Grant Tips from NSF Conference

The NSF hosted their Grants Conference in Denver this week, where many Program Directors and other NSF staff shared a wealth of information about applying for funding from the NSF. Yet many of their recommendations and advice were relevant to grant writing for a broader range of sponsors. Below, I outline some key takeaways for grant-writers:

Know what the sponsor is about
This point may seem obvious, but one of the most striking points reiterated at the NSF conference is that they're about advancing good science, and really not as interested in applying that science.  If the word "development" is in your objectives, it's probably not the right fit for the NSF. You must lead with the science!

Program Officers are powerful
Aside from the invaluable insight PO's can provide you about their agency and about the review process, at NSF, the PO's control their program budget. The unfortunate reality of those budgets is that they're not large enough to support all the projects that are recommended for funding by the review committees, and thus the PO plays an important role in determining which projects are ultimately funded. At times, the PO will make a funding decision without a proposal going through review in the case of the RAPID or EAGER programs. These programs award funds that need to happen quickly to prevent loss of an opportunity (RAPID awards were given to researchers looking at tornado sites before they were cleaned up) or to fund exploratory research in early stages (with the EAGER grants).

The Proposal Guide is a grant-writer's bible
The NSF offers a comprehensive guide for their proposals (the PAPPG). This 80-page document gives you all the rules and guidelines for submitting an NSF grant. One tip from NSF staff was to do a search of the word "must" from the PAPPG and make yourself a checklist of these musts to make sure you do everything you need to do.

Write a strategic plan
One Program Officer mentioned that he often recommends that applicants whose ideas are scattered in their proposals write a strategic plan for their research. He finds that the success rate jumps up considerably for applicants that take the time to do this and resubmit.

Pay attention to detail
Although again this seems obvious, the NSF representatives regaled us with stories of grant missteps that either resulted in a rejected proposal or at least an embarrassment for the applicant. For instance, according to one Program Director, 1 in 30 cover pages include a misspelling in the title of their project.

Submit early and check your work
Although, most applicants tend to submit their grant proposals in the last hour, NSF recommends that you submit early; they cited incidents of returning proposals that came in seconds after the deadline. But, it's also a good idea to submit early so that you have time to review what you submitted. Presenters told stories of applicants uploading the wrong version of documents, and even one application that for whatever reason came out completely orange when it was downloaded and printed. "What you think you submitted isn't always what you actually submitted," said NSF staff again and again.

Although these were NSF recommendations, you can see how they easily apply or can be slightly modified to serve as solid grant-writing tips. To get more grant advice from the NSF, see the resources below.

Resources
NSF Grants Conference Presentation Slides
Other NSF Resource Links  - ORDE (See especially the NSF's new Merit Review Process Video under RESOURCES FROM OTHER FUNDING AGENCIES)