example of grant application for research

• About Grants
• How to Apply - Application Guide

Samples: Applications, Attachments, and Other Documents

As you learn about grantsmanship and write your own applications and progress reports, examples of how others presented their ideas can help. NIH also provides attachment format examples, sample language, and more resources below.

On This Page:

Sample Grant Applications

Nih formats, sample language, and other examples.

With the gracious permission of successful investigators, some NIH institutes have provided samples of funded applications, summary statements, and more. When referencing these examples, it is important to remember:

• The applications below used the form version and instructions that were in effect at the time of their submission. Forms and instructions change regularly. Read and carefully follow the instructions in your chosen funding opportunity and the Application Guide .
• The best way to present your science may differ substantially from the approaches used in these examples. Seek feedback on your draft application from mentors and others.
• Talk to an NIH program officer in your area of science for advice about which grant program would be a good fit for you and the Institute or Center that might be interested in your idea.
• Samples are not available for all grant programs. Because many programs have common elements, the available samples can still provide helpful information and demonstrate effective ways to present information.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

• Sample Applications and Summary Statements (R01, R03, R15, R21, R33, SBIR, STTR, K, F, G11, and U01)
• NIAID Sample Forms, Plans, Letters, Emails, and More

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

• Behavioral Research Grant Applications (R01, R03, R21)
• Cancer Epidemiology Grant Applications (R01, R03, R21, R37)
• Implementation Science Grant Applications (R01, R21, R37) 
• Healthcare Delivery Research Grant Applications (R01, R03, R21, R50)

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

• Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Applications and Summary Statements (K99/R00, K01, R01, R03, and R21)
• NHGRI Sample Consent Forms

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

• K99/R00: Pathway to Independence Awards Sample Applications and summary statements
• NIA Small Business Sample Applications (SBIR and STTR Phase 1, Phase 2, and Fast-Track)

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

• Research Project Grants (R01) Sample Applications and Summary Statements
• Early Career Research (ECR) R21 Sample Applications and Summary Statements
• Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) Sample Applications and Summary Statements

NIH provides additional examples of completed forms, templates, plans, and other sample language for reference. Your chosen approach must follow the instructions in your funding opportunity and the How to Apply - Application Guide .

• Application Format Pages
• Annotated Form Sets
• Animal Document Samples from Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) for animal welfare assurances, study proposals, Memorandum of Understanding , and more
• Allowable Appendix Materials Examples
• Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources Plan Examples
• Biosketch Format Pages, Instructions, and Samples
• Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan Samples
• Informed Consent Example for Certificates of Confidentiality
• Informed Consent Sample Language for secondary research with data and biospecimens and for genomic research
• Model Organism Sharing Plans
• Multiple PI Leadership Plan Examples
• Other Support format page, samples, and instructions
• Scientific Rigor Examples
• Person Months FAQ with example calculations
• Plain Language Examples for application title, abstract, and public health relevance statements
• Project Outcome Description Examples for interim or final Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

This page last updated on: June 10, 2024

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Sample Grant Applications

On this page:

• Research Project Grants (R01): Sample Applications and Summary Statements 
• Early Career Research (ECR) R21 Awards: Sample Applications and Summary Statements 

Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) Awards: Sample Applications and Summary Statements

Preparing a stellar grant application is critical to securing research funding from NIDCD. On this page you will find examples of grant applications and summary statements from NIDCD investigators who have graciously shared their successful submissions to benefit the research community.

You can find more details about the NIDCD grants process from application to award on our  How to Apply for a Grant, Research Training, or Career Development Funding page.

For more examples of applications for research grants, small business grants, training and career awards, and cooperative agreements, please visit Sample Applications & More  on the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases website.

Always follow your funding opportunity’s specific instructions for application format. Although these samples demonstrate stellar grantsmanship, time has passed since these applications were submitted and the samples may not reflect changes in format or instructions.

The application text is copyrighted. You may use it only for nonprofit educational purposes provided the document remains unchanged and the researcher, the grantee organization, and NIDCD are all credited.

Section 508 compliance and accessibility: We have reformatted these sample applications to improve accessibility for people with disabilities and users of assistive technology. If you have trouble accessing the content, please contact the NIDCD web team .

Research Project Grants (R01): Sample Applications and Summary Statements

Investigator-initiated  Research Project Grants (R01)  make up the largest single category of support provided by NIDCD and NIH. The R01 is considered the traditional grant mechanism. These grants are awarded to organizations on behalf of an individual (a principal investigator, or PI) to facilitate pursuit of a research objective in the area of the investigator's research interests and competence.

Laurel H. Carney, Ph.D., University of Rochester

“Developing and testing models of the auditory system with and without hearing loss”

• Full Application (3.53MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (2.7MB PDF)

Leora R. Cherney, Ph.D., & Allen Walter Heinemann, Ph.D., Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

"Defining trajectories of linguistic, cognitive-communicative and quality of life outcomes in aphasia"

• Full Application (5.59MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (336KB PDF)

Robert C. Froemke, Ph.D., New York University Grossman School of Medicine

“Synaptic basis of perceptual learning in primary auditory cortex”

• Full Application (5.3MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (608KB PDF)

Rene H. Gifford, Ph.D., & Stephen Mark Camarata, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center

"Image-guided cochlear implant programming: Pediatric speech, language, and literacy"

• Full Application (9.63MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (485KB PDF)

Stavros Lomvardas, Ph.D., Columbia University Health Sciences

"Principles of zonal olfactory receptor gene expression"

• Full Application (6.37MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (183KB PDF)

Dan H. Sanes, Ph.D., New York University

“Social learning enhances auditory cortex sensitivity and task acquisition”

• Full Application (5.81MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (2.85MB PDF)

Christopher Shera, Ph.D., University of Southern California

"Understanding otoacoustic emissions"

• Full Application (6.9MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (447KB PDF)

Early Career Research (ECR) R21 Awards: Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The NIDCD Early Career Research (ECR) R21 Award supports both basic and clinical research from scientists who are beginning to establish an independent research career. The research must be focused on one or more of NIDCD's  scientific mission areas . The NIDCD ECR Award R21 supports projects including secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; translational research; outcomes research; and development of new research technology. The intent of the NIDCD ECR Award R21 is for the program director(s)/principal investigator(s) to obtain sufficient preliminary data for a subsequent R01 application.

Ho Ming Chow, Ph.D., University of Delaware

“Neural markers of persistence and recovery from childhood stuttering: An fMRI study of continuous speech production”

• Full Application (7.64MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (736KB PDF)

Brian B. Monson, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Auditory experience during the prenatal and perinatal period"

• Full Application (3.74MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (525KB PDF)

Elizabeth A. Walker, Ph.D., University of Iowa

“Mechanisms of listening effort in school age children who are hard of hearing”

• Full Application (10.2MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (622KB PDF)

The NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research R21 grant mechanism encourages exploratory and developmental research by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of project development. NIH has standardized the Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) application characteristics, requirements, preparation, and review procedures in order to accommodate investigator-initiated (unsolicited) grant applications. Projects should be distinct from those supported through the traditional R01 mechanism. The NIH Grants & Funding website explains the scope of this program .

Taylor Abel, M.D., University of Pittsburgh, & Lori Holt, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

“Flexible representation of speech in the supratemporal plane”

• Full Application (11.5MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (1.01MB PDF)

Melissa L. Anderson, Ph.D., MSCI, UMass Chan Medical School

“Deaf ACCESS: Adapting Consent through Community Engagement and State-of-the-art Simulation”

• Full Application (1.34MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (354KB PDF)

Lynnette McCluskey, Ph.D., Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

“Ace2 in the healthy and inflamed taste system”

• Full Application (6.05MB PDF)

Benjamin R. Munson, Ph.D., University of Minnesota

“Race, ethnicity, and speech intelligibility in normal hearing and hearing impairment”

• Full Application (1.35MB PDF)
• Summary Statement (378KB PDF)

(link is external) .

ANNOTATED SAMPLE GRANT PROPOSALS

How to Use Annotated Sample Grants

Are these real grants written by real students.

Yes! While each proposal represents a successfully funded application, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) The proposals below are  final products;  no student started out with a polished proposal. The proposal writing process requires stages of editing while a student formulates their project and works on best representing that project in writing. 2) The samples reflect a wide range of project types, but  they are not exhaustive . URGs can be on any topic in any field, but all must make a successful argument for why their project should be done/can be done by the person proposing to do it.  See our proposal writing guides for more advice. The best way to utilize these proposals is to pay attention to the  proposal strengths  and  areas for improvement  on each cover page to guide your reading.

How do I decide which sample grants to read?

When students first look through the database, they are usually compelled to read an example from their major (Therefore, we often hear complaints that there is not a sample proposal for every major). However, this is not the best approach because there can be many different kinds of methodologies within a single subject area, and similar research methods can be used across fields.

• Read through the Methodology Definitions and Proposal Features  to identify which methodolog(ies) are most similar to your proposed project. 
• Use the Annotated Sample Grant Database ( scroll below the definitions and features) filters or search for this methodology to identify relevant proposals and begin reading!

It does not matter whether the samples you read are summer grants (SURGs) or academic year grants (AYURGs).  The main difference between the two grant types is that academic year proposals (AYURG) require a budget to explain how the $1,000 will be used towards research materials, while summer proposals (SURG) do not require a budget (the money is a living stipend that goes directly to the student awardee) and SURGs have a bigger project scope since they reflect a project that will take 8 weeks of full time research to complete.  The overall format and style is the same across both grant cycles, so they are relevant examples for you to review, regardless of which grant cycle you are planning to apply.  

How do I get my proposal to look like these sample grants?

Do not submit a first draft:  These sample proposals went through multiple rounds of revisions with feedback from both Office of Undergraduate Research advisors and the student’s faculty mentor. First, it helps to learn about grant structure and proposal writing techniques before you get started. Then, when you begin drafting, it’s normal to make lots of changes as the grant evolves. You will learn a lot about your project during the editing and revision process, and you typically end up with a better project by working through several drafts of a proposal.

Work with an advisor:  Students who work with an Office of Undergraduate Research Advisor have higher success rates than students who do not. We encourage students to meet with advisors well in advance of the deadline (and feel free to send us drafts of your proposal prior to our advising appointment, no matter how rough your draft is!), so we can help you polish and refine your proposal.

Review final proposal checklists prior to submission:  the expectation is a two-page, single-spaced research grant proposal (1″ margins, Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11), and proposals that do not meet these formatting expectations will not be considered by the review committee.  Your bibliography does not count towards this page limit.

Academic Year URG Submission Checklist

Summer URG Application Checklist

METHODOLOGY DEFINITIONS & PROPOSAL FEATURES

Research methodologies.

The proposed project involves collecting primary sources held in archives, a Special Collections library, or other repository. Archival sources might include manuscripts, documents, records, objects, sound and audiovisual materials, etc. If a student proposes a trip to collect such sources, the student should address a clear plan of what will be collected from which archives, and should address availability and access (ie these sources are not available online, and the student has permission to access the archive).

Computational/Mathematical Modeling

The proposed project involves developing models to numerically study the behavior of system(s), often through computer simulation. Students should specify what modeling tool they will be using (i.e., an off-the-shelf product, a lab-specific codebase), what experience they have with it, and what resources they have when they get stuck with the tool (especially if the advisor is not a modeler). Models often involve iterations of improvements, so much like a Design/Build project, the proposal should clearly define parameters for a “successful” model with indication of how the student will assess if the model meets these minimum qualifications.

Creative Output

The proposed project has a creative output such playwriting, play production, documentary, music composition, poetry, creative writing, or other art. Just like all other proposals, the project centers on an answerable question, and the student must show the question and method associated with the research and generation of that project. The artist also must justify their work and make an argument for why this art is needed and/or how it will add to important conversations .

Design/Build

The proposed project’s output centers around a final product or tool. The student clearly defines parameters for a “successful” project with indication of how they will assess if the product meets these minimum qualifications.

The project takes place in a lab or research group environment, though the methodology within the lab or research group vary widely by field. The project often fits within the larger goals/or project of the research group, but the proposal still has a clearly identified research question that the student is working independently to answer.

Literary/Composition Analysis

The project studies, evaluates, and interprets literature or composition. The methods are likely influenced by theory within the field of study. In the proposal, the student has clearly defined which pieces will be studied and will justify why these pieces were selected. Context will be given that provides a framework for how the pieces will be analyzed or interpreted.

Qualitative Data Analysis

The project proposes to analyze data from non-numeric information such as interview transcripts, notes, video and audio recordings, images, and text documents. The proposal clearly defines how the student will examine and interpret patterns and themes in the data and how this methodology will help to answer the defined research question.

Quantitative Data Analysis

The project proposes to analyze data from numeric sources. The proposal clearly defines variables to be compared and provides insight as to the kinds of statistical tests that will be used to evaluate the significance of the data.

The proposed project will collect data through survey(s). The proposal should clearly defined who will be asked to complete the survey, how these participants will be recruited, and/or proof of support from contacts. The proposal should include the survey(s) in an appendix. The proposal should articulate how the results from these survey(s) will be analyzed.

The proposed project will use theoretical frameworks within their proposed area of research to explain, predict, and/or challenge and extend existing knowledge. The conceptual framework serves as a lens through which the student will evaluate the research project and research question(s); it will likely contain a set of assumptions and concepts that form the basis of this lens.

Proposal Features

Group project.

A group project is proposed by two or more students; these proposals receive one additional page for each additional student beyond the two page maximum. Group projects must clearly articulate the unique role of each student researcher. While the uploaded grant proposal is the same, each student researcher must submit their own application into the system for the review.

International Travel

Projects may take place internationally. If the proposed country is not the student’s place of permanent residence, the student can additionally apply for funding to cover half the cost of an international plane ticket. Proposals with international travel should likely include travel itineraries and/or proof of support from in-country contacts in the appendix.

Non-English Language Proficiency

Projects may be conducted in a non-English language. If you have proficiency in the proposed language, you should include context (such as bilingual, heritage speaker, or by referencing coursework etc.) If you are not proficient and the project requires language proficiency, you should include a plan for translation or proof of contacts in the country who can support your research in English.

DATABASE OF ANNOTATED SAMPLE GRANTS

Sample Applications & More

Several NIAID investigators have graciously agreed to share their exceptional applications and summary statements as samples to help the research community. Below the list of applications, you’ll also find example forms, sharing plans, letters, emails, and more. Find more guidance at NIAID’s Apply for a Grant .

Always follow your funding opportunity's instructions for application format. Although these applications demonstrate good grantsmanship, time has passed since these grant recipients applied. The samples may not reflect the latest format or rules. NIAID posts new samples periodically.

The text of these applications is copyrighted. Awardees provided express permission for NIAID to post these grant applications and summary statements for educational purposes. Awardees allow you to use the material (e.g., data, writing, graphics) they shared in these applications for nonprofit educational purposes only, provided the material remains unchanged and the principal investigators, awardee organizations, and NIH NIAID are credited.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) . NIAID is strongly committed to protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the peer review process. When NIH responds to FOIA requests for grant applications and summary statements, the material will be subject to FOIA exemptions and include substantial redactions. NIH must protect all confidential commercial or financial information, reviewer comments and deliberations, and personal privacy information.

Note on Section 508 Conformance and Accessibility.  We have reformatted these samples to improve accessibility for people with disabilities and users of assistive technology. If you have trouble accessing the content, please contact the NIAID Office of Knowledge and Educational Resources at [email protected] .

Table of Contents

Find sample applications and summary statements below by type:

• Research grants. R01 , R03 , R15 , R21 , and R21/R33
• Small business grants. R41, R42, R43, and R44
• Training and career awards.  K01 , K08 , K23 , and F31
• Extramural Associate Research Development Award.  G11
• Cooperative agreements. U01  

Find additional resources in the  NIAID and NIH Sample Forms, Plans, Letters, Emails, and More  section.

Research Grants

R01 sample applications and summary statements.

The R01 is the NIH standard independent research project grant. An R01 is meant to give you 4 or 5 years of support to complete a project, publish, and reapply before the grant ends. Read more at NIAID’s Comparing Popular Research Project Grants: R01, R03, and R21 .

R01 Samples Using Forms Version D

R01 Samples Using Forms Version C

R03 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The small grant (R03) supports new research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources. They are awarded for up to 2 years and are not renewable. R03s are not intended for new investigators. Read more at NIAID’s Comparing Popular Research Project Grants: R01, R03, and R21 .

R15 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The Research Enhancement Award (R15) program supports small-scale research projects to expose students to research and strengthen the research environment at educational institutions that have not been major recipients of NIH support. They are awarded for up to 3 years.

R21 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The R21 funds novel scientific ideas, model systems, tools, agents, targets, and technologies that have the potential to substantially advance biomedical research. R21s are not intended for new investigators, and there is no evidence that they provide a path to an independent research career. Read more at NIAID’s Comparing Popular Research Project Grants: R01, R03, and R21 .

R21/R33 Sample Application and Summary Statement

The R21/R33 supports a two-phased award without a break in funding. It begins with the R21 phase for milestone-driven exploratory or feasibility studies with a possible transition to the R33 phase for expanded development. Transition to the second phase depends on several factors, including the achievement of negotiated milestones.

Small Business Grants

R41, r42, r43, and r44 – small business sample applications.

The SBIR (R43/R44) and STTR (R41/R42) programs support domestic small businesses to engage in research and development with the potential for commercialization. Read more about NIAID Small Business Programs .

*Dr. Mark Poritz submitted the original grant application. In the course of the first year of funding, Dr. Andrew Hemmert took on increasing responsibility for the work. For the grant renewal, Dr. Poritz proposed that Dr. Hemmert replace him as the PI.

