Here are strategies to position yourself to succeed in grant seeking -- assessing readiness, getting to know potential funders, building relationships with program officers, and becoming a reviewer -- and some practical advice on how to implement them.
Positioning Oneself to Succeed in Grantseeking, 4/22/19 Presentation Slides
Success in obtaining funding for research or scholarly activity is more likely if the investigator has laid a solid groundwork and can communicate ideas effectively to potential funders. This worksho presents advice for: targeting one’s efforts, framing research and scholarly goals as fundable ideas; articulating the human impact/ real-life applications of research/scholarship; the purposes of proposals; and gathering needed information. Assistance and resources available through the Research Development Office, including readiness assessment tools, also are discussed.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Kathy Cataneo
Director, Research Development
Phone: (603) 862-0357
k.cataneo@unh.edu
Lynnette Hentges
Senior Associate, Research Development
Phone: (603) 862-2002
lynnette.hentges@unh.edu
Michael Thompson
Senior Associate, Research Development
Phone: (603) 862-5255
michael.thompson@unh.edu
GRANT READINESS SELF-ASSESSMENT
Learning about sponsors’ missions, priorities, and grant making processes will help you determine the best source of funding for your projects.
- Home page features
- “About” web site section
- Strategic plans
- Research priorities
- Budget requests
- Annual reports
- Serve as a reviewer
- Webinars
- Grants conferences and offerors’ days
- Contact with staff at conferences and meetings
- Advisory boards
This monthly newsletter available to the UNH community provides timely advice on funding opportunities and how to compete successfully for research and education funding from federal agencies and from foundations. New issues, published mid-month, are emailed to the Research Office PI/PD List.
Current and back issues are available in Box: https://unh.box.com/s/k5vaso4469fj4nnbbr6jhagbwku0nxo0
- Look on the sponsor's website
- Search the sponsor’s database:
| CDC | Center for Disease Control and Prevention | Funding Profiles |
| CNCS | Corporation for National and Community Service | Results of Grant Competitions |
| DHHS | Dept. of Health and Human Services | Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) |
| DOC | Dept. of Commerce (Includes DOC, NOAA, NTIA, EDA, CENSUS, and other DOC units) |
Award Search |
| DoD | Dept. of Defense | DoD Grant Awards |
| DoD – CDMRP | Dept. of Defense -- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs | Search Awards |
| DOE | Dept. of Energy | Award Search |
| DOE | Dept. of Energy - Office of Science | Awards by State and DOE Program |
| DOE | Dept. of Energy - Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) | Awards |
| DOE | Dept. of Energy - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) | SBIR/STTR Awards |
| DOJ -- OJP | Dept. of Justice -- Office of Justice Programs | OJP Grant Award Data |
| DOL -- ETA | Dept. of Labor -- Employment and Training Administration | Grants Awarded |
| EDA | Economic Development Administration | Grants |
| ED -- IES | Dept. of Education -- Institute of Education Sciences | Funded Research Grants and Contracts |
| EPA | Environmental Protection Agency | Use USA Spending |
| HRSA | Health Resources & Service Administration | Grant Awards |
| IMLS | Institute of Museum and Library Services | IMLS Awarded Grants |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Grant Stats |
| NEA | National Endowment for the Arts | Grant Search |
| NEH | National Endowment for the Humanities | Funded Projects |
| NIDILRR | National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research | NIDILRR Program Database |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health | RePORTER |
| NOAA -- CPO | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Climate Program Office | Federal Funding Recipients |
| NSF | National Science Foundation | FastLane Award Search |
| PCORI | Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute | Portfolio of Funded Projects |
| SBIR-STTR | Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) | SBIR and STTR Awards |
| TRB | Transportation Research Board | Research in Progress |
| USDA | US Dept. of Agriculture | Current Research Information System (CRIS) |
| USDA -- NIFA | USDA – National Institute of Food and Agriculture | NIFA Gateway |
| All agencies | National Archives | Records of Federal Domestic Contracts, Grants, and Awards |
| All agencies | Research.gov | Research Spending & Results (Only NSF and NASA awards for FY07-19 as of October 2020) |
| All agencies | USA Spending | Federal Award Data |
A key to successful grant seeking is to build on-going relationships with Program Officers (also known as Program Area Priority Contacts, Program Contacts, National Program Leaders, Program Staff, Technical Points of Contact).
Relationships with the program officers can allow you to gain valuable decision-making information, both before and after you submit your proposal. By making this intellectual connection, you can draw on the program officer’s experience in your research area and in the sponsor’s priorities, preferences, and processes.
