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Short Guide to Proposal Preparation
WHERE TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS There are hundreds of agencies involved in supporting research and other kinds of projects. Actually, if we broaden our view to include every existing private, local, county, state, national, and international organization, and every grant, contract, or fellowship program, the number of current funding sources grows into the thousands. The fields of effort supported are correspondingly numerous. New sources are constantly being announced, while older ones change, split, decay, or pass out of existence. A particular funding source may be publicized broadly, or not at all; program guidelines can change abruptly, remain constant for decades, or vanish. The field is broad, but not trackless. Generally speaking, the first, most obvious sources of funding for almost any kind of project are those administered by the Federal Government. Click here to link to home pages of a number of Federal Agencies. In addition to information available on the Internet, all of these agencies publish written guides to their various programs of support. These may be on hand for use at OCG, or can be obtained by writing to the agency in question. Also, an overall listing of most Federal programs can be found in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, which is available on line. In addition, special programs, particularly for contractual work, are announced in Government publications such as Commerce, Business Daily, and the Federal Register. Non-Federal funding sources are legion. Besides the more well-known (for example, Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts), there are scores of privately endowed organizations providing support in various areas, some narrow, some broad. The most important of these can be found by searching such volumes as the Annual Register of Grant Support, The Foundation Directory, and The Grants Register. These are commercially published directories of major funding sources; all are available at OCG. Click here to link to home pages of a number of Non-Federal Agencies. (The Reference Library at Norlin, incidentally, is the home of the Computer Based Reference Service, which can offer a variety of computerized searches in the area of research and other kinds of support.) Once a list of possible sources of support has been compiled, the next step is to contact the agencies in question. In the case of most Federal programs, no preliminary communication is required, but may be advisable. In the case of many non-Federal organizations, a preliminary phone call or, better still, a letter is in order. This should be a fairly short communication (not more than two pages) introducing the Principal Investigator and briefly describing the project for which he/she is seeking support, and finishing with a request for a response from the potential funding agency. This response will determine whether a formal proposal should be submitted; also, it will automatically procure a set of up-to-date guidelines and forms for such submissions. Sending a preliminary letter may seem like unnecessary work, but in fact it can save a great deal of effort and waste, in that large numbers of formal proposals would otherwise be prepared for and submitted to foundations that could not entertain them. This brings up an important point: one should avoid if at all possible the mistake of submitting a proposal to the wrong agency. There are several reasons for this: 1) The Principal Investigator's and OCG's time and resources are limited. 2) The Principal Investigator can lose months waiting for a favorable response from an agency that can never give one. 3) Agency personnel are not fond of people or institutions who waste their time in this way. A frequently employed method of sounding out an agency is to send an informal proposal. This is a proposal that is complete or virtually complete but which lacks any official institutional (University) signature. It is thus a communication between the Principal Investigator and the prospective funding agency. It can usually be given a quick, informal evaluation by funding agency officials, who, if they are impressed with the content, can request formal submission. (It is important when submitting an informal proposal to include a letter emphasizing the fact that it is not yet a genuine institutional application.) Although it requires no processing by the University, it is advisable to consult with OCG before sending the informal proposal, particularly for any budget details that should be included. Formal submission of a proposal to more than one agency is to be encouraged, if the agencies in question are appropriate. Again, this caution is made with the intention of avoiding unnecessary work for all concerned. An important point to remember in preparing any application is that funding agencies always require considerable lead-time in which to evaluate an application. Thus, the proposed starting date for your project may have to be four, six, or even more months later than the date of submission of your application. Finding sources of funding for a project can be a lengthy business, but it is usually fruitful. OCG's staff is always ready to help with the work of searching for and contacting granting agencies.
OCG Resource Materials on Funding Opportunities
Forward to: The University Review Process
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