Training and Career Awards

K01 sample applications and summary statements.

The Research Scientist Development Award (K01) supports those with a research or health-professional doctoral degree and research development plans in epidemiology, computational modeling, or outcomes research. Read more about NIAID Research Career Development (K) Awards .

K08 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) supports those with current work in biomedical or behavioral research, including translational research, a clinical doctoral degree such as M.D., D.V.M., or O.D., and a professional license to practice in the United States. Read more about NIAID Research Career Development (K) Awards .

K23 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) supports those with a clinical doctoral degree, who have the potential to develop into productive, clinical investigators, and who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research. Read more about NIAID Research Career Development (K) Awards .

F31 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

National Research Service Award (NRSA) individual fellowship (F31) grants provide research experience to predoctoral scientists. Read more about NIAID  Fellowship Grants (F) .

G11 Sample Applications and Summary Statements

The Extramural Associate Research Development Award (EARDA) (G11) provides funds to institutions eligible to participate in the NIH Extramural Associates Program for establishing or enhancing an office of sponsored research and for other research infrastructure needs. Search for NIAID G11 Opportunities .

U01 Sample Application and Summary Statement

The U01 research project cooperative agreement supports a discrete, specified, circumscribed project for investigators to perform in their areas of specific interest and competency. Learn more about NIAID Cooperative Agreements (U) . 

NIAID and NIH Sample Forms, Plans, Letters, Emails, and More

• Complex Model Organisms Sharing Plan
• Model Organisms Sharing Plan for Mice
• Simple Model Organisms Sharing Plan
• Sample Letter to Document Training in the Protection of Human Subjects
• Withdrawal of an Application Sample Form Letter
• Sample Just-in-Time Email From NIH
• Sample NIAID Request for Just-in-Time Information
• Preparing for a Foreign Organization System (FOS) Review
• Subaward Templates and Tools from the Federal Demonstration Partnership
• DMID Quality Management Guidance and Tools
• Sample Cancer Epidemiology Grant Applications
• Sample Behavioral Research Grant Applications
• Sample Implementation Science Research Applications
• K99/R00 Sample Applications
• Annotated SF 424 Grant Application Forms
• Biosketch Format Pages, Instructions and Samples
• Reference Letters
• Sample Data Tables for Training Grant Applications
• Additional Senior/Key Person Profile Format – for over 100 senior/key people
• Additional Performance Site Format – for over 300 performance sites
• Other Support Format Page
• Scientific Rigor Examples
• Authentication Plan Examples
• Sample Data Management and Sharing Plans
• Examples of Project Leadership Plans for Multiple PI Grant Applications
• Example calculations in the Usage of Person Months questions and answers
• Examples of Allowable Appendix Materials
• Sample Project Outcomes Description  for RPPR
• Worksheet for Review of the Vertebrate Animal Section (VAS)
• Sample Animal Study Proposal

Have Questions?

A program officer in your area of science can give you application advice, NIAID's perspective on your research, and confirmation that your proposed research fits within NIAID’s mission.

Find contacts and instructions at When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer .

Successful Grant Proposal Examples: The Ultimate List for 2024

Reviewed by:

January 29, 2024

Table of Contents

Writing grant proposals can be a stressful process for many organizations. However, it's also an exciting time for your nonprofit to secure the funds needed to deliver or expand your services.

In this article, we'll dig into successful grant proposal examples to show how you can start winning grant funding for your organization.

By the time you finish reading this, you'll understand the characteristics of successful proposals, examples of grant proposals in a variety of program areas, and know exactly where you can find more sample grant proposals for nonprofit organizations .

Ready? Let's dig in!

Why Should You Find Successful Grant Proposal Examples?

Whether you are a seasoned grant writer or are preparing your first proposal ever, grant writing can be an intimidating endeavor. Grant writing is like any skill in that if you apply yourself, practice, and practice some more, you are sure to increase your ability to write compelling proposals.

Successful grant proposals not only convey the great idea you have for your organization but convince others to get excited about the future you envision. Many follow similar structures and developing a process that works best for your writing style can help make the task of preparing proposals much easier.

In addition to showing what to and not to do, finding successful grant proposals can help you see significant trends and structures that can help you develop your grant writing capabilities.

What Characteristics Make a Grant Proposal Successful?

"Grant writing is science, but it's not rocket science." - Meredith Noble

There's a lot that goes into creating a successful grant proposal. If you're feeling overwhelmed, Meredith Noble, grant writing expert, shares a straightforward step-by-step process to win funding.

1. Successful grant proposals have a clear focus.

Your first step when searching for funds is to clearly understand why you need those funds and what they will accomplish. Funders want to invest in programs they believe will be successful and impactful.

In your proposals, you want to instill confidence in your organization's commitment to the issue, dedication to the communities you serve, and capacity to fulfill the proposed grant activities.

Some questions that you may want to consider include:

• Are you looking for funds to establish a new program, launch a pilot project, or expand an existing program?
• Will your proposed program be finished in a year, or will it take multiple years to achieve your goal?
• Who is involved in your program, and who will benefit from its success?
• What problem will the proposed program address, and how is that solution unique?
• What are the specific, tangible goals that you hope to accomplish with the potential grant award?

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2. Successful grant proposals are supported with relevant data.

Before starting your grant proposal, you want to take the time to do your research and make sure that your action plan is realistic and well-supported with data. By presenting yourself as capable and knowledgeable with reliable data, a thorough action plan, and a clear understanding of the subject matter.

It can also be beneficial to include data that your organization has collected to show program impacts and staff successes. Conduct regular analysis of program activities, grant deliverables, and collect success stories from clients and community members.

Some tips for when you collect your grant research :

• Make sure that you gather data from reputable sources. For example, at government sites such as Data.Census.gov , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for demographic data, or the U.S. Small Business, Explore Census Data Administration for industry analyses.

• Include diverse data. There may be some statistics where the numbers are enough to grab the reader's attention; other times, it may be helpful to have illustrations, graphs, or maps.
• In addition to quantitative data, qualitative data such as a story from an impacted community member may be extremely compelling.
• Make sure that the data you include is relevant. Throwing random numbers or statistics into the proposal does not make it impressive. All of the included data should directly support the main point of your proposal.
• You may find it useful to log important notes around what data you want to include in your grant proposal using a grant tracking tool such as Instrumentl .

By the way, check out our post on grant statistics after you finish this one!

3. Successful grant proposals are well-organized

Make sure to pay close attention to all of the requirements that a potential funder includes in their grant details and/or request for proposals (RFP). Your submission and all accompanying attachments, which may also include any graphs and illustrations, should adhere precisely to these guidelines.

Frequently the RFP or grant description will include directions for dividing and organizing your proposal. If, however, it does not, it is still best practice to break your proposal into clear sections with concise headings. You can include a table of contents with page numbers as well.

Standard grant proposal sections include:

• Proposal Summary: Also called the Executive Summary, this is a very brief statement (1-3 paragraphs) that explains your proposal and specifically states the amount of funding requested.
• Project Narrative: The bulk of your proposal, the Project Narrative, will do most of the work introducing your organization, the program, and describing your project. - Organization History: Who you are, what you do, where and how you do it. - Statement of the Problem: Background information on the problem and how it will be solved through the grant. - Project Description: Detailed explanation of the program you intend to implement with the grant, including a detailed timeline.
• Budget and Budget Justification: A breakdown of the project resources into specific budget categories, the amount allocated to each category, and appropriate reasons for that breakdown.

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4. successful grant proposals are tailored to the funder..

In addition to finding the basic details on the funding opportunity and application guidelines, you should also look into the funder, their giving priorities, and history.

Funders are much more likely to select your organization among others if they clearly understand and empathize with your cause and recognize the impact your work has in the community.

For more details on establishing meaningful relationships with funders, check out our article on How to Approach and Build Grant Funder Relationships .

The first step in determining whether a funding opportunity is a good fit, do some research to ensure your organization's programs and financial needs meet the funder’s interests and resources.

A few questions to ask include:

• What are the organization’s values, written mission, and goals?
• How is what you want to do aligned with the overall mission of this agency?
• Do their giving priorities match with the vision of your proposed program?
• Will this grant cover the entire cost of your program, or will you need to find additional funds?
• Does the grant timeline meet the budget needs of your organization?
• Are there other considerations that might be useful for us to know in preparing your application?

5. Successful grant proposals are proofread!

If you have been in the grant writing game for any extended period of time, chances are that you’ve dealt with tight deadlines. Nonprofit staff often have a lot on their plates, and if you happen to find an attractive funding opportunity when there’s only a handful of days before its deadline, it may be difficult to walk away.

It is crucial to plan an appropriate amount of time to review and proofread your proposal. Grammar mistakes can make or break your submission and they are easy to fix.

General strategies for editing your proposal include:

• Use one of the many available grammar-checking software such as Grammarly or GrammarCheck.me . These online tools are often free to use and can help you quickly and accurately review your work.

• Ask other members of your team to peer-review the proposal. It is especially important to have staff working on or who are directly impacted by the program proposed to ensure everyone is on the same page. Additionally, these staff members have the most information about the program's implementation and can catch inconsistency or unrealistic promises in the proposal.
• It is also helpful to ask someone unfamiliar with your program and the subject matter discussed in the proposal. Sometimes the grant reviewer may not have the same level of knowledge you or your staff have about the subject matter, and so you want to ensure you stay away from overly-specific jargon and undefined acronyms.
• Read through it (again!). A final read-through, maybe out loud, after all the edits have been made, can help you catch overlooked mistakes or inconsistencies in the proposal.

If you're looking to start building your own nonprofit financial statement and nonprofit membership application, get started quickly by using our Nonprofit Financial Statement Template and Nonprofit Membership Application Template . The template is made in Canva, an an easy-to-use creative design tool. You can jump right in, change colors, add your logo, and adjust the copy so it fits your brand.Why start from scratch when you can use one of our templates?

The Ultimate List of Grant Proposal Examples

As stated early on in the article, every grant proposal is unique. We have curated a list of sample grants for various types of projects or nonprofit organizations. This list is in no way exhaustive, but several examples cover common program designs and focus areas that receive philanthropic support through grants.

Research Grant Proposal Samples

Finding a grant opportunity to fund research can be a challenge. These types of grants are typically intensive and require in-depth expertise, a proposed research design, explanation of methodology, project timelines, and evidence of the principal investigator(s) qualifications.

The following are examples of grant proposals in support of research projects or studies.

Harvard University - Proposal to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2009) :

Researchers at Harvard University proposed to research the “growth of policies in the United States around the use of genomic science in medicine and racial identity.”

For grants focused on research, it is important to ensure that the proposal can be understood by different kinds of stakeholders. While the research may be very specific and require some expertise to understand, the purpose and need for the research undertaken should be able to be understood by anyone.

For example, being cognizant of jargon and when it is and isn’t appropriate to use is incredibly important when developing a research grant proposal.

This proposal to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, while very detailed and specific, still lays out the intent of the proposal in laymans terms and includes the appropriate amount of detail while ensuring that a broader audience can read and understand the request and purpose of the study.

Northwestern University - Annotated Grant Proposal Sample (2016)

For individuals or organizations who are interested in developing a great grant proposal in support of a research project, Northwestern University has a catalog of grant proposal samples with annotations denoting notable strengths and weaknesses of the application.

Linked above is one such example, a grant proposal in support of a project titled “Understanding the Stability of Barium-Containing Ceramic Glazes”. Review Northwestern University’s catalog of sample proposals here for additional guidance and inspiration.

Clinical Trial Grant Proposal Sample

Clinical trials are important research projects that test medical, behavioral, or surgical inventions to prove or disprove hypotheses about their efficacy. These trials are an important component of scientific and medical advancement. Oftentimes, hospitals or research institutions require robust funding from grants to initiate a trial of this kind.

While clinical trials are highly specific and require a great deal of expert input to develop, reviewing a grant proposal sample can help you prepare should your nonprofit organization decide to pursue a funding opportunity of this kind.

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Center for Clinical and Translational Science – NIH Grant R Series Samples :

If your nonprofit organization is seeking funding for a clinical trial, a great place to begin for tools and resources is the University of Alabama’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

The Center’s website has several sample proposals submitted to the National Institutes of Health . For professionals hoping to submit a grant proposal in support of a clinical trial, you may find one among these excellent examples that aligns closely with your work and can guide the grant development process.

Community Garden Grant Proposal Sample

Community gardens are idyllic cornerstones of their neighborhoods, cultivating lush, green spaces where residents can build a thriving community. Some community gardens are run by nonprofits such as land trusts or are born out of special projects initiated by nonprofit organizations.

Either way, to ensure the sustainability of local community gardens, gardeners and community garden managers may need to apply for funding through grant opportunities. Below is just one grant proposal sample in support of a community garden that may help you develop your own winning community garden grant application.

Stockton University – Community Garden 2020 Proposal :

This grant proposal submitted on behalf of Stockton University does an excellent job of illustrating the success of their community garden project and justifies the need for funding to sustain the momentum of the project going forward.

This proposal is also visually compelling and well-designed, incorporating photos and color schemes that directly evoke the image of a flourishing community garden. Ensuring your proposal document is easy to read and incorporates a strong layout and design can sometimes make or break an otherwise strong proposal that is being judged in a competitive pool of applicants. Strong design elements can set your proposal apart and make it shine!

Government Grant Proposal Samples

Government grants are some of the most complex and challenging funding opportunities that a person can come across. Funding from government entities is allocated from tax-payer dollars, and as such the government employs strict requirements and rigorous oversight over the grantmaking process.

Having a successful template or sample in hand can help position you for success when you need help applying for a government grant.

National Endowment for the Humanities - Challenge Grant Proposal Narrative Sample :

Developing a grant narrative is a challenge regardless of the opportunity. Government grants, which require very specific detail, can pose an even greater challenge than most opportunities. Linked here is a successfully funded project of the Alexandria Archive Institute, Inc . through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

This project is a great example of how to develop a grant narrative that successfully addresses the stringent requirements associated with grant proposals. Note how each section is laid out, the double spacing, citations, and other key elements that are required in a government proposal to adhere to specific standards.

Even though this is a great example, also be aware that every government agency is different and while this proposal was a successful application for the NEH, other agencies may have different requirements including specific narrative sections, attachments and work plans, among other key items.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – City of Pleasantville Clean School Bus, Clean Snow Removal Trucks and Clean Bulldozers Project Proposal Sample :

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers an example grant for potential grantees to review. This sample proposal envisions a project by a local municipality to procure buses, snow removal trucks, and bulldozers that produce less emissions thereby decreasing air pollution in the region. This sample proposal is a great guide for developing a compelling narrative and weaving in evidence-based data and information to support throughout.

Conference Grant Proposal Sample

Conferences are an important aspect of a nonprofit or educational institution's operations. Conferences can help bring together like minded individuals across sectors to find solutions and sharpen their skills, and they can facilitate the formation of powerful coalitions and advocacy groups.

Identifying funding for conferences can be difficult, and requires a thoughtful, strategic approach to achieve success. Following a template or grant proposal sample can help guide you through the application process and strengthen your chances of submitting a successful application.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – American Urological Associations Quality Improvement Summit :

This sample proposal provides an extensive template to follow for writing a successful conference grant proposal. The proposal follows an easily understood, structured narrative, and includes a detailed budget and key personnel profiles that will help anyone applying for grant support strengthen their chances of developing a high-quality application.

Dance Grant Proposal Sample

There are countless arts and cultural nonprofit organizations in the United States. According to Americans for the Arts , there are over 113,000 organizations (nonprofit or otherwise) devoted to promoting arts and culture in communities throughout the country—including dance.

Whether a theater that focuses on dance performance or a studio that teaches beginners how to appreciate the art form, there are a variety of dance-focused nonprofits that exist. Identifying strong grant proposal samples for dance-focused organizations or projects can be helpful as you work to help your dance program grow and gain revenue.

Mass Cultural Council – Dance/Theater Project Grant Sample :

This is an example proposal for an interactive dance/theatrical puppet project that focuses on engaging families. While this example captures a very unique and specific project, it also provides a good example of how to craft a case statement , write a strong project description, and develop a detailed project budget.

Daycare Grant Proposal Sample

In the United States, daycares are a vital component of childhood development, but unfortunately many families are unable to access them due to cost or accessibility. Studies show that in 2020 alone, over 57% of working families spent more than $10,000 on childcare while 51% U.S. residents live in regions classified as “childcare deserts”.

Given this, nonprofit daycares are vital to supporting future generations and providing accessible and affordable childcare for parents throughout the country. Many nonprofit daycares rely on generous funding through grants. Nonprofit day care professionals can use all the help they can get to submit winning proposals and sustain their daycare’s operations.

Relying on a high-quality grant proposal sample or template can be a huge help when working on a grant application or writing a proposal in support of a daycare.

AWE - Digital Learning Solutions – Grant Proposal Template :

While not a straightforward grant proposal sample, this grant template provides detailed guidance and helpful examples of how to respond to common questions and how to craft essential elements of a grant proposal focused on childcare and childhood development.

For example, the template provides easy to understand steps and bulleted lists for every key component of the grant proposal including a case statement, organizational capacity and information, project sustainability, project budget, and project evaluation.

Literacy Grant Proposal Sample

Promoting literacy is a very common mission for nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. and the world. Literacy projects and programs are typically provided by educational institutions or education focused nonprofits.

In fact, according to the Urban Institute , Education focused nonprofits made up 17.2% of all public charities. With numbers like these, it can be helpful to gain insights from a grant proposal sample that will help you win grants and grow your organization.

