Successful grant development involves much more than writing a proposal. It includes:
- Identifying a strong project idea. You must know what you want to do, how the grant money will be used, who is committed to doing the project with you, why it’s important, who will benefit and how, and how much money you will need.
- Securing support. Get support from your key administrators/collaborators before you begin writing the proposal. For school district members, this would require sign-off from Mark White, K-12 Grants Coordinator. For university members, this would require sign-off from your department head, dean, and Dr. VJ Agarwal.
- Finding a suitable funder. Find the foundation or government agency that best matches the goals and objectives of your proposed idea and the one where your competitive chances seem best. Also consider:
- Is the funder awarding only one award or 50?
- Is the average award size large enough to make your project work?
- Is the deadline doable? Do you have enough time to develop the proposal and get together a solid team to carry out activities should you be awarded?
- Writing a winning proposal. Put the idea to paper by getting the who, what, when, where, and why of the project in the required format of the funder.
- Following up. To increase your chances of being funded in the future, consider cultivating a relationship with the funder and their program officers, regardless of whether your proposal was funded. By learning about the funder’s reaction to your latest proposal, you will position yourself for future success with the funder.
Project Team Responsibilities
A strong project starts with a strong team. A typical team consists of one or more principal investigators (PIs) who act as the team leader, in addition to a number of other committed members who help carry out the project activities. Below is a breakdown of typical qualifications, general duties, and expectations.
Principal Investigator (PI)
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Qualifications |
General Duties |
Performance Expectations |
- Faculty, staff, administrator, or teacher with strong organizational and facilitation skills
- Respected content expert in the program area(s) addressed by the grant
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- Serve as content area leader during the formulation of the project design and grant proposal
- Establish and maintain a “big picture” vision for the project
- Broker agreements on substantive aspects of the project design
- Recruit members of the project team, including external partners
- Assist in presenting project idea to funder’s program officer for preliminary feedback
- Serve as single point of contact for grant writer and team members for key proposal development tasks and activities
- Secure initial project idea signoff and final signoffs from appropriate administrators and partner executives
- Conduct secondary source research and data gathering needed to support various aspects of the project design
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- Commit whatever time it takes to generate the raw material and resolve the substantive issues needed for creation of a high-quality proposal
- Be fully accessible to the grant writer, team members, and project partners (e.g. prompt return of email and phone messages, ready availability for face-to-face meetings)
- Be responsive to key competitiveness factors identified by the funder
- Be responsive to friendly critiques on project design and proposal drafts from grant writer, team members, and project partners
- Serve as Principal Investigator in the implementation phase, once funding has been secured
- Provide all proposal drafts and materials in electronic format (MS Word and Excel)
- Be willing to serve in this capacity again next year, working toward resubmission, if the proposal is rejected by the funder
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Team Members |
Qualifications |
General Duties |
Performance Expectations |
- Expertise and web of professional and personal contacts relevant to the program area(s) addressed by the grant
- Unique perspective that adds value to project design and proposal formulation
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- Advise on important aspects of project design and proposal formulation
- Conduct secondary source research and data gathering needed to support various aspects of the project design
- Draft portions of the grant proposal
- Assist in securing participation commitments from outside partners
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- Participate constructively in discussions regarding project design and proposal development
- Complete writing and other assignments on time
- Be responsive to friendly critiques from grant writer, PI, and other team members
- Serve on the team that coordinates project implementation, once funding has been secured
- Provide all proposal draft materials in electronic format (MS Word and Excel)
- Be willing to serve in this capacity again next year, working toward submission, if the proposal is rejected by the funder
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