Pre-Grant Timeline

Oftentimes, investigators do not start preparing for major grant applications earlier than a month before. Although some proposals are successful with a short timeline, investigators are likely to limit themselves and their opportunities for funding if they wait till the last moment.

ORDE recommends that investigators follow at least a 6-month timeline. You may think, "There is no way I need to spend six months writing a grant!" and that is fair, but this timeline suggests that you spend the first two months doing background research on potential sponsors and doing the important relational work and project-honing with a Program Officer (PO).

This work includes significant preparation and tailoring your project to get to the point that you are ready to reach out to a PO. Once you are ready, below is a suggested PO outreach process/timeline.

As you can see in this graphic, once you contact a Program Officer, things move fairly quickly. However, you need to have at least a draft of a pre-abstract and a one-two page concept paper draft ready to go before your first contact. Letting things lag once you have reached out can stall your progress; POs are busy folks and if your project falls off once they are interested, you have likely missed your chance to partner with them to create a better proposal.

Richard Nader, a former Program Manager with the NSF, has written an article that provides very practical tips on reaching out to and working with Program Directors (NSF's version of POs): Advice for Faculty Meeting Program Directors at NSF

In ending, your time is too valuable to waste in putting together grants that don't even get reviewed because they do not meet the sponsor's needs.  Grant development is a marathon, not a sprint, so give yourself the time you need to do it right!