Suburban Council of International Literacy (Reading) Association “Simply Reading” – Grant Proposal Sample :

This sample proposal to the Suburban Council of International Literacy (Reading) Association (SCIRA) is a great example of a strongly developed narrative that makes a powerful case for how fostering a love for reading among young students can result in improved educational outcomes. This helpful guide provides a framework for drafting a high-quality grant narrative while also giving examples of other key proposal elements such as a project budget.

Successful Educational Grant Proposals

Educational programming can be highly diverse in its delivery. Check out these examples of successful grant proposals for education to help you get started winning funds for your next educational program.

Kurzweil Educational Systems : In addition to this being a successful grant proposal, this example also includes detailed explanations of each section and provides useful guidelines that can help you frame your proposal.

Salem Education Foundation : This foundation has posted a sample application of a school seeking funding for increasing youth enrichment opportunities for their annual grant.

This is a great example for funding opportunities that ask specific questions about your organization and the proposed project instead of requesting a general proposal or narrative.

Successful Youth Grant Proposals

These examples of grant proposals for youth programs can help you tap into one of the largest categories of charitable dollars.

Family Service Association (FSA): This example of a grant proposal that is well-written and comprehensive. It is for a community block grant focused on youth development to expand services and cover staff salaries.

The Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA): This is a sample produced by the national office of the BGCA to assist local branches in securing funds for youth programming and expanding services.

Successful Health-Related Grant Proposals

There is a large amount of funding for health-related initiatives, from healthcare grants to individuals, operational support for organizations or clinicians, and supporting researchers advancing the field. These sample grants give a bit of insight into this diverse sphere.

Centerville Community Center : Follow this link to read a grant to support community-based programming to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease prevention. This proposal does a great job of breaking down the project description, proposed activities, tracking measures, and timeline.

Prevention Plus Wellness : This is a sample grant proposal for nonprofit organizations to assist those looking to secure funds to address substance use and wellness programming for youth and young adults.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID): The NIAID has released several examples of proposal applications and scientific research grant proposal samples that successfully secured funding for scientific research related to healthcare.

Other Successful Grant Proposals

Of the over 1.6 million nonprofit organizations in the United States , your funding requests may fall out of the three general categories described above. We have included additional grants that may help meet your diverse needs.

Kennett Area Senior Center : Submitted to a local community foundation, this proposal requests funding between the range of $1,000 to $10,000 to provide critical services and assistance to local seniors.

In addition to being very detailed in describing the program details it also carefully describes the problem to be addressed.

Region 2 Arts Council: This comprehensive grant proposal requests funds to support an artist to continue expanding their skills and professional experience. This is a useful example for individual grants or scholarships for professional or scholastic opportunities in supported fields.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church: This is an excellent example of a faith-based organization’s proposal to secure funds for a capital project to repair their building. The framing of this proposal and the language in the narrative can be used to help shape proposal letters to individual donors and to foundations, which can be especially useful for faith-based organizations or other groups looking to secure funds.

Tips to Get More Successful Grant Proposal Examples

If you are interested in finding more grant proposal examples, especially those directly related to your organization's priorities and service area, you can look at a few places.

1st: Foundation Websites

Sometimes a foundation will include past proposal submissions publicly on the website. These are especially useful if you are seeking grants from the organization. You can see exactly what kind of proposals they found compelling enough to fund and see if there are any trends in their structure or language.

2nd: Online Tools and Workshops

Sites like the Community Tool Box or Non-Profit Guides offer free online resources for organizations working to support healthier communities and support social change. They provide helpful advice for new nonprofits and provide a whole suite of sample grants to help you start winning grants step by step.

You may also be able to ask other members of the Instrumentl community for their past successful grant proposals by attending our next live workshop. Hundreds of grant proposals attend these every few weeks. To RSVP, go here .

3rd: Collect your own! 

As you start submitting grants, you are also creating a collection of sample grants tailored to your subject area. Every response offers an invaluable learning opportunity that can help you strengthen your grant writing skills.

Perhaps there are similarities among proposals that do exceptionally well. If a submission is rejected, ask for feedback or a score breakdown. Then, you may be able to see what areas need improvement for the future. Read our post on grant writing best practices for more on how to evaluate your past proposals.

Wrapping Things Up: Successful Grant Proposal Examples

Grant writing is a skill that anyone can learn. And as you begin to build your skills and prepare to write your next proposal, let these examples of successful grant proposals act as a guide to successful grant writing. Don’t however mistake a useful example as the ultimate guide to winning a grant for your organization.

Make sure to keep your unique mission, vision, and voice in the proposal!

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Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!)

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). It’s targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, although it will also be helpful to undergraduate students who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis).

The grant writing process

A grant proposal or application is a document or set of documents that is submitted to an organization with the explicit intent of securing funding for a research project. Grant writing varies widely across the disciplines, and research intended for epistemological purposes (philosophy or the arts) rests on very different assumptions than research intended for practical applications (medicine or social policy research). Nonetheless, this handout attempts to provide a general introduction to grant writing across the disciplines.

Before you begin writing your proposal, you need to know what kind of research you will be doing and why. You may have a topic or experiment in mind, but taking the time to define what your ultimate purpose is can be essential to convincing others to fund that project. Although some scholars in the humanities and arts may not have thought about their projects in terms of research design, hypotheses, research questions, or results, reviewers and funding agencies expect you to frame your project in these terms. You may also find that thinking about your project in these terms reveals new aspects of it to you.

Writing successful grant applications is a long process that begins with an idea. Although many people think of grant writing as a linear process (from idea to proposal to award), it is a circular process. Many people start by defining their research question or questions. What knowledge or information will be gained as a direct result of your project? Why is undertaking your research important in a broader sense? You will need to explicitly communicate this purpose to the committee reviewing your application. This is easier when you know what you plan to achieve before you begin the writing process.

Diagram 1 below provides an overview of the grant writing process and may help you plan your proposal development.

Applicants must write grant proposals, submit them, receive notice of acceptance or rejection, and then revise their proposals. Unsuccessful grant applicants must revise and resubmit their proposals during the next funding cycle. Successful grant applications and the resulting research lead to ideas for further research and new grant proposals.

Cultivating an ongoing, positive relationship with funding agencies may lead to additional grants down the road. Thus, make sure you file progress reports and final reports in a timely and professional manner. Although some successful grant applicants may fear that funding agencies will reject future proposals because they’ve already received “enough” funding, the truth is that money follows money. Individuals or projects awarded grants in the past are more competitive and thus more likely to receive funding in the future.

Some general tips

• Begin early.
• Apply early and often.
• Don’t forget to include a cover letter with your application.
• Answer all questions. (Pre-empt all unstated questions.)
• If rejected, revise your proposal and apply again.
• Give them what they want. Follow the application guidelines exactly.
• Be explicit and specific.
• Be realistic in designing the project.
• Make explicit the connections between your research questions and objectives, your objectives and methods, your methods and results, and your results and dissemination plan.
• Follow the application guidelines exactly. (We have repeated this tip because it is very, very important.)

Before you start writing

Identify your needs and focus.

First, identify your needs. Answering the following questions may help you:

• Are you undertaking preliminary or pilot research in order to develop a full-blown research agenda?
• Are you seeking funding for dissertation research? Pre-dissertation research? Postdoctoral research? Archival research? Experimental research? Fieldwork?
• Are you seeking a stipend so that you can write a dissertation or book? Polish a manuscript?
• Do you want a fellowship in residence at an institution that will offer some programmatic support or other resources to enhance your project?
• Do you want funding for a large research project that will last for several years and involve multiple staff members?

Next, think about the focus of your research/project. Answering the following questions may help you narrow it down:

• What is the topic? Why is this topic important?
• What are the research questions that you’re trying to answer? What relevance do your research questions have?
• What are your hypotheses?
• What are your research methods?
• Why is your research/project important? What is its significance?
• Do you plan on using quantitative methods? Qualitative methods? Both?
• Will you be undertaking experimental research? Clinical research?

Once you have identified your needs and focus, you can begin looking for prospective grants and funding agencies.

Finding prospective grants and funding agencies

Whether your proposal receives funding will rely in large part on whether your purpose and goals closely match the priorities of granting agencies. Locating possible grantors is a time consuming task, but in the long run it will yield the greatest benefits. Even if you have the most appealing research proposal in the world, if you don’t send it to the right institutions, then you’re unlikely to receive funding.

There are many sources of information about granting agencies and grant programs. Most universities and many schools within universities have Offices of Research, whose primary purpose is to support faculty and students in grant-seeking endeavors. These offices usually have libraries or resource centers to help people find prospective grants.

At UNC, the Research at Carolina office coordinates research support.

The Funding Information Portal offers a collection of databases and proposal development guidance.

The UNC School of Medicine and School of Public Health each have their own Office of Research.

Writing your proposal

The majority of grant programs recruit academic reviewers with knowledge of the disciplines and/or program areas of the grant. Thus, when writing your grant proposals, assume that you are addressing a colleague who is knowledgeable in the general area, but who does not necessarily know the details about your research questions.

Remember that most readers are lazy and will not respond well to a poorly organized, poorly written, or confusing proposal. Be sure to give readers what they want. Follow all the guidelines for the particular grant you are applying for. This may require you to reframe your project in a different light or language. Reframing your project to fit a specific grant’s requirements is a legitimate and necessary part of the process unless it will fundamentally change your project’s goals or outcomes.

Final decisions about which proposals are funded often come down to whether the proposal convinces the reviewer that the research project is well planned and feasible and whether the investigators are well qualified to execute it. Throughout the proposal, be as explicit as possible. Predict the questions that the reviewer may have and answer them. Przeworski and Salomon (1995) note that reviewers read with three questions in mind:

• What are we going to learn as a result of the proposed project that we do not know now? (goals, aims, and outcomes)
• Why is it worth knowing? (significance)
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid? (criteria for success) (2)

Be sure to answer these questions in your proposal. Keep in mind that reviewers may not read every word of your proposal. Your reviewer may only read the abstract, the sections on research design and methodology, the vitae, and the budget. Make these sections as clear and straightforward as possible.

The way you write your grant will tell the reviewers a lot about you (Reif-Lehrer 82). From reading your proposal, the reviewers will form an idea of who you are as a scholar, a researcher, and a person. They will decide whether you are creative, logical, analytical, up-to-date in the relevant literature of the field, and, most importantly, capable of executing the proposed project. Allow your discipline and its conventions to determine the general style of your writing, but allow your own voice and personality to come through. Be sure to clarify your project’s theoretical orientation.

Develop a general proposal and budget

Because most proposal writers seek funding from several different agencies or granting programs, it is a good idea to begin by developing a general grant proposal and budget. This general proposal is sometimes called a “white paper.” Your general proposal should explain your project to a general academic audience. Before you submit proposals to different grant programs, you will tailor a specific proposal to their guidelines and priorities.

Organizing your proposal

Although each funding agency will have its own (usually very specific) requirements, there are several elements of a proposal that are fairly standard, and they often come in the following order:

• Introduction (statement of the problem, purpose of research or goals, and significance of research)

Literature review

• Project narrative (methods, procedures, objectives, outcomes or deliverables, evaluation, and dissemination)
• Budget and budget justification

Format the proposal so that it is easy to read. Use headings to break the proposal up into sections. If it is long, include a table of contents with page numbers.

The title page usually includes a brief yet explicit title for the research project, the names of the principal investigator(s), the institutional affiliation of the applicants (the department and university), name and address of the granting agency, project dates, amount of funding requested, and signatures of university personnel authorizing the proposal (when necessary). Most funding agencies have specific requirements for the title page; make sure to follow them.

The abstract provides readers with their first impression of your project. To remind themselves of your proposal, readers may glance at your abstract when making their final recommendations, so it may also serve as their last impression of your project. The abstract should explain the key elements of your research project in the future tense. Most abstracts state: (1) the general purpose, (2) specific goals, (3) research design, (4) methods, and (5) significance (contribution and rationale). Be as explicit as possible in your abstract. Use statements such as, “The objective of this study is to …”

Introduction

The introduction should cover the key elements of your proposal, including a statement of the problem, the purpose of research, research goals or objectives, and significance of the research. The statement of problem should provide a background and rationale for the project and establish the need and relevance of the research. How is your project different from previous research on the same topic? Will you be using new methodologies or covering new theoretical territory? The research goals or objectives should identify the anticipated outcomes of the research and should match up to the needs identified in the statement of problem. List only the principle goal(s) or objective(s) of your research and save sub-objectives for the project narrative.

Many proposals require a literature review. Reviewers want to know whether you’ve done the necessary preliminary research to undertake your project. Literature reviews should be selective and critical, not exhaustive. Reviewers want to see your evaluation of pertinent works. For more information, see our handout on literature reviews .

Project narrative

The project narrative provides the meat of your proposal and may require several subsections. The project narrative should supply all the details of the project, including a detailed statement of problem, research objectives or goals, hypotheses, methods, procedures, outcomes or deliverables, and evaluation and dissemination of the research.

For the project narrative, pre-empt and/or answer all of the reviewers’ questions. Don’t leave them wondering about anything. For example, if you propose to conduct unstructured interviews with open-ended questions, be sure you’ve explained why this methodology is best suited to the specific research questions in your proposal. Or, if you’re using item response theory rather than classical test theory to verify the validity of your survey instrument, explain the advantages of this innovative methodology. Or, if you need to travel to Valdez, Alaska to access historical archives at the Valdez Museum, make it clear what documents you hope to find and why they are relevant to your historical novel on the ’98ers in the Alaskan Gold Rush.

Clearly and explicitly state the connections between your research objectives, research questions, hypotheses, methodologies, and outcomes. As the requirements for a strong project narrative vary widely by discipline, consult a discipline-specific guide to grant writing for some additional advice.

Explain staffing requirements in detail and make sure that staffing makes sense. Be very explicit about the skill sets of the personnel already in place (you will probably include their Curriculum Vitae as part of the proposal). Explain the necessary skill sets and functions of personnel you will recruit. To minimize expenses, phase out personnel who are not relevant to later phases of a project.

The budget spells out project costs and usually consists of a spreadsheet or table with the budget detailed as line items and a budget narrative (also known as a budget justification) that explains the various expenses. Even when proposal guidelines do not specifically mention a narrative, be sure to include a one or two page explanation of the budget. To see a sample budget, turn to Example #1 at the end of this handout.

Consider including an exhaustive budget for your project, even if it exceeds the normal grant size of a particular funding organization. Simply make it clear that you are seeking additional funding from other sources. This technique will make it easier for you to combine awards down the road should you have the good fortune of receiving multiple grants.

Make sure that all budget items meet the funding agency’s requirements. For example, all U.S. government agencies have strict requirements for airline travel. Be sure the cost of the airline travel in your budget meets their requirements. If a line item falls outside an agency’s requirements (e.g. some organizations will not cover equipment purchases or other capital expenses), explain in the budget justification that other grant sources will pay for the item.

Many universities require that indirect costs (overhead) be added to grants that they administer. Check with the appropriate offices to find out what the standard (or required) rates are for overhead. Pass a draft budget by the university officer in charge of grant administration for assistance with indirect costs and costs not directly associated with research (e.g. facilities use charges).

Furthermore, make sure you factor in the estimated taxes applicable for your case. Depending on the categories of expenses and your particular circumstances (whether you are a foreign national, for example), estimated tax rates may differ. You can consult respective departmental staff or university services, as well as professional tax assistants. For information on taxes on scholarships and fellowships, see https://cashier.unc.edu/student-tax-information/scholarships-fellowships/ .

Explain the timeframe for the research project in some detail. When will you begin and complete each step? It may be helpful to reviewers if you present a visual version of your timeline. For less complicated research, a table summarizing the timeline for the project will help reviewers understand and evaluate the planning and feasibility. See Example #2 at the end of this handout.

For multi-year research proposals with numerous procedures and a large staff, a time line diagram can help clarify the feasibility and planning of the study. See Example #3 at the end of this handout.

Revising your proposal

Strong grant proposals take a long time to develop. Start the process early and leave time to get feedback from several readers on different drafts. Seek out a variety of readers, both specialists in your research area and non-specialist colleagues. You may also want to request assistance from knowledgeable readers on specific areas of your proposal. For example, you may want to schedule a meeting with a statistician to help revise your methodology section. Don’t hesitate to seek out specialized assistance from the relevant research offices on your campus. At UNC, the Odum Institute provides a variety of services to graduate students and faculty in the social sciences.

In your revision and editing, ask your readers to give careful consideration to whether you’ve made explicit the connections between your research objectives and methodology. Here are some example questions:

• Have you presented a compelling case?
• Have you made your hypotheses explicit?
• Does your project seem feasible? Is it overly ambitious? Does it have other weaknesses?
• Have you stated the means that grantors can use to evaluate the success of your project after you’ve executed it?

If a granting agency lists particular criteria used for rating and evaluating proposals, be sure to share these with your own reviewers.

Example #1. Sample Budget

Jet travel $6,100 This estimate is based on the commercial high season rate for jet economy travel on Sabena Belgian Airlines. No U.S. carriers fly to Kigali, Rwanda. Sabena has student fare tickets available which will be significantly less expensive (approximately $2,000).

Maintenance allowance $22,788 Based on the Fulbright-Hays Maintenance Allowances published in the grant application guide.