Successful awardees consistently and overwhelmingly attest to importance of this relationship building.
- Serves as the “face” of the program
- Cultivates new/the best ideas
- Provides informal feedback re: project match with program
- Reviews submitted LOIs for match with program
- Manages the peer review process
- Makes recommendations for funding based on peer reviews and other factors
- Communicates outcomes of review to applicants
- Provides feedback and consultation on declined proposals
- Manages award administration
- Reports performance, summaries, success stories and highlights to the sponsor
- Provides program communication, including outreach and promotion
- Send an email to request a phone conversation or in-person visit
- Meet at professional meetings/conferences – serendipitous or scheduled
- Attend sponsor-hosted grants conferences, proposer days, etc.
- Watch for and attend program officer visits to UNH
Effective Practices for Contacting Program Officers at Federal Agencies
Can We Talk-Contacting Program Officers --- Robert Porter
What to Say - and Not Say - to Program Officers --- Chronicle of Higher Education
Advice for Meeting Directors at NSF --- Richard Nader
One of the best ways to learn how to craft a competitive proposal is to serve as a reviewer. In addition to providing you with a chance to see a range of proposals (effective and not-so-effective), reviewing helps you become familiar with a particular grant program and/or sponsor, build your relationship with the program officer, learn how the sponsor’s review criteria are interpreted by other reviewers, and network with colleagues in your field. It is also a way to provide service to your discipline.
This article and the comments after it provide additional insights: Why I Became a Grant Reviewer.
Most federal agencies are always seeking to add to their rosters of potential reviewers to ensure a sufficient level of expertise and skill is present in the review panels without conflicts of interest.
Follow the links below to volunteer to be a peer review for these sponsors. If the sponsor/program you’re interested in isn’t listed, send an email to the program officer and ask!
Before (and after) applying, be sure your website, c.v., and other online professional profiles are up-to-date and include relevant keywords about your research areas.
Before applying, get a unique personal identifier by signing up for an ORCID iD and authorizing ORCID to link up your publications.
Before applying, familiarize yourself with the sponsor’s mission and the program’s goals.
When applying, be sure to(1) highlight relevant background and experience, not just your scholarly credentials, e.g., work and volunteer experience, college education, working with at risk youth, grants you have written or managed, completed research studies or articles, etc., and (2) explain why you will be a good reviewer for that sponsor and program.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/faqs-on-the-acf-review-process
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ana/grants/ana-objective-panel-review
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/discretionary-grant-reviewer-application-process
Basic Center Program
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/resource/grant-reviewer-bcp-2016
Family Violence Prevention and Services Program
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/resource/grant-reviewer-fvpsa-2016
Street Outreach Program
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/resource/grant-reviewer-sop-2016
Community Economic Development
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/resource/ced-reviewers
https://acl.gov/grants/peer-review-opportunities
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/volunteer-be-reviewer
https://www.bja.gov/FAQDetail.aspx?ID=191
https://nij.gov/funding/reviews/pages/peer-reviewers.aspx
E-mail a current résumé or curriculum vitae to OJPPeerReview@lmbps.com. Write "Peer Reviewer Candidate" in the subject line. Applicants should indicate their juvenile justice-related knowledge and experience, including: gangs, mentoring, girls' delinquency, children's exposure to violence, substance abuse, tribal juvenile justice, Internet crimes against children, and more.
https://www.doleta.gov/doc/grant_panelist.cfm
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tmip/resources/peer_review_program/process_guide/
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/peer-reviewers/peer-reviewers-faq.html
Send an e-mail request including a brief CV to Benjamin Packard (packard.benjamin@epa.gov) of EPA’s Peer Review Division.
https://www.cies.org/program/peer-review
https://www.hrsa.gov/grants/reviewers/index.html
https://www.imls.gov/grants/peer-review
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels
If you don't see anything relevant on this list, then write to the program officer who runs the program that most closely aligns with your expertise. You can find contact information for all of them at the Program Officers List.
Send an email to panelistforms@arts.gov
https://securegrants.neh.gov/signup/
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/becoming_peer_reviewer.htm
https://public.csr.nih.gov/FAQs/ReviewersFAQs/ECRProgram
https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/merit_review/reviewer.jsp
https://www.samhsa.gov/grants/review/grant-reviewer-application
https://www.ars.usda.gov/office-of-scientific-quality-review-osqr/be-a-peer-reviewer/