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Finding Funding 101. Answers to the Questions You Are Asking and Those You Should Be Asking ResearchChannel Sixth Annual Meeting Los Angeles, California October 27, 2002. How to Work With a Grant Writer or Become One. What Grant Writers Are and Are Not
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Finding Funding 101 Answers to the Questions You Are Asking and Those You Should Be Asking ResearchChannel Sixth Annual Meeting Los Angeles, California October 27, 2002
How to Work With a Grant Writer or Become One • What Grant Writers Are and Are Not • Different Levels/Types of Grants and Assistance • Grant Basics and Proposal Outlines • Obstacles • Funding Trends
Grant Writers Are Not: • Genies • Mystical Beings from a Parallel Universe Filled with Money • Mind Readers • Fortune Tellers • Experts in All Disciplines (Via Osmosis, of course)
Grant Writers Are: • Communicators • Strategists • Researchers • Interviewers • Teachers • Busy People Always Working on a Deadline
What are the Types of Support? • Public (federal, state, local governments) • Private (Foundations) • Equipment Donations • In-Kind (space, supplies, employee time, equipment use, advertising)
What are the Different Types of Grant Assistance? • Prospect Research • Prospect Wooing • Project Design • Grant Writing • Grant Editing (Content and/or Grammar) • Budget and Justification • Evaluation/Assessment
Where To Begin: The Basics • Planning • Writing • Approval • Administration
Grant Planning • Need • Goals • Areas/Disciplines Served • Innovation • Collaborators • Organizational Status and Support • Sustainability
What are the Elements of a Grant? • Problem Statement • Project Summary • Goals and Objectives • Timeline and Methods • Budget and Justification • Evaluation • Organizational Information • Sustainability/Future Funding
What are the Most Common Reasons Proposals are Rejected? • Submission is late • Applicant did not follow instructions. • Failure to demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem • Project is not feasible (lack of qualified staff, equipment, budget unrealistic, scope too broad or too narrow)
Rejection Reasons (Continued) • Goals and Objectives are unclear or missing • Project is not sustainable (no future funding) • Proposal is poorly organized and/or poorly written (clichés are not your friends)
What are the Primary Obstacles to Attracting Funding? • Failure to Understand the Funding Process. • Limited or Unrealistic View of Project. • Failure to Communicate with Funder • Failure to Communicate with Colleagues and Other Organizational Departments. • Weak Proposal
What Obstacles are Unique to IT and Video Projects? • Once Considered “fluff” or Catering to “too specialized” an Audience” • Wider Scope: Diverse Levels of Technical Savvy and Learning Curves within Audiences Served • Requires Larger Initial Institutional Investment in Infrastructure and Support • Continuing Sustainability is More Important
Is There Any Good News for IT/Video Funding? • Web is now considered primary information source • Funding agencies use electronic methods for proposal advertisement and submission • Funders “demand” innovation, not recycled ideas
What Do Funders Look for in a Proposal? • Collaborations (public/private, industry/education) • K-12 and Community Service Projects • Research and Service (theory and practical application) • Innovation • Universality (Models) • Bridging geographic and other barriers (stronger after 9/11)
What is the “Real Secret” to Getting Funding? • Communicating what is unique about your project: Your passion and commitment to it.
Closing Thought • The easiest writing is on subjects about which you feel passionately. ---Pauline Stieff, September 2002
Contact Information Pauline Stieff Tufts University Academic Technology 617-627-3369 pauline.stieff@tufts.edu