Research assistant/translator $4,800 The research assistant/translator will be a native (and primary) speaker of Kinya-rwanda with at least a four-year university degree. They will accompany the primary investigator during life history interviews to provide assistance in comprehension. In addition, they will provide commentary, explanations, and observations to facilitate the primary investigator’s participant observation. During the first phase of the project in Kigali, the research assistant will work forty hours a week and occasional overtime as needed. During phases two and three in rural Rwanda, the assistant will stay with the investigator overnight in the field when necessary. The salary of $400 per month is based on the average pay rate for individuals with similar qualifications working for international NGO’s in Rwanda.

Transportation within country, phase one $1,200 The primary investigator and research assistant will need regular transportation within Kigali by bus and taxi. The average taxi fare in Kigali is $6-8 and bus fare is $.15. This figure is based on an average of $10 per day in transportation costs during the first project phase.

Transportation within country, phases two and three $12,000 Project personnel will also require regular transportation between rural field sites. If it is not possible to remain overnight, daily trips will be necessary. The average rental rate for a 4×4 vehicle in Rwanda is $130 per day. This estimate is based on an average of $50 per day in transportation costs for the second and third project phases. These costs could be reduced if an arrangement could be made with either a government ministry or international aid agency for transportation assistance.

Email $720 The rate for email service from RwandaTel (the only service provider in Rwanda) is $60 per month. Email access is vital for receiving news reports on Rwanda and the region as well as for staying in contact with dissertation committee members and advisors in the United States.

Audiocassette tapes $400 Audiocassette tapes will be necessary for recording life history interviews, musical performances, community events, story telling, and other pertinent data.

Photographic & slide film $100 Photographic and slide film will be necessary to document visual data such as landscape, environment, marriages, funerals, community events, etc.

Laptop computer $2,895 A laptop computer will be necessary for recording observations, thoughts, and analysis during research project. Price listed is a special offer to UNC students through the Carolina Computing Initiative.

NUD*IST 4.0 software $373.00 NUD*IST, “Nonnumerical, Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorizing,” is necessary for cataloging, indexing, and managing field notes both during and following the field research phase. The program will assist in cataloging themes that emerge during the life history interviews.

Administrative fee $100 Fee set by Fulbright-Hays for the sponsoring institution.

Example #2: Project Timeline in Table Format

Example #3: Project Timeline in Chart Format

Some closing advice

Some of us may feel ashamed or embarrassed about asking for money or promoting ourselves. Often, these feelings have more to do with our own insecurities than with problems in the tone or style of our writing. If you’re having trouble because of these types of hang-ups, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it never hurts to ask. If you never ask for the money, they’ll never give you the money. Besides, the worst thing they can do is say no.

UNC resources for proposal writing

Research at Carolina http://research.unc.edu

The Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences https://odum.unc.edu/

UNC Medical School Office of Research https://www.med.unc.edu/oor

UNC School of Public Health Office of Research http://www.sph.unc.edu/research/

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Holloway, Brian R. 2003. Proposal Writing Across the Disciplines. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Levine, S. Joseph. “Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal.” http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/ .

Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. 2014. Proposals That Work . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Przeworski, Adam, and Frank Salomon. 2012. “Some Candid Suggestions on the Art of Writing Proposals.” Social Science Research Council. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn2/art-of-writing-proposals-dsd-e-56b50ef814f12.pdf .

Reif-Lehrer, Liane. 1989. Writing a Successful Grant Application . Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Wiggins, Beverly. 2002. “Funding and Proposal Writing for Social Science Faculty and Graduate Student Research.” Chapel Hill: Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. 2 Feb. 2004. http://www2.irss.unc.edu/irss/shortcourses/wigginshandouts/granthandout.pdf.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The Ultimate Grant Writing Guide (and How to Find and Apply for Grants)

Securing grants requires strategic planning. Identifying relevant opportunities, building collaborations, and crafting a comprehensive grant proposal are crucial steps. Read our ultimate guide on grant writing, finding grants, and applying for grants to get the funding for your research.

Updated on February 22, 2024

Embarking on a journey of groundbreaking research and innovation always requires more than just passion and dedication, it demands financial support. In the academic and research domains, securing grants is a pivotal factor for transforming these ideas into tangible outcomes. 

Grant awards not only offer the backing needed for ambitious projects but also stand as a testament to the importance and potential impact of your work. The process of identifying, pursuing, and securing grants, however, is riddled with nuances that necessitate careful exploration. 

Whether you're a seasoned researcher or a budding academic, navigating this complex world of grants can be challenging, but we’re here to help. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the essential steps of applying for grants, providing expert tips and insights along the way.

Finding grant opportunities 

Prior to diving into the application phase, the process of finding grants involves researching and identifying those that are relevant and realistic to your project. While the initial step may seem as simple as entering a few keywords into a search engine, the full search phase takes a more thorough investigation.

By focusing efforts solely on the grants that align with your goals, this pre-application preparation streamlines the process while also increasing the likelihood of meeting all the requirements. In fact, having a well thought out plan and a clear understanding of the grants you seek both simplifies the entire activity and sets you and your team up for success.

Apply these steps when searching for appropriate grant opportunities:

1. Determine your need

Before embarking on the grant-seeking journey, clearly articulate why you need the funds and how they will be utilized. Understanding your financial requirements is crucial for effective grant research.

2. Know when you need the money

Grants operate on specific timelines with set award dates. Align your grant-seeking efforts with these timelines to enhance your chances of success.

3. Search strategically

Build a checklist of your most important, non-negotiable search criteria for quickly weeding out grant options that absolutely do not fit your project. Then, utilize the following resources to identify potential grants:

• Online directories
• Small Business Administration (SBA)
• Foundations

4. Develop a tracking tool

After familiarizing yourself with the criteria of each grant, including paperwork, deadlines, and award amounts, make a spreadsheet or use a project management tool to stay organized. Share this with your team to ensure that everyone can contribute to the grant cycle.

Here are a few popular grant management tools to try: 

• Jotform : spreadsheet template
• Airtable : table template
• Instrumentl : software
• Submit : software

Tips for Finding Research Grants

Consider large funding sources : Explore major agencies like NSF and NIH.

Reach out to experts : Consult experienced researchers and your institution's grant office.

Stay informed : Regularly check news in your field for novel funding sources.

Know agency requirements : Research and align your proposal with their requisites.

Ask questions : Use the available resources to get insights into the process.

Demonstrate expertise : Showcase your team's knowledge and background.

Neglect lesser-known sources : Cast a wide net to diversify opportunities.

Name drop reviewers : Prevent potential conflicts of interest.

Miss your chance : Find field-specific grant options.

Forget refinement : Improve proposal language, grammar, and clarity.

Ignore grant support services : Enhance the quality of your proposal.

Overlook co-investigators : Enhance your application by adding experience.

Grant collaboration 

Now that you’ve taken the initial step of identifying potential grant opportunities, it’s time to find collaborators. The application process is lengthy and arduous. It requires a diverse set of skills. This phase is crucial for success.

With their valuable expertise and unique perspectives, these collaborators play instrumental roles in navigating the complexities of grant writing. While exploring the judiciousness that goes into building these partnerships, we will underscore why collaboration is both advantageous and indispensable to the pursuit of securing grants.

Why is collaboration important to the grant process?

Some grant funding agencies outline collaboration as an outright requirement for acceptable applications. However, the condition is more implied with others. Funders may simply favor or seek out applications that represent multidisciplinary and multinational projects.

To get an idea of the types of collaboration major funders prefer, try searching “collaborative research grants” to uncover countless possibilities, such as:

• National Endowment for the Humanities
• American Brain Tumor Association

For exploring grants specifically for international collaboration, check out this blog:

• 30+ Research Funding Agencies That Support International Collaboration

Either way, proposing an interdisciplinary research project substantially increases your funding opportunities. Teaming up with multiple collaborators who offer diverse backgrounds and skill sets enhances the robustness of your research project and increases credibility.

This is especially true for early career researchers, who can leverage collaboration with industry, international, or community partners to boost their research profile. The key lies in recognizing the multifaceted advantages of collaboration in the context of obtaining funding and maximizing the impact of your research efforts.

How can I find collaborators?

Before embarking on the search for a collaborative partner, it's essential to crystallize your objectives for the grant proposal and identify the type of support needed. Ask yourself these questions: 

1)Which facet of the grant process do I need assistance with:

2) Is my knowledge lacking in a specific: 

• Population?

3) Do I have access to the necessary:

Use these questions to compile a detailed list of your needs and prioritize them based on magnitude and ramification. These preliminary step ensure that search for an ideal collaborator is focused and effective.

Once you identify targeted criteria for the most appropriate partners, it’s time to make your approach. While a practical starting point involves reaching out to peers, mentors, and other colleagues with shared interests and research goals, we encourage you to go outside your comfort zone.

Beyond the first line of potential collaborators exists a world of opportunities to expand your network. Uncover partnership possibilities by engaging with speakers and attendees at events, workshops, webinars, and conferences related to grant writing or your field.

Also, consider joining online communities that facilitate connections among grant writers and researchers. These communities offer a space to exchange ideas and information. Sites like Collaboratory , NIH RePorter , and upwork provide channels for canvassing and engaging with feasible collaborators who are good fits for your project. 

Like any other partnership, carefully weigh your vetted options before committing to a collaboration. Talk with individuals about their qualifications and experience, availability and work style, and terms for grant writing collaborations.

Transparency on both sides of this partnership is imperative to forging a positive work environment where goals, values, and expectations align for a strong grant proposal.

Putting together a winning grant proposal

It’s time to assemble the bulk of your grant application packet – the proposal itself. Each funder is unique in outlining the details for specific grants, but here are several elements fundamental to every proposal:

• Executive Summary
• Needs assessment
• Project description
• Evaluation plan
• Team introduction
• Sustainability plan 

This list of multi-faceted components may seem daunting, but careful research and planning will make it manageable. 

Start by reading about the grant funder to learn:

• What their mission and goals are,
• Which types of projects they have funded in the past, and
• How they evaluate and score applications.

Next, view sample applications to get a feel for the length, flow, and tone the evaluators are looking for. Many funders offer samples to peruse, like these from the NIH , while others are curated by online platforms , such as Grantstation.

Also, closely evaluate the grant application’s requirements. they vary between funding organizations and opportunities, and also from one grant cycle to the next. Take notes and make a checklist of these requirements to add to an Excel spreadsheet, Google smartsheet, or management system for organizing and tracking your grant process.

Finally, understand how you will submit the final grant application. Many funders use online portals with character or word limits for each section. Be aware of these limits beforehand. Simplify the editing process by first writing each section in a Word document to be copy and pasted into the corresponding submission fields.

If there is no online application platform, the funder will usually offer a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) to guide the structure of your grant proposal. The RFP: 

• Specifies page constraints
• Delineates specific sections
• Outlines additional attachments
• Provides other pertinent details

Components of a grant proposal

Cover letter.

Though not always explicitly requested, including a cover letter is a strategic maneuver that could be the factor determining whether or not grant funders engage with your proposal. It’s an opportunity to give your best first impression by grabbing the reviewer’s attention and compelling them to read further. 

Cover letters are not the place for excessive emotion or detail, keep it brief and direct, stating your financial needs and purpose confidently from the outset. Also, try to clearly demonstrate the connection between your project and the funder’s mission to create additional value beyond the formal proposal.

Executive summary

Like an abstract for your research manuscript, the executive summary is a brief synopsis that encapsulates the overarching topics and key points of your grant proposal. It must set the tone for the main body of the proposal while providing enough information to stand alone if necessary.

Refer to How to Write an Executive Summary for a Grant Proposal for detailed guidance like:

• Give a clear and concise account of your identity, funding needs, and project roadmap.
• Write in an instructive manner aiming for an objective and persuasive tone
• Be convincing and pragmatic about your research team's ability.
• Follow the logical flow of main points in your proposal.
• Use subheadings and bulleted lists for clarity.
• Write the executive summary at the end of the proposal process.
• Reference detailed information explained in the proposal body.
• Address the funder directly.
• Provide excessive details about your project's accomplishments or management plans.
• Write in the first person.
• Disclose confidential information that could be accessed by competitors.
• Focus excessively on problems rather than proposed solutions.
• Deviate from the logical flow of the main proposal.
• Forget to align with evaluation criteria if specified

Project narrative

After the executive summary is the project narrative . This is the main body of your grant proposal and encompasses several distinct elements that work together to tell the story of your project and justify the need for funding. 

Include these primary components:

Introduction of the project team

Briefly outline the names, positions, and credentials of the project’s directors, key personnel, contributors, and advisors in a format that clearly defines their roles and responsibilities. Showing your team’s capacity and ability to meet all deliverables builds confidence and trust with the reviewers.

Needs assessment or problem statement

A compelling needs assessment (or problem statement) clearly articulates a problem that must be urgently addressed. It also offers a well-defined project idea as a possible solution. This statement emphasizes the pressing situation and highlights existing gaps and their consequences to illustrate how your project will make a difference.

To begin, ask yourself these questions:

• What urgent need are we focusing on with this project?
• Which unique solution does our project offer to this urgent need? 
• How will this project positively impact the world once completed?

Here are some helpful examples and templates.

Goals and objectives

Goals are broad statements that are fairly abstract and intangible. Objectives are more narrow statements that are concrete and measurable. For example :

• Goal : “To explore the impact of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance in college students.”
• Objective : “To compare cognitive test scores of students with less than six hours of sleep and those with 8 or more hours of sleep.”

Focus on outcomes, not processes, when crafting goals and objectives. Use the SMART acronym to align them with the proposal's mission while emphasizing their impact on the target audience.

Methods and strategies

It is vitally important to explain how you intend to use the grant funds to fulfill the project’s objectives. Detail the resources and activities that will be employed. Methods and strategies are the bridge between idea and action. They must prove to reviewers the plausibility of your project and the significance of their possible funding.

Here are some useful guidelines for writing your methods section that are outlined in " Winning Grants: Step by Step ."

• Firmly tie your methods to the proposed project's objectives and needs assessment.
• Clearly link them to the resources you are requesting in the proposal budget.
• Thoroughly explain why you chose these methods by including research, expert opinion, and your experience.
• Precisely list the facilities and capital equipment that you will use in the project.
• Carefully structure activities so that the program moves toward the desired results in a time-bound manner.

A comprehensive evaluation plan underscores the effectiveness and accountability of a project for both the funders and your team. An evaluation is used for tracking progress and success. The evaluation process shows how to determine the success of your project and measure the impact of the grant award by systematically gauging and analyzing each phase of your project as it compares to the set objectives.

Evaluations typically fall into two standard categories:

1. Formative evaluation : extending from project development through implementation, continuously provides feedback for necessary adjustments and improvements. 

2. Summative evaluation : conducted post-project completion, critically assesses overall success and impact by compiling information on activities and outcomes.

Creating a conceptual model of your project is helpful when identifying these key evaluation points. Then, you must consider exactly who will do the evaluations, what specific skills and resources they need, how long it will take, and how much it will cost.

Sustainability

Presenting a solid plan that illustrates exactly how your project will continue to thrive after the grant money is gone builds the funder's confidence in the project’s longevity and significance. In this sustainability section, it is vital to demonstrate a diversified funding strategy for securing the long-term viability of your program.

There are three possible long term outcomes for projects with correlated sustainability options:

• Short term projects: Though only implemented once, will have ongoing maintenance costs, such as monitoring, training, and updates.

(E.g., digitizing records, cleaning up after an oil spill)

• Projects that will generate income at some point in the future: must be funded until your product or service can cover operating costs with an alternative plan in place for deficits.

(E.g., medical device, technology, farming method)

• Ongoing projects: will eventually need a continuous stream of funding from a government entity or large organization.

(E.g., space exploration, hurricane tracking)

Along with strategies for funding your program beyond the initial grant,  reference your access to institutional infrastructure and resources that will reduce costs.

Also, submit multi-year budgets that reflect how sustainability factors are integrated into the project’s design.

The budget section of your grant proposal, comprising both a spreadsheet and a narrative, is the most influential component. It should be able to stand independently as a suitable representation of the entire endeavor. Providing a detailed plan to outline how grant funds will be utilized is crucial for illustrating cost-effectiveness and careful consideration of project expenses. 

A comprehensive grant budget offers numerous benefits to both the grantor , or entity funding the grant, and the grantee , those receiving the funding, such as:

• Grantor : The budget facilitates objective evaluation and comparison between multiple proposals by conveying a project's story through responsible fund management and financial transparency.
• Grantee : The budget serves as a tracking tool for monitoring and adjusting expenses throughout the project and cultivates trust with funders by answering questions before they arise.

Because the grant proposal budget is all-encompassing and integral to your efforts for securing funding, it can seem overwhelming. Start by listing all anticipated expenditures within two broad categories, direct and indirect expenses , where:

• Direct : are essential for successful project implementation, are measurable project-associated costs, such as salaries, equipment, supplies, travel, and external consultants, and are itemized and detailed in various categories within the grant budget.
• Indirect : includes administrative costs not directly or exclusively tied to your project, but necessary for its completion, like rent, utilities, and insurance, think about lab or meeting spaces that are shared by multiple project teams, or Directors who oversee several ongoing projects.

After compiling your list, review sample budgets to understand the typical layout and complexity. Focus closely on the budget narratives , where you have the opportunity to justify each aspect of the spreadsheet to ensure clarity and validity.

While not always needed, the appendices consist of relevant supplementary materials that are clearly referenced within your grant application. These might include: 

• Updated resumes that emphasize staff members' current positions and accomplishments. 
• Letters of support from people or organizations that have authority in the field of your research, or community members that may benefit from the project.
• Visual aids like charts, graphs, and maps that contribute directly to your project’s story and are referred to previously in the application. 

