Volume 11, number 12: June 1, 2005
FUNDING TIPS
Customized Presentations on Identifying Funding Sources
One of the GrantSource Library’s most useful services for faculty and staff is customized group workshops on how to identify potential funding sources for research, training and other scholarly endeavors. As you begin planning your faculty retreats, professional development activities, or staff meetings for the next academic year, we invite you to schedule a workshop in your department. We will work with you to plan a session relevant to your faculty’s funding needs and research interests.
In each session, a GrantSource Librarian demonstrates online resources that faculty and staff can use to identify funding opportunities in their discipline. Participants also learn how to set up a time-saving COS funding alert, conduct a personalized electronic search for targeted grant information, and find Carolina internal funding sources. Other topics include tips for conducting a funding search and an overview of resources available through the GrantSource Library.
Please contact the GrantSource Library to discuss your needs and to schedule a workshop for your research team or department.
Getting Science Grants
The GrantSource Library has a new reference book, Getting Science Grants: Effective Strategies for Funding Success. Thomas R. Blackburn’s book offers strategies for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and other researchers interested in applying for research or curriculum development grants in the sciences. The step-by-step guide gives recommendations to help applicants write titles, narratives, abstracts, budgets, and supplemental documentation in support of grants for private and public agencies. In addition, a companion website provides eleven full text examples of successful proposals from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, and Research Corporation.
Click here to view proposal examples, updates, and the funding tip of the month.
Frequently Asked Questions about Foundation Funding
The Foundation Center (FC) is a leading authority on philanthropy and is dedicated to serving grantseekers, researchers, nonprofits, and others. The Center provides a Frequently Asked Questions web page with information about funding research and resources for nonprofits and individuals, nonprofit management, and more. These FAQs are organized into broad categories including funding resources, the funding research process, resources for individual grantseekers, and FC itself. Click here for a full listing of the FAQs.
The GrantSource Library subscribes to the Foundation Center’s Foundation Directory on CD-ROM, an extensive listing of private foundations and corporate grantmakers in the US, as well as other FC publications including the Guide to Proposal Writing. These resources are available for use in the library. Please contact the GrantSource Library to learn more about these publications and how the library can help you identify sources of foundation funding.
NSF CAREER Program Frequently Asked Questions
The National Science Foundation has a Frequently Asked Questions page about the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The site provides eligibility information in addition to answering specific questions, such as those about tenure qualifications. Faculty applying to the program also can find information pertaining to proposal and budget preparation, including FastLane submission. The web site addresses the proposal review process, the Presidential Early Career Awards (PECASE) awards, notification of acceptance, and post-award administration.
Tips from the Funded
The UCAR Quarterly journal recently published some tips for scientists pitching proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The contributors, Thomas Bogdan, William Cooper, Christopher Cantrell and Peter Milne, are scientists who served as NSF rotators over the past several years.
- Don’t worry about which directorate gets your proposal. “The system works really well in trying to find a home for things if they’re submitted to the wrong place” says William Cooper. “People shouldn’t be so concerned about that.”
- Talk to your program officer in advance. “That’s essential,” says Thomas Bogdan. “Don’t just send in a rough draft with ‘What do you think?’ scribbled across the front.” With some 40,000 proposals reaching NSF each year, a personal heads-up helps orient the program officer, and he or she may be able to provide useful suggestions. “This front-end work makes for better proposals, and it makes the program director’s job easier,” says Christopher Cantrell.
- Read the guidelines. Failure to comply with the NSF Grant Proposal Guide could significantly delay peer review and thus the final decision on your proposal.
- Do your part. Participate in the NSF peer review system by reviewing proposals sent to you and offering to serve on review panels when asked. “For all its purported faults, the peer-review system works best when it receives the broadest base of participation,” says Peter Milne.
UCAR Quarterly. “Secrets of the Funded” Winter 2004-05, page 14.