Grant writing 101�for graduate students

Bradley Dilger – September 6, 2017

Today’s presentation

What I hope this presentation will do

• Encourage you to write grants which call on the content, writing processes, persuasive strategies, and community knowledge of your field.
• Develop processes, templates, and checklists you can use with support from your colleagues and committee.
• Help you apply for grants earlier in your career than I did — taking advantage of opportunities for new faculty, etc.

What this presentation won’t do

• Explain all the types of grants out there (business, foundation, academic, etc). (Learn this from a book.)
• Explain terminology relevant to grant writing (outcomes, abstract, letter of inquiry). (Learn this from a book.)
• Offer a step-by-step process or templates for your future grant writing. (Ugh. Using either one is a bad idea.)

What this presentation can’t do

• Teach you how to write grants which call on the content, writing processes, persuasive strategies, and community knowledge of your field. (I’m not in your field!)
• Ensure you will win a grant. (Nobody can do this — though some claim they can. Not to mention you’re graduate students. Unfortunately, that limits your opportunities.)

Today’s talk

• The seven elements of grant writing
• Best practices which apply to many grants
• Review and discussion of two (or more) RFPs
• Getting more help
• Your comments and questions (throughout too)
• Follow-up: survey

Thank you

Dr. Melissa Remis

Terri Donald

Michelle McMullin

The seven elements of grant writing

Seven elements of grant writing

• Research: understand the grant and its contexts.
• Networking: build the team necessary for success.
• Evaluation: consider (and improve) your winning chances.
• Drafting: outline, draft, revise, and edit the grant.
• Reviewing: get feedback from relevant parties.
• Submission: receive approval for, then submit grant.
• Follow-up: communicate with stakeholders as needed.

Seven elements: diagrammed

Research

• Find grants which are a good fit for your work:
• Ask your advisors about the grant programs you’re considering.
• For the long term, you may need to fit your work to grants — that is, you may decide to develop capacity over time.
• Do you need to complete a pilot project first?
• Learn more by reading beyond the grant RFP itself:
• lists of winners from previous competitions;
• sample proposals (provided by the funders or found on your own);
• publications written by past winners;
• other materials provided by the grantmakers.

Research, continued

Once you think you’ve found a good fit…

• Read the request for proposals carefully. Read it again. Read it many times. This is a must.
• Take notes on the RFP.
• Begin to build checklists from it. (More on that later.)
• Contact the grant officer with questions you or your advisors can’t answer.

Networking

• Build a professional network who can help you build capacity for grants and do the writing too.
• Many grants explicitly require letters of support which discuss your capacity to do the work.
• You’ll need contacts who can offer frank, constructive feedback for you — both commentary on your grant drafts and the research they support.

Evaluation

• Are you ready to do the work necessary to answer the grant program request?
• How are you documenting the effectiveness of your work?
• Are your outcomes SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely?
• What mechanisms do you have for self-evaluation of your work? How can you share the results?

Drafting

• Develop a schedule for drafting that allows for soliciting reviews, sharing in-progress work with supporters, etc.
• Know if your writing addresses a specialist audience, or a more general audience — and write accordingly.
• Follow the format and content requirements laid out in the RFP and documented in your checklists.
• Respect the power of Anne Lamott’s “shitty first draft.”

Drafting, continued

For larger projects, writing a one-page description of your project is an important first step:

• Identify the most important parts of your project
• Consider a problem/solution organizational scheme
• Explain your methods and relevant literature succinctly
• Sketch out implications or possibilities

Hearing how others see your short description is invaluable!

Reviewing

• Get feedback early and often — don’t hide from reviews!
• Your advisors are the first resource, but you should try to find people outside your team who can help, too.
• Research the review process and use information provided about it to shape your work.
• If grantmakers will review a draft, do whatever it takes to take advantage of this opportunity.

Submission

• Plan ahead if your advisors, your department head, and/or others need to be involved in submitting a grant.
• Budget time to get signatures from required authorities — including time for them to read your draft proposal.
• Most submission processes are online. Begin early to ensure last-minute glitches won’t derail your work.

Follow-up

• Plan ahead if grantmakers expect interim or final reports, mentions in publications, etc — don’t ruin your chances for repeat funding!
• Know that winning a grant drops you right back into the cycle — evaluation, networking, etc.
• Communicate with grantmakers if changes to your project are needed. Reasonable requests are often granted.

Balancing the�seven elements

Every grant

is different.

But you’ll rarely eliminate any of the seven elements completely.

