Volume 15, Number 8: February 4, 2009
FUNDING TIPS
NIH Submission Survival Tips
The Electronic Research Administration division of the National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Health, offers these tips for surviving the NIH submission process:
- Start early!
- If submitting multiple grant applications, work through the initial submissions of each application to get that on-time timestamp from Grants.gov before circling back to address any identified errors or warnings.
- Use Adobe Reader 8.1.3 and/or submit your application from within your web browser to avoid the “broken pipe” and other submission issues (for details from Grants.gov's Submission FAQs, click here).
- Ensure that everyone who opens an application package uses a version of Adobe Reader that is compatible with the Grants.gov forms. Opening forms with noncompatible software can lead to file corruption that prevents successful submission.
- If you receive multiple and/or conflicting status messages from Grants.gov, give the application some time to work through the system and reach its final disposition. Then check your status in the eRA Commons and use the correction window if a subsequent submission is needed.
- Even better, avoid the need for corrective submissions altogether. Double-check your application for common errors before submitting.
- View your assembled application in Commons—it is the ONLY way to be certain the application has reached NIH and is available for further consideration!
NC Biotech Center Grantsmanship Training Grants
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has launched a one-time funding opportunity to help support grant writing training activities for faculty and staff of North Carolina colleges and universities who are involved in research or programs related to the life sciences. Applications are submitted on a rolling basis and must be received at least sixty days prior to the training activity.
The following individuals and groups are eligible for support:
- academic faculty members who seek funding related to life science research or life science-related economic development
- research administration staff affiliated with departments or institutions that regularly submit proposals in life science research or life science-related economic development
- staff of nonprofit organizations involved in activities related to biotechnology or the life sciences
Interested applicants are strongly advised to contact the Program Manager, Deborah De, before submitting an application to discuss eligibility and the potential funding request.
For details on the program and application submission instructions, click here.
Changes in Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Grantmaking
In the January 14, 2009 issue of Philanthropy Journal, Todd Cohen discusses ongoing changes in the grantmaking focus and application processes at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Here is an excerpt:
The foundation is taking a look at the way it funds needs and policy work on issues ranging from immigration and affordable housing to education and the environment.
It also is revising the way it handles grants and looking for ways to address the continuing and changing needs of nonprofits while generating more impact from the grants it makes.
Still, the economy has taken its toll: Since it peaked at $470 million in November 2007, the value of the foundation's two trusts has dropped roughly 30 percent, says Leslie Winner, the foundation's executive director.
"I do think we will have fewer assets to spend going forward in the next unknown number of years, and that will mean we will have to be more careful and we won't be able to support everybody we want to support," she says.
"We have enough assets to meet all the obligations we have made, are not planning to cancel our grant cycles and will try to continue to support the nonprofit sector in our state to the best of our ability," she says. "We will continue to be here to support that portion of the nonprofit sector that we've traditionally supported."
Specifically, she says, the foundation is looking for "new models for civic engagement."
It will focus on energy, water and growth in its environmental funding, and will look for ways to have greater impact "with a relatively modest amount of money" in its education funding, including a new initiative likely to be announced in a few months.
The foundation will continue to focus on issues involving immigration and race and on strengthening and developing public policy, and will reexamine its community economic development funding and its strategies for helping people move into the middle class, including through the development of affordable housing.
Humanities Indicators Prototype Now Online
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has launched the "Humanities Indicators," a prototype of statistical data about the humanities in the United States. Click here to view this new online resource.
Organized in collaboration with other national humanities organizations, the Humanities Indicators are the first effort to provide scholars, policymakers, and the public with a comprehensive picture of the state of the humanities. The collection of empirical data is modeled after the National Science Board's Science and Engineering Indicators and creates benchmarks to guide future analysis of the state of the humanities in five broad areas: (1) primary and secondary education in the humanities, (2) undergraduate and graduate education in the humanities, (3) the humanities workforce, (4) humanities funding and research, and (5) the humanities in American life.
Orange County Arts Commission's Grants Information Session
Date: Wednesday, April 1
Time: 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Place: Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive
The Orange County Arts Commission (OCAC) will hold a free grant-writing workshop for potential OCAC spring grant applicants. To register for the workshop, contact the Arts Commission (245-2335).
For information about the various OCAC arts grant programs, click here.