Finalizing your grant application

Now that your grant application is finished, make sure it's not just another document in the stack Aim for a grant proposal that captivates the evaluator. It should stand out not only for presenting an excellent project, but for being engaging and easily comprehended . 

Keep the language simple. Avoid jargon. Prioritizing accuracy and conciseness. Opt for reader-friendly formatting with white space, headings, standard fonts, and illustrations to enhance readability.

Always take time for thorough proofreading and editing. You can even set your proposal aside for a few days before revisiting it for additional edits and improvements. At this stage, it is helpful to seek outside feedback from those familiar with the subject matter as well as novices to catch unnoticed mistakes and improve clarity.

If you want to be absolutely sure your grant proposal is polished, consider getting it edited by AJE .

How can AI help the grant process?

When used efficiently, AI is a powerful tool for streamlining and enhancing various aspects of the grant process.

• Use AI algorithms to review related studies and identify knowledge gaps.
• Employ AI for quick analysis of complex datasets to identify patterns and trends.
• Leverage AI algorithms to match your project with relevant grant opportunities.
• Apply Natural Language Processing for analyzing grant guidelines and tailoring proposals accordingly.
• Utilize AI-powered tools for efficient project planning and execution.
• Employ AI for tracking project progress and generating reports.
• Take advantage of AI tools for improving the clarity, coherence, and quality of your proposal.
• Rely solely on manual efforts that are less comprehensive and more time consuming.
• Overlook the fact that AI is designed to find patterns and trends within large datasets.
• Minimize AI’s ability to use set parameters for sifting through vast amounts of data quickly.
• Forget that the strength of AI lies in its capacity to follow your prompts without divergence.
• Neglect tools that assist with scheduling, resource allocation, and milestone tracking.
• Settle for software that is not intuitive with automated reminders and updates.
• Hesitate to use AI tools for improving grammar, spelling, and composition throughout the writing process.

Remember that AI provides a diverse array of tools; there is no universal solution. Identify the most suitable tool for your specific task. Also, like a screwdriver or a hammer, AI needs informed human direction and control to work effectively.

Looking for tips when writing your grant application? 

Check out these resources:

• 4 Tips for Writing a Persuasive Grant Proposal
• Writing Effective Grant Applications
• 7 Tips for Writing an Effective Grant Proposal
• The best-kept secrets to winning grants
• The Best Grant Writing Books for Beginner Grant Writers
• Research Grant Proposal Funding: How I got $1 Million

Final thoughts

The bottom line – applying for grants is challenging. It requires passion, dedication, and a set of diverse skills rarely found within one human being.

Therefore, collaboration is key to a successful grant process . It encourages everyone’s strengths to shine. Be honest and ask yourself, “Which elements of this grant application do I really need help with?” Seek out experts in those areas.

Keep this guide on hand to reference as you work your way through this funding journey. Use the resources contained within. Seek out answers to all the questions that will inevitably arise throughout the process.

The grants are out there just waiting for the right project to present itself – one that shares the funder’s mission and is a benefit to our communities. Find grants that align with your project goals, tell your story through a compelling proposal, and get ready to make the world a better place with your research.

The AJE Team

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Grant-Writing Advice and Sample Applications

Grant-writing advice.

Useful Web sites to help you plan, write, and apply for a research project grant:

• Apply for a Grant (NIAID)
• Tips for New NIH Research Grant Applicants
• Writing a Grant  (NIH)
• Grants Process Overview (NIH)
• Glossary of NIH Terms and Acronyms (NIH)
• Frequently Asked Questions About NIH Grants (NIH)

Sample Applications

• Sample Applications and Summary Statements (NIAID) View well-written applications submitted to NIH.

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 01 September 2023

A funding adviser’s guide to writing a great grant application

• Mireille Consalvey 0

Mireille Consalvey was until recently a senior research-funding adviser at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

After almost nine years working in a university research office, shepherding approximately 1,000 applications through to submission, I have witnessed many researchers make the same mistakes, time and time again. Drawing on these lessons, I present a checklist on how to maximize the chances of success with your application.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02756-6

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

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How to write a successful grant application: guidance provided by the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy

Anita e. weidmann.

1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Innsbruck University, Innsbruck, Austria

Cathal A. Cadogan

2 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Daniela Fialová

3 Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

4 Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Ankie Hazen

5 Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Martin Henman

6 Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Monika Lutters

7 Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland

Betul Okuyan

8 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

Vibhu Paudyal

9 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Francesca Wirth

10 Department of Pharmacy, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

Considering a rejection rate of 80–90%, the preparation of a research grant is often considered a daunting task since it is resource intensive and there is no guarantee of success, even for seasoned researchers. This commentary provides a summary of the key points a researcher needs to consider when writing a research grant proposal, outlining: (1) how to conceptualise the research idea; (2) how to find the right funding call; (3) the importance of planning; (4) how to write; (5) what to write, and (6) key questions for reflection during preparation. It attempts to explain the difficulties associated with finding calls in clinical pharmacy and advanced pharmacy practice, and how to overcome them. The commentary aims to assist all pharmacy practice and health services research colleagues new to the grant application process, as well as experienced researchers striving to improve their grant review scores. The guidance in this paper is part of ESCP’s commitment to stimulate “ innovative and high-quality research in all areas of clinical pharmacy ”.

Writing research grants is a central part of any good quality research. Once a detailed research proposal has been submitted, it is subjected to an expert peer review process. Such reviews are designed to reach a funding decision, with feedback provided to improve the study for this and any future submissions. Depending on the length of the proposal, complexity of the research and experience of the research team, a proposal can take between six to twelve months to write [ 1 ]. Ample time must be given to the writing of hypothesis/research aim, budgeting, discussion with colleagues and several rounds of feedback [ 2 ]. The draft research proposal should always be completed well before the deadline to allow for last minute delays. An application which is not fully developed should not be submitted since it will most likely be rejected [ 3 ].

Despite the large effort that goes into each grant application, success rates are low. Application success rates for Horizon 2020 were < 15% [ 4 ] and < 20% for the National Institute of Health (NIH) [ 5 – 8 ]. With these statistics in mind, it is evident that often repeated submissions are required before securing funding. Due to a paucity of specific clinical pharmacy grant awarding bodies, writing a grant application for a clinical pharmacy or pharmacy practice research project often involves multidisciplinary collaborations with other healthcare professions and focus on a specific patient population or condition. There is no guarantee of success when trying to secure funding for research. Even the most seasoned researchers will have applications rejected. The key is to never give up. This commentary provides useful pointers for the planning and execution of grant writing.

Conceptualising your research idea

Before writing a research grant proposal/application, consider what the research should achieve in the short, medium, and long term, and how the research goals will serve patients, science and society [ 9 , 10 ]. Practical implications of research, policy impact or positive impact on society and active patient/public involvement are highly valued by many research agencies as research should not be conducted “only for research”, serving the researchers’ interests. EU health policy and action strategies (CORDIS database) and other national strategies, such as national mental health strategy for grants within mental disorders, should be considered, as well as dissemination strategies, project deliverables, outcomes and lay public invitations to participate. The Science Community COMPASS has developed a useful “Message Box Tool” that can help in the identification of benefits and solutions, as well as the all-important “So What?” of the research [ 11 ]. Clearly determine what the lead researcher’s personal and professional strengths, expertise and past experiences are, and carefully select the research team to close these gaps [ 12 – 14 ].

How to find the right funding call

When trying to identify the right type of grant according to the research ambitions, one should be mindful that several types of grants exist, including small project grants (for equipment, imaging costs), personal fellowships (for salary costs, sometimes including project costs), project grants (for a combination of salary and project costs), programme grants (for comprehensive project costs and salary for several staff members), start-up grants and travel grants [ 15 ]. Types of grants include EU grants (e.g. Horizon, Norway Grant), commercial grants (e.g. healthcare agencies and insurance companies), New Health Program grants ideal for new, reimbursed clinical pharmacy service projects and national grants (e.g. FWF (Austria), ARRS (Slovenia), NKFIH (Hungary), NCN (Poland), FWO (Belgium), HRZZ (Croatia), GAČR (Czech Republic), SNSF (Switzerland), SSF (Sweden). It is worth remembering that early career researchers, normally within ten years of finishing a PhD, have a particular sub-category within most grants.

Many national agencies only have one “Pharmacy” category. This results in clinical pharmacy and advanced clinical pharmacy practice projects competing with pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutical biology and pharmacy technology submissions, thereby reducing the success rate as these research areas can often be very advanced in most EU countries compared to clinical and advanced pharmacy practice. A second possible submission category is “Public Health”. Several essential factors can impact the grant selection, such as research field, budget capacity, leading researcher’s experience and bilateral grants. Examples of successful clinical pharmacy funded research studies can be found in the published literature [ 16 – 20 ].

Plan, plan, plan

One key element of successful grant writing is the ability to plan and organise time. In order to develop a realistic work plan and achieve milestones, it is imperative to note deadlines and to be well-informed about the details of what is required. The development of a table or Gantt Chart that notes milestones, outcomes and deliverables is useful [ 21 ].

All funders are quite specific about what they will and will not fund. Research your potential funders well in advance. It is vital to pay attention to the aims, ambitions and guidelines of the grant awarding bodies and focus your proposal accordingly. Submitting an application which does not adhere to the guidelines may lead to very early rejection. It is helpful to prepare the grant application in such a way that the reviewers can easily find the information they are looking for [ 15 , 22 ]. This includes checking the reviewers’ reports and adding “bolded” sentences into the application to allow immediate emphasis. Reviewers’ reports are often available on the agencies’ websites. It is extremely useful to read previously submitted and funded or rejected proposals to further help in the identification of what is required in each application. Most funding agencies publish a funded project list, and the ‘Centre for Open Science (COS) Database of Funded Research’ enables tracking of funding histories from leading agencies around the world [ 23 ]. Another useful recommendation is to talk to colleagues who have been successful when applying to that particular funder. Funding agency grant officers can provide advice on the suitability of the proposal and the application process.

It is important to pay particular attention to deadlines for the grant proposal and ensure that sufficient time is allocated for completion of all parts of the application, particularly those that are not fully within one’s own control, for example, gathering any required signatures/approvals. Funders will generally not review an application submitted beyond the deadline.

Lastly, it is important to obtain insight into the decision process of grants. Research applications are sent to several reviewers, who are either volunteers or receive a small compensation to judge the application on previously determined criteria. While the judging criteria may vary from funder to funder, the key considerations are:

• Is there a clear statement of the research aim(s)/research question(s)/research objective(s)?
• Is the proposed research “state-of-the-art” in its field and has all relevant literature been reviewed?
• Is the method likely to yield valid, reliable, trustworthy data to answer question 1.?
• If the answer to the second question is ’yes’, then what is the impact of financing this study on patient care, professional practice, society etc.?
• Is there sufficient confidence that the research team will deliver this study on time with expected quality outputs and on budget?
• Does the study provide value for money?

How to write

The key to good grant proposal writing is to be concise yet engaging. The use of colour and modern web-based tools such as #hashtags, webpage links, and links to YouTube presentations are becoming increasingly popular to improve the interest of a submission and facilitate a swift decision-making process. Ensure use of the exact section headings provided in the guidance, and use the keywords provided in the funding call documentation to reflect alignment with the funding bodies’ key interests. Attention to detail cannot be overstated; the quality and accuracy of the research proposal reflect the quality and accuracy of the research [ 24 ]. Try to adopt a clear, succinct, and simple writing style, making the grant easy to read. Having a clear focus can help to boost a grant to the top of a reviewer’s pile [ 25 , 26 ]. A clearly stated scientific question, hypothesis, and rationale are imperative. The reviewer should not have to work to understand the project [ 27 ]. Allow for plenty of time to incorporate feedback from trusted individuals with the appropriate expertise and consider having reviews for readability by non-experts.

What to write

Abstract, lay summary and background/rationale.

Take sufficient time to draft the scientific abstract and summary for the lay public. These should clearly state the long-term goal of the research, the aim and specific testable objectives, as well as the potential impact of the work. The research aim is a broad statement of research intent that sets out what the project hopes to achieve at the end. Research objectives are specific statements that define measurable outcomes of the project [ 28 , 29 ].

The lay summary is important for non-subject experts to quickly grasp the purpose and aims of the research. This is important in light of the increased emphasis on patient and public involvement in the design of the research. The abstract is often given little attention by the applicants, yet is essential. If reviewers have many applications to read, they may form a quick judgement when reading the abstract. The background should develop the argument for the study. It should flow and highlight the relevant literature and policy or society needs statements which support the argument, but at the same time must be balanced. It should focus on the need for the study at the local, national and international level, highlighting the knowledge gap the study addresses and what the proposed research adds. Ensure this section is well-referenced. The innovation section addresses the ‘‘So what?’’ question and should clearly explain how this research is important to develop an understanding in this field of practice and its potential impact. Will it change practice, or will it change the understanding of the disease process or its treatment? Will it generate new avenues for future scientific study? [ 30 ].

Hypothesis/aims and objectives

For the hypothesis, state the core idea of the grant in one or two sentences. It should be concise, and lead to testable specific aims. This section is fundamental; if it is unclear or poorly written, the reviewers may stop reading and reject the application. Do not attempt to make the aims overly complex. Well-written aims should be simply stated. Criteria such as PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcomes) [ 31 ], and FINER (feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant) [ 32 ], provide useful frameworks to help in writing aim(s), research question(s), objective(s) and hypotheses. Pay attention to the distinction between aim(s), research question(s), objective(s) and hypotheses. While it is tempting to want to claim that enormously complex problems can be solved in a single project, do not overreach. It is important to be realistic [ 25 ].

Experimental design, methods and expertise

The methodology is one of the most important parts of getting a grant proposal accepted. The reviewing board should be convinced that the relevant methodology is well within the research teams’ expertise. Any evidence of potential success, such as preliminary results or pilot studies strengthen the application significantly [ 33 ]. The methodology must relate directly to the aim. Structuring this section into specific activities/ set of activities that address each research question or objective should be considered. This clarifies how each question/ objective will be addressed. Each work-package should clearly define the title of the research question/objective to be addressed, the activities to be carried out including milestones and deliverables, and the overall duration of the proposed work-package. Deliverables should be presented in table format for ease of review. Each subsequent work-package should start once the previous one has been completed to provide a clear picture of timelines, milestones and deliverables which reflect stakeholder involvement and overall organisation of the proposed project. Using relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines enhances the quality of detail included in the design [ 34 ]. Key elements of this methodology are detailed in Table  1 .

Summary of the key elements of the experimental design, methods and expertise

Proposed budget

The budget should be designed based on the needs of the project and the funding agency’s policies and instructions. Each aspect of the budget must be sufficiently justified to ensure accountability to the grant awarding body [ 35 ]. Costing and justification of the time of those involved, any equipment, consumables, travel, payment for participants, dissemination costs and other relevant costs are required. The funders will be looking for value for money and not necessarily a low-cost study. Ensure that the total budget is within the allocated funding frame.

Provide a breakdown of the key work packages and tasks to be completed, as well as an indication of the anticipated duration. Include a Gantt chart (A table detailing the most general project content milestones and activities) to demonstrate that all aspects of the proposal have been well thought through [ 21 ].

Critical appraisal, limitations, and impact of the proposed research

It is important to detail any strengths and limitations of the proposed project. Omitting these will present the reviewing board with sufficient grounds to reject the proposal [ 36 ]. Provide a clear statement about the short and long-term impact of the research [ 37 , 38 ]. The reviewers will pay particular attention to the differences the study can make and how potential impact aligns with the funding bodies goals as well as national policies. This statement is essential to make an informed decision whether or not to support the application. Useful diagrams summarise the different levels of impact [ 39 ].

Table  2 provides a summary of the key elements of project grants and key questions to ask oneself.

Summary of the key elements of project grants and key questions to ask oneself.

(Adapted from [ 5 ]: Koppelmann GH, Holloway JW. Successful grant writing. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2012; 13:63–66.)

Although the grant writing process is time-consuming and complex, support is widely available at each stage. It is important to involve colleagues and collaborators to improve the proposal as much as possible and invest time in the detailed planning and execution. Even if the grant is not awarded, do not be disheartened. Use the feedback for improvement and exercise resilience and persistence in pursuing your research ambition.

The guidance in this paper is part of ESCP’s commitment to stimulate “innovative and high-quality research in all areas of clinical pharmacy”. In a previous ESCP survey, it was found that few opportunities for collaboration (especially for grant applications) was one of the key barriers for members towards conducting research [ 40 ]. ESCP promotes networking, which is essential for multi-centre grant applications, both among ESCP members and with other organisations as it recognises the need for “multi-centre research in all areas of clinical pharmacy both within countries and between countries or differing healthcare delivery systems”. ESCP is planning to relaunch its own research grant which was paused during the pandemic, and it is also planning to provide ESCP members with information about the research grants offered by other organizations. ESCP is exploring partnering with other organisations to develop research proposals in areas of common interest and, in the near future, it will ask its members about their research priorities. Taken together, these initiatives will inform ESCP’s research strategy and help it to formulate policies to address the challenges its members face.

Acknowledgements

Research works of Assoc. Prof. Fialová were also supported by the institutional program Cooperation of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University.

Open access funding provided by University of Innsbruck and Medical University of Innsbruck. This work was conducted without external funding.

Conflicts of interest

The authors have not disclosed any competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Your Guide to Writing Research Funding Applications

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Grant funding is critical for all types of research. Without it, many projects wouldn’t even get off the ground, so what’s the key to securing the right funding? The not-so-simple answer: a stellar grant application.