Research

Networking

Evaluation

Drafting

Reviewing

Submission

Follow-up

Internal�individual�start-up grant

External�collaborative�multi-year grant

Best practices

Read the RFP!

And then read it again.

Think long term

1. Start small. Grants beget grants!
2. Seek roles on grant-funded projects which offer you relevant skills, experience, and knowledge.
3. Consider opportunities which are only available to graduate students or new faculty (dissertation and early career fellowships).
4. Look to professional organizations for grants and grant writing assistance.

Make and use checklists

• Make checklists based on your careful reads of the RFP and other materials.
• List documents and proposal elements you’ll produce (budget, narrative, your CV, letters of support, etc).
• Pay attention to guidance for writing well-received proposals (specific content to include or address).
• Make your own even if they are provided.
• Actually use the checklists! Don’t pretend.

Make and use calendars

• Start early. Allow time for revision, reviews, and rest.
• Include the milestones noted in the RFP.
• Address all seven elements in your planning.
• Allow time for others to review your work and to complete essential tasks (writing support letters, central budgeting).
• Add time for unexpected problems.
• Be ready to say, “Wait until next year” if you can’t create a workable schedule this year.

Be methodical

• Back up your grant work (and your research too!) using the 3, 2, 1 method — three copies, two media, one offsite.
• Develop conventions for naming files so you submit the right versions and are able to reuse them from year to year.
• Work with your advisors to develop an approach to moving from smaller grants to larger funding streams.

Other best practices

1. Ask program officers and grant administrators questions you can’t answer — they want to read good proposals!
2. Pay special attention to: (a) summaries or abstracts;�(b) budgets (and budget justifications if required).
3. Never underestimate the value of a review from an honest, constructive reader.
4. Take follow-up seriously — allow time for it and use it to make your work better on the long term.

Reviewing RFPs

Purdue CLA Promise

Notes on CLA Promise RFP

• Most $750 or $1500 for international travel
• Advanced students, especially those presenting original research or creative works or conducting data collection
• “Your advisor will be contacted to endorse the value of your request to your progress in your program.”
• Signature of department head
• Submit expenses in Concur — itemize for proposal

Notes on CLA Promise RFP, continued

• 250 word summary of project
• Half page report after travel by end of fiscal year
• Previous PROMISE awards needed
• “Please describe the conference/project/activity and detail the intellectual significance and the benefit of your participation to your degree progress and professional development.”

PRF research grants

RFP sent by email from Dr. Remis (via Jill Quirk)

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CWPA Targeted Research Grant

“The Research Grants Committee (RGC) of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) invites proposals for research projects that investigate issues and practices in writing program administration.”

http://wpacouncil.org/grants/index.html

(see handout for more)

CWPA notes, checklist, & calendar

• Proposal 4pp
• Cover page 1pp
• Narrative 2pp
• Budget with integrated justification 1pp
• Followup
• Present at WPA conference 7/20/2012
• Brochure at CWPA breakfast 3/20/2013
• Final report 6/15/2013
• Publish in WPA later date

Dec 2 Outline — review with Rebekah

Dec 11 Preliminary draft to DSP for� pre-award review, budget

Jan 13 Final draft to Mark, Sue, Kathi� for review

Jan 19 Meet with Mark & Sue� Get signature pages

Jan 20 Phone call with Kathi

Jan 30 Submit via email

CWPA “Guidance for Developing Strong Proposals”

The RGC is eager to help you develop strong projects and proposals. We also want to help you avoid wasting your time on projects that have little chance of success.

For advice about specific projects, please contact RGC co-chair Chuck Paine at cwpa.research.grants@gmail.com. Because he will not participate in the scoring or selection of proposals, you can discuss specifics with him, and he can provide specific advice.

Getting�more help

Your advisors

They know you and your projects best.�But they can’t help if you don’t ask.

Grant-related books

• Grant books
• The Only Grant Writing Book You’ll Ever Need
• Winning Grants
• Having Success with NSF: A Practical Guide
• Books about writing
• Style manual for your professional organization
• Style: Lessons in Clarity & Grace
• A discipline-specific book, like Economical Writing

Purdue graduate student resources

Graduate school fellowships

Graduate student professional development

Graduate Student Government (PGSG) grants

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Help from Purdue EVPRP

Graduate students can’t get help directly from Purdue’s central grant office, but you can use their web-based resources.

http://www.purdue.edu/research/

→ then select “Funding”

How else can�we help you?

goo.gl/igYe1w

Rate this presentation and let us know�how else we can help you!

Thank you

I’m happy to talk more�with you — just ask.

Bradley Dilger

dilger@purdue.edu

309–259–0328