Know Your Agency: The American Heart Association

ORDE piloted a new series this fall, entitled, “Know Your Agency (KYA) Lunches.” For years, ORDE has offered Know Your Agency briefs on particular agencies of interest to our faculty. Now, to further understanding and facilitate Q&A around these agencies, KYA Lunches provide opportunities for faculty experts with experience and success in getting funding from an agency to give brief presentations and lead follow-up discussions on the agencies.

In early November, our KYA lunch focused on the American Heart Association (AHA) and Professor and Chair, Robert Eckel, former President of the AHA gave a presentation and answered a host of questions for both AMC and Denver Campus faculty who were interested in pursuing funding with the AHA. Dr. Eckel encouraged the participants, saying, “You can really spread your wings [with the AHA] from very basic to clinical to population science in almost anything that you could connect to cardiovascular disease. And that’s really grantspersonship isn’t it? How we write grant applications relates to the agency we’re applying to.”

As part of the Know Your Agency Lunch on AHA, ORDE put together a two-page brief on the AHA for grant-seekers: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/research/AboutUs/ORDE/funding/Pages/KYASeries.aspx

Also, at the link above are briefs on the following agencies:

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• BrightFocus Foundation
• Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
• National Endowment for the Humanities

Understanding an agency, their goals, ideologies, and preferred approaches are crucial before you begin writing your grant. These briefs and KYA lunches are a first step in researching your target sponsor, but you should also review the projects that the sponsor has funded in the past to understand some of the trends and nuances of the sponsor and their grant reviewers.

Please suggest other agencies you are interested in applying to in the comments area.