If you’ve ever wondered how to write a successful proposal — or if you’re looking for some new resources and a few refresher tips — we have the right resource for you. In this comprehensive guide, we explore all types of grant funding opportunities, provide a step-by-step proposal breakdown and offer insider tips for ultimate grant application success.

The information in this guide was provided by Mike Hendrickson, Project Manager at BrainXell, Inc; Dr. Shannon M. Lauberth, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University; Dr. Darshan Sapkota, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas; and Dr. Ward Tucker, Director of Research and Development at BioSentinel, Inc.

Find a Grant: What Opportunities Are Available?

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but these are the most popular types of grant funding opportunities.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The National Institutes of Health provides more than $32 billion each year for biomedical research funding. The NIH grants and funding opportunities page publishes opportunities daily and issues a table of contents weekly. You can also subscribe to a weekly email for updates.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

The National Science Foundation funds approximately 25% of all federally supported research in higher education. The NSF is divided into a number of specific research areas , including:

• Biological Sciences
• Computer and Information Science and Engineering
• Education and Human Resources
• Engineering
• Environmental Research and Education
• Geosciences
• Integrative Activities
• International Science and Engineering
• Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences

You can search for NSF funding opportunities here .

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)

SBIR and STTR grants are geared toward small U.S. businesses that are looking for funding opportunities in research or research and development “with the potential for commercialization.” Eligible businesses must be for-profit, located in the United States, and more than 50% owned and controlled by one or more U.S. citizens. The company must also have fewer than 500 employees.

Non-Federal Agencies & Foundations

Many grant opportunities are available through non-federal avenues. This is just a sample of some of the agencies and foundations that provide these types of funding opportunities.

• Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy
• Alzheimer’s Association
• American Federation for Aging Research
• American Heart Association
• American Cancer Society
• American Chemical Society
• American Diabetes Association
• Foundation for Women’s Wellness
• March of Dimes

Early Stage Investigator Awards

An early stage investigato r is “a new investigator who has completed his or her terminal research degree or medical residency — whichever date is later — within the past 10 years and has not yet competed successfully for a substantial, competing NIH research grant.”

• American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grants
• Pew Scholar Program
• Sidney Kimmel Foundation
• NIH New & Early Stage Investigator Program

Step-By-Step Grant Proposal & Application Breakdown

Once you’ve found your grant opportunity, it’s time to take action. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Build a timeline.

There are a lot of moving parts in the application process, so the first step is to create a timeline. You want to allow yourself enough time to gather information and write the proposal without feeling rushed. Plus, you need to factor in time for editing and internal reviews. Write down the due date of the application and work backwards. Remember, it’s always best to err on the side of having too much time rather than not enough.

2. Create a robust outline.

This is the most important part of the application process, and the more detail, the better. Be specific in your questions, hypothesis, aims and goals. Detail your experiments and expected outcomes.

3. Gather your appropriate tools and resources.

Before you begin writing, make sure you gather everything in one place. If you need to request certain documents, do so now. Create a folder on your computer that houses everything related to your grant application — and make sure to back up your files if you aren’t using Google or another cloud-based provider. It sounds like a simple reminder, but the last thing you want is to lose all your hard work.

4. Read through the application instructions carefully and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Familiarize yourself with the request, rules and requirements.

Read through everything , noting any documents you need to include. Every document that is requested must be included in the application. And if you have any questions about the process or you’re looking for clarification on a particular item, reach out to the program officer. It’s also better to ask questions as early as possible in the process.

5. Include strong preliminary data.

Even if grant requests say it is not necessary to include any data, you are unlikely to be funded if you don’t include any preliminary data. It is a major piece of any application. The stronger the data, the better shot you have of receiving funding.

6. Write, write, write!

Now it’s time to put pen to paper, so to speak. Here are some important tips to keep in mind during this important process:

• Be realistic: If you’re applying for a Phase 1 grant, it’s important to remember that Phase 1 is supposed to be “proof of concept” — in other words, not product development. Some people try to squeeze five years worth of work into one year, but you need to be realistic. Think carefully, and be modest about your objectives. If you end up applying for a Phase 2 grant, the reviewers will look at your goals and objectives for Phase 1. If you didn’t deliver then, there’s a good chance your Phase 2 proposal will be rejected.
• Tell a story. With any type of good writing, you want to build a case — in other words, tell a story. Start with an introduction that hooks the audience. Talk about the wider problem you’re hoping to explore and why you are the right person for the job. Explain your hypothesis and how you plan to tackle it.
• Include two or three specific aims. This is the heart of the grant. Again, be reasonable. Don’t bite off more than you can chew in order to seem overly ambitious. Include two or three challenging yet exciting aims (or goals) that you believe are doable in the set amount of time. Include clear objectives and clear milestones of success.
• Be mindful of your language. Be specific, informative and engaging but also concise. Use active voice and strong verbs like “determine and distinguish.” Quantify information or data.
• Don’t get too technical or use too much jargon. Remember, you know your field inside and out, but your reviewers in some cases may not. Make your application clear and readable. Write for an educated but diverse audience.
• Include preliminary data. It’s important, so it bears repeating!
• Add pictures, illustrations or graphics. No one wants to read a 15-page proposal of extremely dense text. Break up your application with a few visuals.

7. Make sure the budget matches what is allocated.

It sounds obvious, but don’t ask for more than the set budget amount. If you work at a higher education institution, you will likely work with a research office on the budget.

8. Have multiple people review your application.

Once you’ve written your grant proposal (congratulations!), you want to seek out multiple reviewers before you click submit. These reviewers should be inside your company, organization or institution, or experts in your field; you may also benefit from review by non-experts. It’s important to give your reviewers plenty of time, too. Here are some good questions to ask:

• Is the proposal clear and concise?
• Do I need more data?
• Are any parts confusing or in need of additional explanation?
• Am I telling an interesting story?
• Could I add any other visuals?

9. Give yourself enough time to familiarize yourself with the application portal — and then submit!

If you work with a research office, they will upload the application on your behalf. If you don’t, you want to make sure you familiarize yourself with the application portal before your deadline.

Insider Tips for Grant Writing Experience & Creating a Standout Application

We spoke to the experts, and here’s what they had to say:

• Talk to the program officers early and often. There are people who don’t put the time and energy into reviewing the instructions, rules and requirements of a grant application. Make sure you understand everything, and if you don’t, talk to the program officers. Remember — you don’t have to figure out everything by yourself!
• Don’t break the rules. If the application requires certain documents, make sure to include them.
• Don’t be “non-responsive.” This is grant proposal-speak for not answering a question that is asked of you. Reviewers will take note.
• Put yourself in the shoes of a reviewer. What questions will the reviewers have, and how can you answer them ahead of time? Ideally you want to address these questions with preliminary data. If you don’t have the data, it’s important to at least address those questions in your proposal — and how you plan to tackle them.
• Don’t save everything until the last minute. There’s a very good chance you heard this mantra in high school and college — and it still rings true.
• Consider hiring someone who can handle the grant application process. If you have the budget, it may be valuable to hire a person who can handle the administrative and logistical aspects of the application process. Some companies and organizations also hire part-time or full-time grant writers to handle the actual proposal writing.
• Explore all types of funding opportunities. In addition to traditional federal agencies like NIH and NSF that routinely offer grants, you should explore any internal funding opportunities for faculty and researchers. Sign up for as many email lists, newsletters and daily grant alert notifications from federal and non-federal agencies as possible. If you work in an academic setting, ask your department chair about these opportunities.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. It’s just illegal to accept funding from two different institutions for the same work.

Ask to help out on a grant application. Grant writing is a skill that is honed with time and experience, and the best way to get better is to practice. Review applications that your colleagues have been working on or ask them if you can help out in any way. Practice makes perfect.

• The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook: It’s one of the best tools and a resource you’ll return to again and again.
• Ask to participate in a review committee. This will give you the opportunity to see grant applications from a different perspective, which will be beneficial in your own funding quests.
• Attend grant writing workshops. This is another important way to gain insight and experience.
• Remember the big picture. As Shannon Lauberth, associate professor at Northwestern University, explains: “Remember that the exercise of writing a grant helps you to carve out clear directions for your lab.”

Grant Application Resources

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some helpful tools and resources you may want to explore or bookmark:

• Fundamentals of the NIH Grant Process & Need to Know Resources [VIDEO]
• The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook
• NIH Grants Process Overview 
• NSF Funding Search
• NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
• SMARTS — Email alert system about funding opportunities

Specific Questions About Lab Equipment?

D.A.I. Scientific works closely with a variety of federally funded organizations, private businesses and higher education institutions to provide products and services to analytical laboratories in the pharmaceutical, educational, biotechnology and clinical industries. If you’re writing a grant application and need a budgetary quote for equipment, contact us today. Our knowledgeable experts would be happy to help.

Jamie is the regional sales manager of DAI Scientific and leads a team of 13 equipment sales consultants. His background includes 20 years of experience working with customers in academic, clinical, industrial and bio/pharma laboratories.

Jamie works with architects, engineers and lab planners to identify the correct equipment for each user’s specific needs. He also leverages his previous role as a DAI sales representative to help his sales consultants work with customers to ensure informed decisions and customer satisfaction. He stays involved in recent research by continuously attending seminars and educating himself on the products and industries he serves.

Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

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Sample Grant Applications, Summary Statements, and More

10 comments.

If you are new to writing grant applications, sometimes seeing how someone else has presented their idea can help as you are developing your own application. With the gracious permission of successful investigators, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) makes available examples of funded R01, R03, R15, R21, SBIR/STTR, K, and F applications, summary statements, sharing plans, leadership plans, and more. When referencing these resources, it is important to remember:

• These applications were developed using the application forms and instructions that were in effect at the time of their submission. Forms and instructions change regularly. Read and carefully follow the instructions in the funding opportunity announcement to which you are responding and the current application instructions carefully.
• The best way to present your science may differ substantially from the approach taken by those who wrote the example applications. Seek feedback on your draft application from mentors and others.
• Talk to an NIH program officer in your area of science for advice about the best type of grant program and the Institute or Center that might be interested in your idea.

Check out the NIAID’s Sample Applications and More .  

RELATED NEWS

Are any samples available that are congruent with Forms E?

And are there any available that reflect an RCT and the use of the Clinical Trials Info Form?

Unfortunately, not yet.

Will instructions in effect at the “time of the submission” be also provided with each application?

Any samples of a SPORE grant application?

The samples on the page are the only samples provided.

I have found, and continue to find, these sample applications helpful… up to a point. It is indeed very gracious that these investigators have allowed NIAID to share these applications. Are there plans, and if not, why not, to share applications from other centers (I’m looking at you NIGMS!)?

It takes a lot of staff time and effort to identify applications that are suitable to use for this purpose and to keep the information on this page updated. NIAID has graciously devoted significant resources to making this page possible.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share some additional sample grant applications available through NCI’s website:

-cancer epidemiology sample grant applications (R01, R21, R03 examples) at https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/funding/grantsmanship/sample-grants.html

-behavioral research sample grant applications (R01, R21, R03 examples) https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/funding/sample-application.html

-implementation science research (R01 and R21 examples) https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/IS/sample-grant-applications.html

We are extremely grateful to the investigators who have been willing to share their applications and hope these additional examples are useful to the broader scientific community!

Thank you!!

How about sample Other Support documents, especially in light of the recent update from the NIH regarding their content?

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• Sample Grant Applications
• Implementation Science
• Funding Opportunities

Several investigators and their organizations agreed to post part of their dissemination and implementation grant applications online. We are grateful to them for letting us provide this resource to the community.

Note: These sample grants predate some recent grants policy changes, including  NIH’s Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy  (effective January 25, 2023). Please refer to the  NIH Grants Policy  and  NCI Grants Policy  to ensure your application is in full compliance.

R37: Sustainability Determinants of an Intervention to Identify Clinical Deterioration and Improve Childhood Cancer Survival in Low-Resource Hospitals

Principal investigator.

Asya Agulnik, MD, MPH ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL*

Virginia McKay, MA, PhD RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR*

Award Number

1R37CA276215-01

R21: Policy Implementation Research on Health Benefit Mandates for Fertility Preservation Services to Improve Access to Care in Young Cancer Survivors

Hui-Chun Irene Su, MD, MSCE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO HEALTH*

R21#CA271184-01A1

R01: Establishing Smoke-Free Homes with Families Involved in Child Protective Services: An Effectiveness-Implementation Trial of an Integrated Program

Shannon R. Self-Brown, PhD Georgia State University School of Public Health*

R01#CA248551-01A1

R37: Testing an Adaptive Implementation Strategy to Optimize Delivery of Obesity Prevention Practices in Early Care and Education Settings

Taren Swindle, PhD University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences*

R37#CA252113-01A1

R37: De-implementation of low value castration for men with prostate cancer

Ted Skolarus, MD, MPH, FACS University of Michigan at Ann Arbor*

R37#CA222885-01

R21: Improving HPV Vaccination Using Implementation Strategies in Community Pharmacies

Benjamin Teeter, PhD, MS University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences*

R21#CA231180-01A1

R01: Using Technology to Scale-Up an Occupational Sun Protection Policy Program

David B. Buller, PhD Klein Buendel Inc.*

R01#CA210259-01A1

R01: Implementing Cancer Prevention Using Patient - Provider Clinical Decision Support

Thomas E. Elliott, MD HealthPartners Institute*

R01#CA193396-01A1

R21: Effective Training Models for Implementing Health-Promoting Practices Afterschool

Rebekka Mairghread Lee, ScD Harvard School of Public Health*

R21#CA201567-01A1

R01: Increasing Implementation of Evidence-Based Interventions at Low-Wage Worksites

Margaret Hannon, PhD University of Washington*

R01#CA160217-01A1

Additional Information

We redact some information from these documents, such as budgets, social security numbers, home addresses, and introductions to revised applications. We also only include a copy of the SF 424 R&R Face Page, Project Summary/Abstract (Description), Project Narrative, Specific Aims, and Research Strategy. We do not include other SF 424 (R&R) forms or basic information found in full grant applications, such as performance sites, key personnel, or biographical sketches.

*Institution at time of grant award. **Notice(s) of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) at the time of grant award that have since expired.

The text of the grant applications is copyrighted. Investigators and others may use the text from these applications only for nonprofit educational purposes provided that the content remains unchanged and that the Principal Investigator(s), their organization(s), and NCI are credited.

Individuals using assistive technology (e.g., screen reader, Braille reader, etc.) who experience difficulty accessing any information should send an email to the IS team ( [email protected] ).

Other Sample Grants

See examples of successfully funded grant applications.

Current Implementation Science Funding Opportunities

Find resources and learn about implementation science funding opportunities such as Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health.

• Public Goods and Action Groups
• CCIS Annual Meeting
• Health Equity Toolkit
• ISC3 Centers
• Evidence-Based Cancer Control Programs (EBCCP)
• Research Tools
• Practice Tools
• Research-Practice Partnerships
• Ali Abazeed, MPH, MPP
• Annabelle Uy, MS
• Antoinette Percy-Laurry, DrPH, MSPH
• Cynthia A. Vinson, PhD, MPA
• David Chambers, DPhil
• Gila Neta, PhD, MPP
• Laurie Hursting, MA
• Mindy Clyne, MHS, CGC
• Pete DelNero, PhD, MPH
• Sarah Bruce Bernal, MA
• Wynne E. Norton, PhD

How to write a good application - ESRC

The content and quality of the application you submit to us will determine whether you are successful. Therefore, it is vital that you have a full understanding of what is required, as well as knowing the various stages of the application process, so that you maximise your chances of being funded.

These notes are intended to assist you in the preparation of applications to the ESRC responsive mode: research grants funding opportunity  and should be read in conjunction with the ESRC research funding guide .

They provide informal guidance on points for applicants to remember when drafting applications.

You may also find this information helpful if you’re applying to another funding opportunity although you should take care to follow any funding opportunity-specific guidance provided.

Careful attention will help you to avoid some of the basic pitfalls and improve the funding chances of your research idea.

Our guidance for writing a good research grant application

Allow yourself time.

Preparing a draft application and consulting on it, preparing the project costings and getting advice on these, as well as reading the regulations of the funding opportunity to learn what is and what is not permissible, are all time-consuming parts of the process of application.

The key guidance for applicants applying to our research grants scheme is:

• the funding opportunity guidance
• ESRC guidance for applicants
• ESRC research funding guide

Study your funding source

All funding agencies will have their own criteria for deciding on allocation of their resources. It is worthwhile taking time to familiarise yourself with these and ensuring that your application clearly addresses your targeted source of support.

We are an agency funded by the government and its mission is “to promote and support by any means, high quality, basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in the social sciences; to advance knowledge and provide trained social scientists which meets the needs of users and beneficiaries, thereby contributing to the economic competitiveness of the UK, the effectiveness of public services and policy, and the quality of life; and, to provide advice on, and disseminate knowledge and promote public understanding of, the social sciences”.

All successful ESRC research grants demonstrate four characteristics. They must:

• promise excellent research
• be of value to potential users outside or within the research community
• convince of the ability to deliver research
• demonstrate value for money (not necessarily the same as cheapness).

Further information relating to how applications are peer reviewed and the standards against which you will be judged are provided within ESRC’s guidance for reviewers and ESRC’s peer reviewer training tool – this is an online course which takes around an hour to complete, although it is possible to dip in and out as well.

Read the guidance documents

You should read the funding opportunity guidance which is designed to help you through the process. This cannot be overstressed; familiarising yourself with the content of the research funding guide may seem tedious but will help you to avoid basic mistakes which at best will require clarification with office staff and at worst may prejudice chances of success. Please abide by the rules, since they are there to ensure a level playing field for all applicants, and applications which break the rules will be rejected. Make sure you are using the current versions of guidance as rules and regulations are subject to change. If in doubt, check with the named ESRC contact for the funding opportunity.

