# Presentation: 168560

## Grants: Going From an Idea to a Winning Proposal

- Shirley A. Blanchard, Ph.D.
- NMRI
- NIDDK
- April 17, 2007

## Objectives

- Identify ways to convert an idea into a proposal
- Identify funding organizations
- State the purpose of PERP (Position, Rationale, Expectation, Priority)

## Developing an idea for a proposal

- Determine if the idea has been considered in the applicant's locality or State
- Research government, related public and private agencies which have grant awards or contracts to do similar work.
- If similar program already exists, reconsider submitting the proposed project
- If significant differences or improvements in the proposed project's goals can be clearly established, it may be worthwhile to pursue Federal assistance.

## The IDEA

- Proposal, activity or research is a problem of persuasion
- Contact reviewer  discuss idea in general

## Community Support

- Essential -  Proposal summary includes individuals or groups (academic, political, professional, or lay organizations) support the proposal in writing.
- Type community support is critical in the initial and subsequent review phases.
- Multiple letters of support can be persuasive to a grantor agency.
- Do not overlook support from local government agencies and public officials.
- Letters of endorsement detailing project commitment are often requested as part of a proposal to a Federal agency
- Developing letters of support is time consuming.
- 						(Miner, 2007)

## Potential grantor agency is identified

- Call the contact telephone number identified in Information Contacts and ask for a grant application kit.
- Get to know some of the grantor agency personnel.
- Ask for suggestions, criticisms, and advice about the proposed project.
- In many cases, the more agency personnel know about the proposal, the better the chance of support and of an eventual favorable decision.
- Sometimes it is useful to send the proposal summary to a specific agency official in a separate cover letter
- Ask for review and comment at the earliest possible convenience.
- Always check with the Federal agency to determine its preference if this approach is under consideration.
- If the review is unfavorable (seek another department) (Miner, 2007)

## Grant Opportunities www.grants .gov

- Grants posted in the last 7 days
- Early access to information
- Skim read – 1-3 months lead time
- Programs offered every year or every other year
- Locate the next cycle

## Win Funding

- Federal – Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance _[www.cfda.gov](http://www.cfda.gov/)_
- Browse by functional area, agency, beneficiary, type of assistance

## Catalogue of State Domestic Assistance

- Does not exist
- States  may have closed grant opportunities (eligibility requirements only for state agencies)

## Foundations

- Merit of your idea – innovative
-  Relationship with sponsor
- >70,000 foundations
- IRS 5% Rule – give away 5% of assets and make records public
- 20% of the foundations have 80% of assets
- (Miner, 2007)

## Locating Foundations

- Libraries
- Federal – Washington Dc, New York
- State – Reference librarians
- University librarians
- _[http://foundationcenter.org](http://foundationcenter.org/)__ (800-424-9836)_
- Only 15% of foundations have web sites

## Foundations

- Family – Walton Foundation
- Special Purpose
- American Heart Association
- Robert Wood Johnson – health field broadly defined, 80% funds for priority areas; 20% unsolicited

## Tax Reports of Foundations

- _[www.guidestar.org](http://www.guidestar.org/)_
- Enter key words/name –
- 501c (3)
- Board members
- Market value of assets
- Average grant size
- Name of recipients

## Foundations

- National –
- 	Bill and Melinda Gates - education
- 	Ford – math and science
- Community – Omaha Community Foundation (what goes on in community

## Robert Wood Johnson

- Two stage process
- Local initiatives funding partners program (LIFP)
- Local match of funding over 2-3 years
- Stage I - 5 page single spaced invited proposal
- Stage II - site visit (true collaboration, document all community meetings)

## Corporate Funds

- What is in this for me?
- Happier employees
- Healthier workers
- Increase revenue/profits
- Improve systems and procedures

## Nutrition Infant

- Who values –
- Can my services solve the problem
- Business ethics
- Call – program officer, past recipient, reviewer, program officer
- (Miner and Associates, 2007)

## Pre-proposal contact

- “Most important thing you can do to increase your odds of getting funding”
- What home work do I need to do?
- Call previous recipient – competition
- 							(Miner, 2007)

## PERP

- Position
- Rationale
- Expectation
- Priority			(Miner, 2007)

## Position 

- Did you contact the sponsor before writing the proposal?
- Which staff person was most helpful?
- How close was your budget to the awarded amount?

## Rationale

- What problem did you solve for the sponsor?
- What’s wrong with the status quo?
- What are some challenges in solving the problems?

## Expectation

- What is the sponsor’s agenda?
- What are the implications of the current problems?
- What would you do differently next time?

## Priority

- Contact sponsor before writing the proposal.
- Why would the sponsor want to solve the problem you are identifying?
- What are the benefits of your approach?
- How will your approach solve the existing problems?

## Current Grant PERP

- Position
- Rationale
- Expectation
- Priority

## Position

- Did you contact the sponsor before writing the proposal?

## Rationale

- What problem did you solve for the sponsor?

## Expectation

- What are the implications of the current problems?

## Priority

- Why would the sponsor want to solve the problem you are identifying?

## Reviewer

- Position -
- What is the anticipated application award ratio?
-  How did you get to be a reviewer?
- Rationale – What were you told to look for?
- Expectation –
- What are most common mistakes?
- Can you provide me with a copy of the reviewer’s evaluation form?
- Priority – Did you follow minimum performance expectations? (font size)		(Miner, 2007)

## Reasons for Rejections

- 18% no page numbers
- 73% no table of contents
- 81% no abstract
- 92% no resumes or proposed consultants
- 25% no resume of principal investigator
- 66% no project evaluation plan
- 17% no name of project director
- 20% no list of objectives		(Miner, 2007)

## Writing

- Introduction
- Problem/need
- Objectives
- Methods
- Evaluation Dissemination
- Budget
- Appendixes
- Summary/Abstract
- Dealing with Outcomes		(Miner, 2007)

## Proposal Sequence

- Cover letter
- Title Page
- Summary
- Introduction
- Need/problem
- Objectives
- Methods
- Evaluation
- Dissemination
- Budget
- Future funding
- Attachments

## Helpful Hints

- Develop a writing schedule (block time)
- Control environment
- Clip research articles and file according to grant topic

## AIMS

- Objectives
- → Simple
- → Immediate
- → Measurable
- → Practical
- → Logical
- → Evaluable

##  Sample Objective

- To increase the number of African American males completing prostrate screening by 35% from 200 to 270 by the end of 2007.

## Methodology

- Justify your selection of methods
- Use visuals (chart, timeline, who, what, when)

## Dissemination

- What
- Interim findings
- Results
- Outcomes
- Impacts

## Who

- Staff
- Parents
- Politicians
- Community leaders

## How

- Active – conferences, posters, web casts, seminars
- Passive – convention papers, journals, books

## References

- Brewer, E. W., Achilles, C. M., Fuhriman, J.R., & Hollingsworth, C. (2001). *Finding funding*. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
- Miner, L., & Miner, J. (2007). *Proposal planning and writing*. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
- Miner, L., & Miner, J. (2007). *Models of proposal planning and writing*. Westport, CN: Praeger.