  caused by substance abuse tobacco, alcohol, and
  illicit drugs.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Grant Programs as Partnerships
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Grant Programs as Partnerships
Grantee Grantor

• Recognition of need
• Expertise/Capacity
• Mechanism for implementation

• Recognition of need
• Fiscal Resources

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Portraying yourself to the Funding Agency
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Questions funding agencies typically ask about
applicants

• Do they seem to know what theyre doing?
• Do they have the resources to do this project?
• What kind of track record do they have?
• Are they likely to be able to complete the
  project?

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Request For Proposal
Budget
Evaluation
Proposal Guidelines
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Things to look for in the RFP

• Who is eligible to apply?
• Do you need to have partners?
• Submission deadline
• Length of project
• What are the funding priorities?
• Budget details
• What will they allow in the budget?
• Is there a requirement for matching funds?
• Guidelines for size of budget
• Proposal outline
• Proposal evaluation criteria

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The Program Officer

• Their job is to help YOU submit the best proposal
  possible.
• They have information that is not in the program
  announcement.
• Program officers are typically NOT part of the
  review team.
• However, they sometimes are present at reviews
  and can offer opinions

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Uses for the Project Officer

• Technical questions about the RFP
• Review of a short abstract of your project idea
• Information about previously funded projects
• Additional information/resources related to the
  RFP
• Information related to the types of reviewers
  likely to evaluate your proposal

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Dont Dig Holes!
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The grant application story
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Chapter 1 NEEDS

• Clearly identify needs that are consistent with
  funding priorities
• Use data whenever possible
• Tie your organization into the need
• Why is your organization concerned about the
  need?
• How is your organization uniquely positions to
  address the need?

University of Iowa Geriatric Center
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Chapter 2 OBJECTIVES

• The objectives should meet a specific need or
  solve a particular problem
• Typically, a single grant shouldnt have more
  than three or four objectives
• Objectives should oriented toward the 3 Ps
• Performance
• Process
• Product

University of Iowa Geriatric Center
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Chapter 3 PLAN

• The Plan or program flows directly from each
  objective
• It should include answers to the following
  questions
• What
• Who
• How
• When
• Provide details whenever possible

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Chapter 4 EVALUATION

• Perhaps the most important chapter
• Evaluate the Objectives AND the Plan
• Identify a project Evaluator
• Specify Data to be collected
• Discuss how evaluation data will be used
• Measure programs Impact on Needs

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Chapter 5 BUDGET

• Make the budget fit the project
• Clearly identify all items in detail
• Everything/everyone in the budget should have
  been discussed in the project Plan
• Dont pad the budget
• Justify everything in the budget
• Check your math

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Style Matters..
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Style tips

• Use short tables to summarize
• Use figures to describe or illustrate
• Use bullets to isolate key points
• Use enumeration to identify and separate concepts
  and objectives
• Use headings and subheadings to help organize
  grant sections

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The Review Process

• Blind v. Open Reviews
• Published review criteria
• Point systems
• In/Out criteria
• Tiered review
• Letters of Intent
• Approved/disapproved

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The Top 10 Reasons a Grant Application is Not
Funded

• The proposal was incomplete
• Did not follow directions
• Proposal seen as a money grab
• Application does not have the resources to do the
  project
• Application is not understandable
• Evaluation is very poor
• Project is not within the scope of the funding
  agency

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The 10 Top Reasons a Grant Application is Not
Funded

• The budget is too low
• The project does not adequately address a need
• The size/scope of the project is out of synch
  with what the agency funds

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Things that tick off reviewers

• Content issues
• Applicant doesnt know the field
• The Plan has too many loose ends
• The project has no visible means of sustaining
  itself beyond the grant
• The evaluation plan is mostly bean counting

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Things that tick off reviewers

• Technical issues
• Exceeded page limitationsby a lot
• Narrowed the margins
• Dropped the font size
• Spelling/grammatical errors

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Things that tick off reviewers

• Budget issues
• Lots of math errors
• Seeing things in the budget that you didnt read
  about in the project plan
• Miscellaneous categories with large numbers

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The Outcome.
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BREAK TIME