Discuss your application

You should discuss your application with peer groups, colleagues and, if you are a relatively new researcher, with senior and more experienced researchers. Experienced collaboration or mentoring rarely goes amiss. If you have never sent in an application to us before, try to get the advice of someone who has already been successful.

Talk to your research office and draw on the support that they can give you in putting together your application and calculating your costings.

Justify your costings

When you justify your costings, they should be considered with care and close reference to our research funding guide.

Be realistic – lavish costings are unlikely to find favour with panel members and an application which promises the earth at remarkably low expense will be regarded with caution.

Panels take a very dim view of applications where the costings have been padded to reach the lower financial threshold for the funding opportunity, and if potential cuts would take the overall cost of the application below the threshold the application will not be funded.

You need to provide clear and convincing justification of your costings and should think carefully about the time and resources needed to complete the research successfully within the specified period.

Grants will be based on the eligible costings included in applications and will be subject to standard indexation and be cash limited at the time of announcement, so it is important to get costings right when applying.

A well thought out financial plan helps to create confidence in the application generally. Give as detailed a breakdown of costs as possible so that the panel can properly assess the application.

Do make sure that what you are asking for is allowed within the regulations. Bear in mind that ESRC is looking for value for money, and that applications which offer poor value for money will be scored down by panels, even when the science may be excellent.

Content and presentation

The research application is the means by which you will be trying to convince the panel that your application is worth funding so think carefully about what information you are going to give and how it is presented.

Make sure you think your project plan through and cover all stages of the research lifecycle. The project lifecycle includes the planning and research design stage, the period of funding for the project, and all activities that relate to the project up to and including the time when funding has ended.

The research lifecycle therefore also includes knowledge exchange and impact realisation activities, the dissemination process including reporting and publication and the archiving, future use, sharing, and linking of data.

Many applications are unsuccessful not because they lack interesting or important research ideas, but because they fail to communicate adequately how these research ideas will be explored and translated into an achievable plan of action.

It is vital that you have a full understanding of what is required, as well as knowing the various stages of the application process, so that you maximise your chances of gaining an award.

Convey to the panel your genuine interest, understanding and enthusiasm for the work.

The vision and approach section is the core of your application. It is also important to make sure that you devote enough space in the application to describing the research you intend to conduct and the research design and methods – the panels find it very frustrating when applicants devote pages to explaining why their proposed research is exciting but then provide only a short and inadequate explanation of how they propose to explore this in practice.

Write in plain English. Your application is likely to be seen by many people, including some who will not be familiar with your particular specialism. Detail and specification may necessitate the use of disciplinary or technical terminology and this will be clear to peer reviewers, but the ideas you wish to convey and your reasons for doing so should be apparent to a wide audience.

Peer reviewers and panel members do not welcome dense blocks of text which have not been broken down into paragraphs and sub sections. By the same token, do take the trouble to check spelling, grammar and punctuation. These are all part of the quality of presentation and presentation matters.

Knowledge exchange and impact

Our mission places emphasis on ensuring that researchers engage as fully as possible with the users of research outcomes. These may be:

• other academics
• government departments
• public bodies
• voluntary organisations
• other interested parties

Try to consult with and involve people who could make a valuable contribution to the research and who could provide support and interest. Involving stakeholders and users in the planning stages can be highly beneficial.

In line with the common position on excellence with Impact adopted by research councils, we expect that the researchers we fund will have considered the potential scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research.

You should actively consider how these can be maximised and developed throughout your application. Consideration of the potential economic and social impact of your proposed research will form part of the peer review and assessment process of your application. You are expected to take impact seriously. If you believe that your research project is purely theoretical or methodological and will only have impacts within academia you should consider your impact strategy to justify your belief.

Opportunities for making an impact may arise, and should be taken, at any stage during the lifecourse of the research. It is important that researchers have in place a robust strategy for maximising the likelihood of such opportunities arising and their own capacity for taking advantage of these.

Further information on impact, innovation and interdisciplinarity.

Check the details

Once you have completed the application make sure that all the required information is provided. Some of the most common issues are:

• an unrealistic start date
• vision and approach section exceeding the specified length
• no additional details provided of revisions made to an application in the case of invited resubmissions

What happens next?

For the esrc responsive mode: research grants funding opportunity.

Applications receiving sufficiently supportive comments from external academic reviewers are forwarded to the panel members (introducers) for a funding recommendation. This is primarily informed by the average expert reviewer score. The minimum threshold score for progressing to the panel is determined on an individual funding opportunity basis.

Applications receiving an average expert reviewer score below the minimum threshold are rejected as not meeting the requisite scientific standard.

At the full panel meetings a proportion of applications will be recommended for funding. Unsuccessful applications fall into two categories – those which are unsuccessful due to lack of funds, and those which do not meet the requisite scientific standard.

A ranked list of recommendations is then considered by the grants delivery group for a final funding decision.

We accept only invited resubmissions. We do not allow the resubmission of any previously unsuccessful applications (including applications previously submitted to another research council), unless applicants have been specifically invited to do so.

In the majority of cases funding decisions are made around six months from the submission of your application, so please bear this in mind when applying.

If your research is time-critical you will need to allow enough time from submission for the application to go through the full application process, and the post-award checks/contracting process which takes an additional two months, on average.

If you are successful

Congratulations, and we hope your project goes well.

However, if difficulties arise such as delays in recruitment, staff illness, replacements, or changes to the work plan then please let us know immediately via your research office.

Under our research funding guide rules you will not need to notify us of virements of funds between headings and no supplementation will be allowed.

Last updated: 16 February 2024

This is the website for UKRI: our seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Let us know if you have feedback or would like to help improve our online products and services .

Sample Healthcare Delivery Research Grant Applications

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) frequently receives requests for examples of funded grant applications. Several investigators and their organizations agreed to let the Healthcare Delivery Research Program (HDRP) post excerpts of their healthcare delivery research grant applications online.

We are grateful to the investigators and their institutions for allowing us to provide this important resource to the community. We include a copy of the SF 424 R&R Face Page, Project Summary/Abstract (Description), Project Narrative, Specific Aims, and Research Strategy; we do not include other SF 424 (R&R) forms or requisite information found in the full grant application (e.g., performance sites, key personnel, biographical sketches). To maintain confidentiality, we have redacted some information from these documents (e.g., budgets, social security numbers, home addresses, introduction to revised application).

Sample Applications

R01: personalized screening for lung cancer: the importance of co-existing chronic conditions to clinical practice and policy, principal investigator.

Grant Mechanism & Award Number

R01CA249506-01

R01: Predicting and Addressing Colonoscopy Non-adherence in Community Settings

R01CA218923-01A1

R01: Using MOST to EMPOWER: Optimizing an Emotional Regulation Intervention to Enhance Well-being Among Young Adult Cancer Survivors

Principal investigators.

R01CA242849-01

R01: Improving Informal Caregivers' and Cancer Survivors' Psychological Distress, Symptom Management and Health Care Use

R01CA224282-01A1

R03: Statewide Assessment of HPV Vaccination Among Childhood Cancer Survivors

1R03CA216174-01A1

R03: Multi-center Evaluation of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis with Synthesized Two-dimensional Mammography for Breast Cancer Screening

R03CA223725-01

R21: Improving Transition Readiness in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Survivors of Childhood Cancer

R21CA222936-01A1

R50: Natural History of Lung Cancer Diagnosed Within and Across Diverse Health Systems Implementing Lung Cancer Screening

R50CA251966-01

Additional Details

Copyright information.

The text of the grant applications is copyrighted. Investigators and others may use the text from these applications only for nonprofit educational purposes provided that the content remains unchanged and that the Principal Investigator(s), their organization(s), and NCI are credited.

Accessibility

Individuals using assistive technology (e.g., screen reader, Braille reader, etc.) who experience difficulty accessing any information should send an email to the HDRP team ( [email protected] ).

Other Sample Grants

See examples of successfully funded grant applications.

Currently Open Notice of Funding Opportunities Relevant to HDRP

See the currently open notice of funding opportunities (NOFOs) sponsored or co-sponsored by HDRP; other NOFOs relevant to HDRP; and NIH and NCI Parent and Omnibus NOFOs for investigator-initiated research.

Research Application Sample

Sample of an effective application for a research study.

Following is a sample of a well-written, effective application for funding of a Clinical Research Study. It is here to provide you with an example of the kind of thinking and detail our reviewers are looking for as they consider your application. If you are applying for funding for another type of study, such as survey research, this is conceptually the kind of application we hope you will write.

We hope you find this helpful as you draft your own application!

Abstract (250 words)

Summarize the main points of the grant proposal (aims, methods, outcome measures)

• Specific Aims: To determine bias and precision of temporal artery and axillary temperature measurements compared to oral temperature in oncology patients undergoing bone marrow transplant who develop a fever (oral temperature > 38.3°C).
• Background: Accurate temperature measurement is critical in cancer patients undergoing treatments that destroy the white blood cells, as fever may be the only indication of an infection. Standard methods for temperature measurement are oral or axillary routes. However, these methods have limitations. Temporal artery temperature (TAT) may be an alternative. There are no studies comparing these various methods in high risk oncology patients, particularly those patients with a fever.
• Methods: A repeated measures design will be used to evaluate the bias and precision of the three temperature measurement methods in 60 patients undergoing bone marrow transplant. Baseline temperature measurements will be obtained using calibrated thermometers at the time of study enrollment and repeated measures will be obtained if the patient becomes febrile (oral temperature > 38.3°C) and four hours later. Temperatures will be taken within a one minute period in a random order. Intra and interrater reliability will be established. Bland Altman analysis will be used to describe the bias and precision of the methods. Oral temperature will be used as the value for comparison.

Specific Aims and/or Hypothesis (Maximum 100 words):

Your aims or hypothesis should be specific (Example: Less strong: we want to determine if a patient/family education program works - Stronger: Determine if there is an improvement in patient/family satisfaction with discharge education after implementation of a computer based medication education program).

To determine bias and precision of temporal artery and axillary temperature measurements compared to oral temperature in oncology patients undergoing bone marrow transplant who develop a fever (oral temperature > 38.3°C). This research is consistent with the goals of the J. Patrick Barnes research program as patients undergoing bone marrow transplant represent some of the most vulnerable oncology patients.

Significance/Background (Maximum 750 words):

Briefly describe the background of your proposal, including a critical evaluation of the existing body of knowledge about the problem. Identify the importance of this study by relating it to existing knowledge. Summarize how the proposed research addresses the priorities of the J. Patrick Barnes Grant program. Include a list of references as an appendix.

Accurate temperature measurement is critical in cancer patients undergoing treatments that destroy the white blood cells. White blood cells fight infection and create the signs and symptoms of an infection. In a patient whose bone marrow has been depleted of white blood cells, the only sign of infection may be a fever. Our current standard is to obtain oral temperature. An axillary temperature is obtained if the patient cannot have an oral temperature due to oral lesions.

Although there is adequate literature demonstrating the accuracy of oral temperature as an indicator of core temperature there are limitations to the use of oral measurements and currently axillary is the only option. The temporal artery thermometer (TAT) offers a potential alternative. However, there are no studies comparing these methods in our patient population. Before we can change our method of assessment, research is needed to evaluate the accuracy and precision of TAT compared to the standard methods of measurement in this high risk group of patients.

Oral temperature measurement is a standard in healthcare. Factors that may affect oral temperature include the ingestion of hot/cold liquids, tachypnea and oral lesions or trauma. Administration of oxygen and open versus closed mouth breathing do not affect oral temperature measurements.1,2 Oxygen administered via a face mask has a statistically but not clinically significant effect (<0.3°C decrease) on oral temperature measurements.3-5 Axillary temperature is a skin temperature from an area that is somewhat protected from ambient air. The axillary temperature varies from the core temperature. For example, in 38 critically ill cardiovascular patients, 10 the axillary temperature was lower than core temperature by a 0.68°C ± 0.57°C. In 42 critically ill patients with sepsis, 22 the axillary temperature was higher than PA temperature (0.27°C ±0.45°C). The TAT offers an alternative method for patients who cannot have an oral measurement or for who axillary is not accurate enough. The temporal artery measurement is noninvasive and does not require contact with mucous membranes. The temporal artery is not significantly affected by thermoregulatory changes.REF. Because of the high perfusion rate of the temporal artery the TAT may be an accurate indicator of core temperature.REF

In a study, REF of 60 adult ICU patients, PA temperature (core) was 37.1°C ±0.6°C (range 35.3°C-39.4°C). Mean ± SD offset from core temperature and 95% confidence limits were 0.09°C ±0.43°C; (95% CL = -0.75°C to 0.93°C) for oral measurements, -0.36°C ± 0.56°C (95% CL = -0.92°C to 0.88°C) for temporal artery measurements, and 0.23°C ± 0.44°C (95% CL = -0.64°C to 1.12°C) for axillary measurements. Oral and TAT measurements were most accurate and precise, while axillary measurements underestimated core temperature. This study provides justification for the use of oral temperature as the method of comparison for our proposed study. However, a limitation of this study was the small number of patients who were febrile. Thus, we propose to conduct a method comparison study of oral, axillary and TAT measurements in oncology patients who develop a fever (oral temperature > 38.3°C).

Methods (Maximum 1,000 words):

Describe the methods you will use for the research. Identify sample (characteristics, sample size, provide power analysis as appropriate). Specify the protocols and instruments you will use. If you are using a particular instrument, provide a copy as an attachment. As appropriate, provide information on the psychometric properties of the instrument you are proposing to use. Describe outcome variables in detail. Describe data analysis plan.

A repeated-measures design with participants serving as their own control will be used. The oral temperature will be used as the measurement for comparison. The thermometers have been loaned by the companies for research purposes and will be returned upon study completion.

Upon enrollment the patient will have the first set of temperature measurements obtained. If during the hospitalization the patient develops a fever (oral temperature > 38.3) the RN caring for the patient will notify the study nurse on the unit and a set of temperature measurements will be obtained. The patient’s temperature will be repeated four hours later.

Sample: A convenience sample of 60 adult (age > 18) oncology patients undergoing bone marrow transplant will be studied. Subjects must be able to read/speak English and provide informed consent. Exclusion criteria: alteration in skin integrity (forehead/axilla).

The investigators will be trained to perform the procedures for each measurement. Intrarater reliability: each investigator will perform each measurement as described in the methods section until he/she achieves repeated temperature measurements for a given site that are within 0.1ºC. Interrater reliability: having 2 investigators obtain temperature measurements from a specified site that are within 0.1°C. A refresher will be performed monthly.

The temperature measurements will be obtained in a random order within a 1-minute period. The temperatures will be measured at each site on the same side of the body and only if the site was fully exposed.

Oral Temperature. Medichoice Digital Thermometer (Karma Medical Products, Portsmouth VA). The thermometer has a temperature range of 26.6ºC - 43.3ºC, with an accuracy of ±0.1ºC. The probe, will be placed in the posterior sublingual pocket. Patients who are tachypneic or mouth breathers will be encouraged to form the best seal possible around the thermometer. A note regarding each patient’s ability to make an adequate seal will be made on the study record. Nasal cannula or face masks for oxygen delivery will be left in place. No attempt will be made to close a patient’s mouth around the probe if they are unable to spontaneously accomplish this action.6

Temporal Temperature. Exergen TemporalScanner Temporal Artery Thermometer TAT-5000A (Exergen Corp, Watertown, Massachusetts). This thermometer has a reported accuracy of ±0.1°C. The temperature measurement will be obtained by sliding the thermometer probe midline straight across the forehead. To control for the effects of perspiration on the measurement, an additional temperature measurement behind the earlobe will be obtained (continuation of the temporal measurement). If a patient is in a lateral position, the temperature will be measured on the “up” (nondependent) side of the forehead. The lens will be inspected and cleaned as needed before each measurement. To avoid temperature drawdown, a minimum 30-second delay will be used if a measurement has to be repeated.

Axillary Temperature. Axillary temperature will be measured with the same thermometer used for oral measurements. The temperature probe requires direct contact with the skin, although no shaving or clipping of hair is required. Temperature measurements will be obtained in the following manner: With the axillary mode indicator flashing, the patient’s arm will be lifted so that the entire axilla is easily seen. The probe will be placed as high as possible in the axilla. The probe tip will not come into contact with the patient until the probe is placed in the measurement site. Verification that the probe tip is completely surrounded by axillary tissue will be accomplished, after which the patient’s arm will be placed snugly at their side. The patient’s arm will be held in this position to avoid movement of the arm or the probe during the measurement cycle.

To control for the effect of fluid ingestion, temperature measurements will be delayed for at least 15 minutes after a patient has ingested hot or cold liquids.

Equipment Calibration. The clinical engineering department will calibrate all thermometers before the start of the study, monthly during data collection, and upon completion of the study. The calibration will be done in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations. The thermometers will be considered calibrated if they are within 0.2°C of the standard. A thermometer will be recalibrated if it is more than 0.2°C different from the standard.

Data Analysis Plan: The difference between the temperature measurements at each time point will be calculated and plotted as described by Bland and Altman.(Ref)) A clinically significant difference is defined as greater than ±0.5°C and the number of data pairs outside the ±0.5°C limits will be analyzed. For all analyses a will be set at .05.

Timetable: Detail your proposed step-by-step timeline in the following chart. (Your J. Patrick Barnes Grant application will have a different format, but this provides an idea of the detail your timeline should have.)

