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This presentation will:

1) identify the many resources available to you throughout the grant seeking process and

2) provide tips on how and when to use these resources most effectively.

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This slide shows the grant award lifecycle.

There are five major stages of an award: Identification of Funding, Proposal Preparation, Award Setup, Award Management, and Award Closeout. The idea is that this process is cyclical—that is, once you finish one funded project, you can use the data or findings to support future proposals. There is also a Pre-Proposal Stage that feeds new ideas or information into the process.

This lifecycle serves two purposes:

1) it visually represents the grant process, which can be confusing to those who aren’t familiar, and

2) this structure will be used in many of the printed resources, including the website, that are available to faculty and staff at Augsburg. This design was intentional. If you can identify your current grant seeking stage, you will be able to quickly find the information and resources on the web or within documents that are most relevant to you in that moment.

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Don’t be shy!

Erica and Laura are available during all stages of the grant lifecycle. Feel free to contact them at any time for questions, support, or feedback. Carole Kampf, our Senior Accountant, is also available for support related to financial tracking and reporting and will be especially helpful during the Award Setup, Management and Closeout phases.

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The website will be a repository for tools and resources related to external grant seeking at Augsburg.

Note: the main pages on the website mirror those of the grant award lifecycle. This will help you find the information most relevant to your stage in the grant seeking process. You will also notice that the home page is dedicated to news and current events.

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When seeking external funding, it is important to differentiate a good idea from an idea that is good, relevant and fundable!

But, how?

1. Talk to your department chair and dean so that you can understand the priorities of your department and the college. Proposals that have clear alignment with existing institutional priorities will be relevant and thus easier to implement. Proposals without relevance to the organization are red flags to reviewers.

2. You should also be familiar with the literature. You don’t want to repeat what someone else has done, and you certainly don’t want to propose something that is no longer relevant.

3. Share your idea with your peers, mentor, and if you are collaborating, external colleagues. Most of us are happy to provide feedback to others, but all of a sudden become stage fright when it comes to talking about our own ideas. Get over it! Early feedback can help you eliminate the less promising ideas early and make sure the best ideas are seen by the reviewers.

4. Identify your project needs, including time, facilities, funding ($$), and staff. Do you have the equipment/facilities/population readily available? What will you need to buy? What additional support will you need? At this stage these are only

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estimates, but are important for assessing feasibility and fundability. A great idea that is resource heavy without a justified benefit may be quickly rejected by reviewers.

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Several tools for idea development are available on Augsburg’s external grants website.

• The preliminary project profile tool may be especially useful for assessing the value of your idea and communicating it with others. Rather than write several needs statements, let this guide walk you through the important elements such as: 1)Need, 2)Response/Strategy, and 3)Impact.

• The internet also has many free tools, so feel free to browse and find a tool that works for you. If you find something that might be useful for sharing, let me know and I will include it on the website.

RefWorks: Refworks is a reference manager that is available through the library. Why do I love it?

1. It is convenient! Because this program is web-based, you can use the search and write and site function anywhere with an internet connection.

2. It keeps you organized! Create customized folders related to your interest(s) and drop in the relevant articles. They will waiting for you when you are ready to write!

3. It saves you time! Add references while you are typing, using the write and cite

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function. Need to move or cut a paragraph? No problem, RefWorks will automatically update your reference list for you!

GANTT Charts: When it comes to big projects, small tasks are the key to staying on track and preserving your sanity. Also, consider including a GANTT chart in your next proposal narrative, especially if your project is complex. The visual is helpful for reviews to understand what you intend to do and when you intend to do it.

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Once you have your good + relevant + fundable idea in hand, you can look for external funding!

1. Grant Forward is a new resource for finding external funding. Please see the next slide for more information.

2. Professional societies are also a good resource for finding funding. Check your membership portal and sign up for any funding alerts or listservs that they offer. They may even have members only small grants that you could be eligible for!

3. Contact program officers—but we cognizant of upcoming deadlines. Program officers can be utilized in a couple of ways:

• If you have an idea that you think might fit a specific opportunity, contact the program officer and request a short phone conversation to discuss your idea and its fit with the goals of that announcement. If possible, send a brief concept paper (project summary) prior to your phone call. Program officers won’t tell you what they intend to fund, but they will offer some

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feedback on whether your ideas is likely to fit within their interests. Timing is key—Don’t contact them right before the deadline and expect to get good feedback!

• If your program is not a good fit, ask if they are aware of another opportunity that might be better aligned. If you can get the name of that program officer, even better! Then, you can mention in your next call that so and so referred you to them and felt that their program might be a better fit with your idea.

• Another option is to ask the program officer what types of projects they intend to fund in the future. Be sure you have already done your research and are asking more substantial questions than what is already listed on the website—you don’t want them to think you are wasting their time. This may give you a strategy for future idea development.

