• Plan ahead for multi-disciplinary or multi-institutional proposal collaborations since these should serve everyone’s interests and they take more time.  #NotLastMinute #CollaborateCarefully

Plan ahead for multi-disciplinary or multi-institutional proposal collaborations!  If you wait to start cultivating collaborative relationships till after an RFP is issued, you’re likely to make yourself and your partners crazy trying to meet the deadline.  This is a reason to track programs over time, so you’ll have an idea of when the next deadline will come up and you can be prepared for it.  (Hint: a program officer will usually be able to tell you if an opportunity is likely to open again, and an approximate timeline.)  One-time opportunities with 4-8 weeks to prepare your proposal are not your best bets for effective collaborations.  Generally a solid proposal will take you a couple months to prepare.  You’ll do well to add at least a month for each additional partner; more if it’s a partner you haven’t worked with before.  What will take the most time for the partnership is getting on the same page for exactly what it is you’re aiming for and what you want to try to accomplish with your joint project.

 

  • Read many examples of funded grants, especially those responding to a similar call for proposals.  These will tell you if you’re project will fill an empty niche, as well as what a successful proposal looks like. #GetToKnowTheFunder #KnowledgeIsPower #BecauseYouThoughtYouKnew

Get copies of funded grant applications.  Publically funded grants are in the public domain.  Some funders have examples of funded grant proposals on their websites, but most provide only project titles and names of PIs.  Many private funders with websites will at least give you example project titles and the organizations that were funded.  Use that information to decide which funded proposals you want to read.  You are entitled to use the “Freedom of Information Act” (FOIA) to request a funded proposal from the government, but that can take a long time.  Better to contact the PI directly and ask them to please share a copy.  If you get resistance you can remind them, if their funded proposal is in the public domain, that you have another avenue (FOIA) to get it, but it would be ever so nice of them to make it available now!  Most PIs understand this dynamic, have read other proposals before they were funded, and are happy to help you out.  Who knows, you might build a professional relationship from this start, and if you’re compatible you might even want to consider asking them to be a mentor.  After all, they’ve had proven success in your field.  In any event reading examples, or even just titles, of funded work is important background research.  It will help you determine whether your project is needed, and what a prospective funder is truly interested in.  Sometimes the things they fund are different from their mission or program statements.  Trust what they do more than what they say.

 

  • A proposal submission now might let you start spending in a year, so plan ahead! Very few funders award grants as quickly as you might like. #SnailsareWealthy #PlanAhead #MoneyTakesTime

Plan ahead to start spending your grant a year from now.  Most funders will take a minimum of 3 months and up to 9 months after you submit a grant application to let you know if you’re funded, and then it can take an additional 3-6 months for your funds to be available to you.  So, plan ahead with your grant writing efforts if you want to be implementing a funded project in the next year or two!  The time between notification and having a contract in place can depend on funder factors (out of your control) or documents the funder needs from you (such as IRB approval).  Moreover, with many funders you’re unlikely to get funded the first time and so you should factor in the time to get constructive reviews and resubmit.  Hint: it’s nearly always worth resubmitting a revised proposal – you have probably learned that when manuscripts get rejected, it is worth revising and resubmitting – it is the same with grant applications.

 

  • Contact government funders to test your ideas; if you listen carefully you’ll hear guidance on how to approach and write about your project. #TellThemWhatTheyWantToHear #BecauseYouThoughtYouKnew

Very often, if you’re able to have a conversation with a program officer who oversees your RFP (Request for Proposals), you’ll get some great guidance about what to emphasize about your project, what to guard against, and what kinds of questions or approaches will be non-starters with reviewers.  This conversation can be an important, sometimes critical, step in obtaining funding.  Most funders like to have these conversations because it helps them to recruit more viable and compelling proposals.  They might point you to other funded projects related to your problem of interest, possibly saving you a lot of time, or providing wonderful resources to cite.  If your proposed project seems redundant with another grant recently made by the funding agency, you’ll likely get turned down.  Knowing about that other project may help you both gain new knowledge relevant to your work, and design a project that’s complementary but not duplicative.  Or it can help you make the case as to why your proposal is a necessary test of others’ findings, or applicable to a different context or population.  But it’s good to prepare for the possibility that the conversation may lead you to abandon the RFP you were considering, for lack of fit.  In that case be sure to ask the program officer if they might recommend other programs they think could offer a better fit with what you’re trying to do.

 

  • What is an “outcome” and why is it core funder vocabulary? Funders are out to change the world. Each “outcome” you deliver helps them achieve that. #OutcomesAreTheChangeYouSeek

Outcomes are the change that happens in the world as a result of your project, what difference you made for your clientele, for example.  Generally outcomes are divided as short, medium or long-range, or they may be divided as learning outcomes, behavioral outcomes, and system outcomes.  Outcomes are not the products you generate in your project (such as workshops and trainings, reports and publications).  Rather they are what you expect to happen as a result of those products (which also are labeled as “outputs”).  So what did your participants gain or learn from your workshops (learning outcomes)?  What policy will be affected by your report (system outcome)?  What new skills or behaviors did participants adopt as a result of your training (behavioral outcomes)?  Funders are looking for what change you effected, rather than what you did.  Outputs versus levels of outcomes are important concepts for your logic model (#FunWithLogic #NutshellYourPurpose).

 

  • Do you want to know a vendor will stand behind their product? Your attention to “evaluation” is your funder’s guarantee. #Define&ReachSuccess  #BelieveInMe

Many grant-makers, even for some research projects, require you to evaluate your project.  A good evaluation is planned at the beginning of the project, and usually includes both “formative” (process evaluation) and “summative” (outcomes evaluation) components.  Funders who want evaluations often ask you to use an “external” evaluator – somebody outside the sphere of your project.  Sometimes they expect the evaluator to be outside of your institution as well.  It’s helpful to collect a list of possible evaluators you hear about from others so you can bring someone on-board fairly quickly and elicit a letter of commitment for the proposal.  Your evaluator should collaborate closely on the evaluation design, and ideally help write that section of the proposal.