Volume 15, Number 4: October 1, 2008
FUNDING TIPS
Time for a COS Funding Alert Tune-up?
If you set up your COS funding alert some time ago and your research interests or funding needs have changed, it may be time for a COS tune-up. You may want to add or delete keywords and other search terms to reflect changes in the focus of your research, your position, or other circumstances. Also, the COS Workbench and funding alert service have some useful new features such as "Your Tracked Records" and new ways of tagging and sharing funding searches and specific funding opportunities.
The GrantSource Library is available to assist you in updating your COS funding alert and to introduce you to the new features. Please contact the library (962-3463) to schedule help with your COS funding alert tune-up.
Advice for Getting Foundation Proposals Funded
In his book Thank You for Submitting Your Proposal: A Foundation Director Reveals What Happens Next (Emerson & Church Publishers), Martin Teitel offers some answers to two frequently asked questions about getting foundation funding-"How can I get my proposal read?" and "Are there common mistakes proposal writers make?"
Six Things You Can Do to Help Your Proposal Make the First Cut
- Write a compelling summary.
- List concrete, specific outcomes of your work.
- Connect each step of your work with your goals.
- Present a budget in standard format that is legible and patently sensible.
- Get the proposal in early.
- Offer to meet. Once.
Five Mistakes Too Many Grant Applicants Make
- Talking mainly about problems, not solutions.
- Describing specific problems with general solutions.
- Prolific use of buzzwords and jargon.
- Budgets that don't add up.
- Parroting the funder's guidelines without linking them to the work.
Contracts as a Source of Funding for Research
As most federal agencies are tightening their grant budgets, federal contracts are another funding source worth exploring. Karin Markin explains how in a September 26, 2008 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is an excerpt:
The National Institutes of Health spend about $5-billion a year on contracts or "acquisitions," as they are called in fedspeak. It is true that many government contracts are for humdrum goods like safety shoes for correctional officers and glossy white acrylic paint for the Air Force. .
But the federal government also contracts for research and development, and some universities are already getting those awards. As a scientist, you may find it pays to explore contracts as a new means of securing money from the same federal agencies that are tightening research-grant budgets. Here is a quick lesson on what contracts are, the types of research they support, and how to find them.
With a contract, the idea for the work originates with a federal agency, which then looks for someone to carry it out. For example, the Food and Drug Administration wants to optimize its oversight of drugs for humans. It recently sought investigators who can apply the analytic methods often used in engineering to assess masses of electronic data on regulatory activities such as clinical trials and post-market drug-safety tests. It's not looking for someone who can explore the field of data mining and possibly advance it, which is what a grant might support. It wants results.
Because the sponsoring agency already knows what it wants, the terms of a contract are more explicit than those of a grant. Contracts call for delivery of specific services by a certain date, and can provide for penalties if the deadline is not met. .
Collaborators for International Grants
As funding becomes more competitive, it can sometimes be necessary to look at new funding sources. Many grants are being offered that require international collaborations.
One useful resource for identifying international colleagues is the COS Expertise database. It contains 400,000 profiles populated by the profile holders and their institutions. The COS Geographic Search makes it easy to search for researchers in specific countries.
To find potential collaborators with international expertise here at Carolina, another helpful tool is the Database of Faculty with International Expertise, hosted by the UNC Center for Global Initiatives. You can search it by keyword, faculty name, world area of study, and language.
To learn more about Carolina faculty expertise in all areas, consult the many information resources on the GrantSource Library Faculty Expertise web page. For assistance, contact the GrantSource Library (962-3463).
COS Suggestion Box
COS values your input regarding their funding information products. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions that you would like to share with COS, we invite you to submit them via the COS Suggestion Box. A link to the Suggestion Box is also on your COS Workbench in the bottom left corner.