Budget: Funds are available for direct expenses only. Institutional overhead may not be included. Provide budget using the following chart, and describe/provide justification for how you will use the grant funding to support your project (e.g., cost for reproduction of booklets - 500 booklets @ $2/booklet = $1000). If the funding level offered by The DAISY Foundation is not adequate for your project, please email [email protected] to discuss.

Equipment/Supplies: Nonreplacable probe covers are required (Total $340). The digital thermometers are a routine part of patient care and there is no charge for their use beyond normal care costs. The temporal artery thermometers are on loan from the company and will be returned upon completion of the study.

Sample Cancer Epidemiology Grant Applications

On this page..., orientation to sample applications, sample applications, links to other sample applications.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) frequently receives questions from investigators for examples of successfully funded grant applications. Several investigators and their organizations agreed to let the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) post excerpts of their grant applications online. The applications in the table below are excellent examples of grantsmanship.

EGRP is grateful to the investigators for enabling our Program to deliver this valuable resource. Certain details are redacted, such as social security numbers, budgets, home addresses, and phone numbers. Additionally, to minimize the file size, EGRP excluded sections of the original application that provide routine details, such as lists of performance sites and key personnel, biographical sketches, and bibliographies. As a result, the grant applications accessible through the links below do not include all sections that appear in the SF424 (R&R) used to apply for grants.

The text of the grant applications is copyrighted. Investigators and others may use the text from these same applications only for nonprofit educational purposes provided the content remains unchanged and the Principal Investigator(s), their organization(s), and NCI are credited.

Note: The table below highlights examples of grant applications that were submitted before January 25, 2023, the effective day of the NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) policy. EGRP anticipates updating the examples of grant applications that comply with the new DMS policy in the latter part of 2024. In the meantime, please refer to EGRP’s webpage on Data and Resource Management and Sharing Plans for more information on preparing DMS plans.

• Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, NCI
• Healthcare Delivery Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, NCI
• Implementation Science Team, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, NCI
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses.

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• Opportunities & Announcements
• Funding Strategy for Grants
• Grant Writing & Approval Process
• Managing Grants
• Clinical Research
• Small Business Research

Program Project Grants/Center Grants (P)

(P01) RESEARCH PROGRAM PROJECTS

• Supports a broadly based, multidisciplinary, often long-term research program which has a specific major objective or a basic theme.
• Generally involves the organized efforts of relatively large groups, members of which are conducting research projects designed to elucidate the various aspects or components of this objective.
• A program project is directed toward a range of problems having a central research focus, in contrast to the usually narrower thrust of the traditional research project. Each project supported through this mechanism should contribute or be directly related to the common theme of the total research effort.

(P30) CENTER CORE GRANTS

• Supports shared resources and facilities for categorical research by a number of investigators from different disciplines who provide a multidisciplinary approach to a joint research effort or from the same discipline who focus on a common research problem.

(P50) SPECIALIZED CENTER

• Supports any part of the full range of research and development from very basic to clinical.
• May involve ancillary supportive activities such as protracted patient care necessary to the primary research or R&D effort.
• These grants differ from program project grants in that they are usually developed in response to an announcement of the programmatic needs of an Institute or Division.

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About Grants

The lifecycle of grants and cooperative agreements consists of four phases: Pre-Award, Award, Post-Award, and Close Out.

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AFRI Project and Grant Types | FAQ

Conference grants, do i need to do anything special when applying for conference grants.

Not all program area priorities allow conference grant applications, please consult Part I, C of the RFA to determine if a particular program allows them. Letters of Intent are required for all Conference Grants prior to submission of applications. The conference grant LOI must be submitted to the program area priority contact(s) a minimum of 195 days before the conference begins. Applications should be submitted after receiving an LOI decision response and must be submitted a minimum of 150 days before the conference begins. Please see AFRI Requests for Applications and AFRI RFA Resources (“AFRI Grant Types” and “AFRI Letter of Intent Instructions in the Attachment list) for more information. Additionally, there may be special instructions for conference grants included in the grant application instructions and specific conference grant evaluation criteria listed in the AFRI Review Criteria (found in the Attachment list on AFRI RFA Resources ).

Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement Grants

What is the purpose of afri food and agriculture science enhancement (fase) grants.

The purpose of AFRI Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) grants is to strengthen science capabilities in research, education, and/or extension programs. FASE grants are designed to help institutions or states, that have been less successful receiving AFRI grants, and to attract new scientists, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, and educators into careers in high-priority areas of national need in agriculture, food, and environmental sciences.

What are the FASE Grant types?

The FASE grant types are:

• Pre- and Post-doctoral Fellowship grants; 
• New Investigator grants (standard and seed grants); and, 
• Seed grants, 
• Sabbatical grants, 
• Equipment grants, 
• Strengthening standard grants, 
• Strengthening Coordinated Agricultural Project grants, and 
• Strengthening Conference grants.

What is the eligibility for predoctoral fellowships grants?

The applicant must have advanced to candidacy, (as determined by the applicant’s institutional requirements) by the application deadline. Applicants are expected to provide documentation from his or her institution (usually the applicant’s advisor, department, or the institution’s graduate programs office) by the application deadline. Check the  Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – Education and Workforce Development RFA for more information.

What is the eligibility for postdoctoral fellowships grants?

The applicant’s doctoral degree must have been conferred no earlier than the date specified in the RFA (based upon the application deadline), and no later than the date specified in the  Postdoctoral Fellowships Program in the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative –Education and Workforce Development (AFRI-EWD) RFA. Please visit the  AFRI-EWD Program  for additional information.

How do you apply for a FASE grant?

FASE grant applications are solicited under the program area priorities of each AFRI Request for Applications (RFA). It is important to read each AFRI RFA to identify the appropriate program area priority description that is relevant to the focus of your application. Each RFA includes information on the types of FASE grants that are being solicited, the eligibility requirements, and instructions for the preparation and submission of a FASE application. See FAQ #3 and  Grant types for information about FASE grant types.

Is there any dedicated funding for FASE grants?

Yes, there are dedicated funds (FASE set-aside) for all the FASE grant types except the New Investigator grant types (see FAQs #9 & #11):

• 3.75% of the AFRI funds available for grants each year is allocated to Pre-and Post –doctoral fellowship grants (see FAQs #7 & #8).
• 11.25% of the AFRI funds available for grants each year is allocated to strengthening grants (see FAQ #3).

Strengthening Grants

What is the eligibility for strengthening grants (seed grants, sabbatical grants, equipment grants, strengthening standard grants, strengthening coordinated agricultural project grants and strengthening conference grants).

Strengthening grants are limited to institutions that qualify as a 1) small and mid-sized or minority-serving institution that have had limited institutional success for receiving Federal funds or (2) State Agricultural Experiment Stations or degree-granting institutions eligible for USDA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) funding. Please see the FAQs below for explanations of small and mid-sized institution, minority-serving institution, limited institutional success, and EPSCoR. 

A New Investigator from one of these strengthening-eligible types of institutions can have their application considered as both a New Investigator application and a Strengthening application.

The eligibility requirements for FASE grants are complex. Is there an easy way for me to determine eligibility?

Yes, a  flow chart is available to help determine eligibility for a FASE Strengthening grant.

What is a small and mid-sized institution?

A small and mid-sized institution is an academic institution with a current total enrollment of 17,500 or less including graduate and undergraduate and full- and part-time students. The institution must possess a significant degree of autonomy. Significant degree of autonomy is defined by being independently accredited as determined by reference to the current version of the Higher Education Directory , published by Higher Education Publications, Inc., 6400 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 648, Falls Church, Virginia 22042. Eligible small or mid-sized institutions must also have limited institutional success, as defined in FAQ #19 (except when located in an EPSCoR state, as defined in FAQ #21).

What is a minority-serving institution?

For the AFRI Program, minority-serving institution is defined by enrollment of minority group or combination of minority groups exceeds 50% of total enrollment. Eligible minority-serving institutions must also have limited institutional success, as defined in FAQ #19 (except when located in an EPSCoR state, as defined in FAQ #21).

What is limited institutional success?

Limited institutional success means institutions that are not among the 100 most successful universities and colleges for receiving Federal funds for science and engineering research. A list of the top 100 most successful institutions is provided in Table 1 in each AFRI RFA.

I am a lead Project Director (PD) and my institution is eligible for FASE funding, but my Co–Project Directors’ (Co-PDs) institutions are not. Can my proposal still be considered for FASE funding?

Yes, only the lead PD’s institution must meet the eligibility criteria.

How does the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) relate to the FASE program?

The FASE program is considered an “EPSCoR-like program” because it aims to improve the research infrastructure and competitiveness of universities and colleges or state agricultural experiment stations in states that have historically received less AFRI research funding in order to spread the agricultural sciences and engineering efforts geographically. However, State Agricultural Experiment Stations or degree-granting institutions in an EPSCoR state are only one of the eligibility categories for FASE program. See FAQ #21 on how the USDA-EPSCoR States are determined each year.

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What are grants?

Types of grants, how to find and apply for grants, grants for college: unlocking free money for your education.

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• Grants for college don't need to be repaid after graduation.
• If you receive a college grant, it can significantly affect your financial future for the better. 
• Students can get college grants from many sources, including federal and state programs.

The costs of college can add up quickly. Many turn to student loans , with the average student borrowing over $30,000 to pursue an undergraduate degree, according to the Education Data Initiative .

But college grants offer another solution to help pay for school. College grants are funds that you don't have to repay after graduation.

When it comes to paying for college, free money is rarely a bad option. If you are eligible for a grant, taking advantage of that opportunity can help you lower the cost of getting your degree . However, it's important to read the fine print before accepting a college grant.

In some situations, you may end up having to repay your grant funds. For example, if you withdraw from a program or you switch to part-time student status, you could be required to repay your federal grants. Not meeting your teaching service obligations after accepting a TEACH grant is another example when you might have to repay federal grant funds. 

Federal pell grants

Pell grants , the most popular education grant, are awarded to undergraduate students with a demonstrated financial need, with up to 12 semesters of eligibility. 

Federal supplemental educational opportunity grants (FSEOG)

The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) is awarded to students with exceptional financial need at qualifying schools.

State grants

Many states offer grants to students pursuing higher education. It's worth checking to see if your state offers grant opportunities.

College-specific grants

Some colleges and universities offer grant opportunities to cover educational costs. Ask your school's financial aid office to see if you qualify for school-specific grants. 

Private grants

Some organizations offer grant funding to students. In general, you have to apply for this type of grant and meet specific eligibility requirements.

TEACH grants

Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grants are available to students enrolled in programs designed to prepare them for teaching at the elementary or secondary school level. The catch is that grant recipients must agree to teach full-time for at least four years in a school that serves low-income students. If you don't uphold the commitment, you'll have to repay the funds.

Specialized grants

Students can also find grants focused on specific fields of study and demographics. For example, you might find a grant opportunity based on your science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) major, or your religious faith background. Do some digging to find any specialized grant opportunities you might qualify for. 

If you've decided you want to pursue grants to cover some of your college costs, it's time to apply. As you run through these applications, make sure to complete and file them on time. Many grant programs are unable to accept applications past the posted deadline. 

In some cases, you'll also have to submit a grant essay. You can make a good impression through your essay by being authentic and engaging the reader in your story. It's usually a good idea to have people you trust read through your essay to offer feedback. 

Finally, some grants require letters of recommendation. Consider procuring these from someone with whom you have a good working relationship. For example, you might ask a teacher you've worked with on big projects, or a coach who knows you well. Regardless of who you choose, ask them at least one month before the deadline to give them the time they need. 

Start with the FAFSA

Start by submitting the FAFSA. If your state offers any grant opportunities, you'll probably need to submit paperwork to apply. Some of the documents you might need to submit with your grant application include household tax returns, household W-2 forms, Social Security number, high school transcripts, and letters of recommendation. 

Search online databases

College grants are available from multiple entities. In general, it's a good idea to start by throwing your hat into the ring for federal college grants. Next, research state-level grant programs available to students in your area.

Check out Business Insider's picks for the best scholarship websites to find even more potential school funding that you will not have to repay beyond college grants.

Contact your school's financial aid office

You can reach out to your future college to uncover any school-level grant options and ask about grants dedicated to helping students in your particular field of study.

College grant FAQs

Whether or not you're eligible to receive grants depends on the grant. Most grants are need-based, but some are awarded based on merit or other criteria.

How much you get from a grant will depend on your financial need, the type of grant, and the cost of attendance at your school.

The best time to apply for grants is as early as possible! Many grants have limited funds and are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Generally, you do not need to pay taxes on grants, as long as the grant is used for qualified educational expenses (tuition, fees, books, etc.).

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Why Stating Hypotheses in Grant Applications Is Unnecessary

• 1 CAUSALab, Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
• 2 Department of Epidemiology and Department of Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles
• Original Investigation Use of Promotional Language in Abstracts of Successful NIH Grant Applications Neil Millar, PhD; Bojan Batalo, MSc; Brian Budgell, PhD JAMA Network Open

“Our hypothesis is that statins do not increase the risk of cancer.” Such explicit statement of investigators’ beliefs is often found in applications for research funding, which follows common advice on how to write grant applications by colleagues, 1 - 3  academic institutions , and funding  agencies . The statement of the hypothesis is viewed as “the backbone of your grant.” 1 Hence, many investigators, aware that hypothesis-driven research is highly regarded by funders and reviewers, declare their hypothesis in their grant applications. This hypothesis-centric approach, however, is problematic, as the following example of causal inference from observational data illustrates.

Two questions for the authors and for readers:

1. Might the hypothesis statement, as described in the article and as commonly used in current practice, still provide some benefit by forcing an early insight into a potential direction of the investigators’ bias? 2. Might a more beneficial way to structure the hypothesis include a summary of proposed causal underpinnings?

Read More About

Hernán MA , Greenland S. Why Stating Hypotheses in Grant Applications Is Unnecessary. JAMA. 2024;331(4):285–286. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.27163

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Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education

About the standards.

The Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education are designed to:

• Ensure that accredited continuing education serves the needs of patients and the public
• Present learners with only accurate, balanced, scientifically justified recommendations
• Assure learners they can trust accredited continuing education to help them deliver, safe, effective, cost-effective, and compassionate care that is based on best practice and evidence
• Create a clear, unbridgeable separation between accredited continuing education and marketing and sales.

The Standards were released in December 2020 and went into effect on January 1, 2022, replacing the Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities.

Accredited CME providers need to comply with the Standards that are applicable to their organizations by January 1, 2022.

Adoption by Accrediting Bodies

The Standards have been adopted by accrediting bodies representing multiple health professions and the principles are incorporated into international guidelines for continuing professional development for health professionals. 

• Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
• Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
• American Academy of PAs (AAPA) 
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
• American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
• Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (ARBO/COPE)
• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™

Five faculty members from the college win UWM internal research funding

Metamaterials that can change shape, a study to determine how zero gravity conditions of space affect breast cancer, and a chemical-imaging instrument that can see the inside of pharmaceutical tablets are the three new research projects being funded by the UWM Graduate School’s Discovery and Innovation Grant (DIG) program . This yearlong, internal seed funding prioritizes new lines of research that have high external funding potential. Twelve grants were awarded for the 2024 cycle. Hats off to the five researchers from the College of Engineering & Applied Science!

Shape-shifting metamaterial

• Daniel Schlitz, research scientist, civil engineering
• Rani El Hajjar, professor, civil engineering
• Chiu-Tai Law, professor, electrical engineering

The goal of this project is to invent a metamaterial that can change shape, articulate and grasp – like an octopus’ arm.

Metamaterials are engineered with repeating patterns of nano- and micro-scale structures that create unique properties or motion that cannot be found in conventional materials.

The research starts with a polymer that produces a small movement when subjected to an electric field. This material is then engineered into a metamaterial that amplifies the displacement of the polymer members. This means it is capable of locally expanding or contracting to create lifelike movement.

Many of the potential applications are in the field of robotics. The flexibility and potential for integrated sensors can make this an ideal material for soft robotics, where humans wear robotic devices, or the material serves as an artificial muscle for robot mobility.

The effect of microgravity on breast cancer

• Qingsu Cheng, assistant professor, biomedical engineering

Changing gravity influences biological processes. In space, for example, astronauts can lose muscle mass faster than they would on Earth without proper diet and exercise.

But currently, the effect of reduced or zero gravity on breast cancer development – inhibition or progression – is not fully understood.

Cheng’s research focuses on the search for new treatments for breast cancer. In his project, he will use primary cells and patient-derived organoids to examine mammographic density in microgravity. Patient-derived organoids are 3D cell cultures that are grown in the lab from tissue samples taken from patients.

Breast tissue density is considered one of the main risk factors for the disease, behind BRCA gene mutation and aging. Results of the project could offer new knowledge of the impact of gravity on biological life and processes. 

Hyperspectral spatial-frequency domain imaging of pharmaceutical tablets

• Yongjin Sung, associate professor, mechanical engineering

Sung will develop a nondestructive chemical-imaging instrument that can see the inside of pharmaceutical tablets so that scientists can identify the distribution of their active pharmaceutical ingredients.

In drugs that are time-released or involve different delivery profiles, the active ingredients need to be properly distributed within to be effective. At issue are 3D printed tablets, in which a single tablet can contain more than one phase of active ingredients. This allows a patient who needs to take multiple medications to reduce their dose to a single tablet.

The ingredients are mixed in such a way that the various active components, which act in different ways, remain separate from one another.

Existing imaging methods do not work because the tablets are strongly absorbing and highly scattering. Sung will overcome these obstacles with cutting-edge hardware and software.