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Grant Forward is a new resource that Augsburg is investing in to help you find external funding for your projects. Grant forward is a comprehensive, customizable search engine for grant opportunities. It is intuitive and allows you to search multiple sponsors at once.

A great feature about grant forward is that you can set customized alerts and get opportunities delivered directly to your inbox. All you need to do to sign up is follow the link (listed here and on the website) and create an account with your Augsburg email.

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Assuming you have already have a good, relevant and fundable idea and have identified an opportunity that meets the criteria of fit, eligibility, and feasibility, you are ready to go!

1. Obtain pre-approval! If you have already talked with your department chair and the dean, this will just be a formality.

• Complete the proposal clearance form at least 15 business days before the deadline. The form is available on the website and should take 5 minutes or so to complete.

• Why do we need a form? The purpose is to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding what you intend to propose and any implications it may have (financially, staff, etc) on the college. Getting approvals early means that you won’t waste time creating a proposal that the college cannot feasibly support, but also, this will also make it easier to get letters of support or commitment because the Dean’s office will already be aware of your proposal. Also, the document will help academic affairs tentatively plan for future semesters, especially if you requested course release.

2. Use the guidelines/program announcement to your advantage. Most program

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announcements contain information about what the sponsor wants, how they want it to look, and how they are going to judge what you submit! Think of this document as your golden ticket to a winning proposal and use it to make a checklist and timeline, create an outline for your narrative and supplemental documents, and critique your work.

3. Solicit honest feedback from your peers, mentor, or anyone who is willing to review the document. Give them the relevant portions of the program announcement and ask them to point out sections that are unclear or don’t make sense. Chances are, if they don’t understand it, the reviewers won’t either! Use their feedback to refine, refine, refine!

Laura and Erica are also available for editing support, as needed.

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If you submitted your proposal and it was declined for funding, DON’T FRET! Most proposals are funded on their second submission—not their first. So don’t feel embarrassed or like your idea wasn’t good enough, just think of it as another step in the grant-seeking process.

1. Read the reviewers comments and use them to revise and enhance your proposal.

• Note: You do not have to change everything that the reviewer suggested. Instead, use your judgment and talk to your peers. If you choose not to incorporate one or more suggestions, be prepared to justify your decision.

• For example, if they didn’t like your recruiting methods, in your revised proposal, explain why you chose the method you did and why it will be advantageous to carrying out the project. Ultimately, you are the expert on your proposal, and it is your job to convince the reviewer why it should be funded.

What if I didn’t receive feedback?

1. Again, solicit HONEST feedback from your peers or someone who hasn’t already

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read the proposal. Have them tell you what was difficult to understand or where more clarity may be warranted.

2. Use the Why test: Why is this project important? Why did you select the target population you did? Why did you select the methods you did? Why is it relevant to the funder? If the answers to these questions aren’t clearly spelled out, be sure to include them in your revisions.

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First things first– Celebrate and spread the good news!

1. Read the award notice. The sponsor will send you an award notice and usually an attachment that contains the grant requirements and in some cases, a grant agreement. Be sure to read these materials and note the start date, award amount and all the requirements for managing funds, reporting, etc. Send all these materials to Erica (or Laura) for review and official acceptance. If for any reason you know that you cannot comply with the terms of the award, let Erica or Laura know as soon as possible.

2. Connect with your program officer. This individual will be your point person for any questions and all activities related to your grant. Make sure you are aware of the expectations, and if you don’t know, be sure to ask!

3. Once the grant agreement is in place, you will be contacted to set up your official Grant Kickoff Meeting. Carole Kampf in accounting will teach you how to charge expenses to your fund number, report your effort, review financial reports, and make the appropriate paperwork is in place for students or collaborators to get paid. Erica will also be present, and will discuss the process for any budget adjustments, no cost extensions, and other programmatic changes.

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Your next steps:

1. Visit Augsburg’s Grants Website. Be sure to check out the reference materials and tools, as well as the Guide to Grants: For Faculty and Staff. This document will walk you through each step in the grant seeking process, what you need to complete, fill out, etc. Everything is Augsburg specific.

2. Create an account with Grant Forward. Set up some funding alerts or preferences.

3. Get involved!

• Meet with Erica or Laura to discuss your project ideas, find funding, or create a plan for applying.

• Join a discussion group dedicated to sharing ideas and supporting proposal development.

• Share information for the website! If have new information related to grant- maybe you published or received a new award, or were recognized for your work- send the content to Erica.

• Contribute to the document library! The document library will consist of templates and general institutional information that will make the grant

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writing process easier.

4. Provide feedback! If you would like to see something on the web or a specific training, let Erica know!

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