Top Ten Frequently Made Mistakes (in grants)

As a grant developer's tribute to David Letterman's final days on the Late Show, I thought I'd offer my own top ten list of common mistakes grant writers make:


10. They are overly technical
Although, many grant reviewers will be experts in your discipline, depending on the agency, you're likely to have some reviewers who are not as familiar with your specific research area. Because of this, it's wise to cut down on jargon and overly technical descriptions of your project.

9. They offer too much detail
When writing a grant, it's important to offer reviewers enough detail on your project so that they can understand it and get a sense as to whether it's do-able, but you don't want to give them more than that. You have limited space to make your case, so cut out extra details in favor of making your overall argument more compelling.

8. Graphics are not readable
A picture is worth a thousand words (as they say), but not if you can't understand it.  When using graphics in your grant, make sure they look professional, are clear and easy to understand, and are referenced in the body of your grant.

7. There is no white space
Even though most grant writers find it difficult to fit their ideas into grant page limits, it's a bad idea to cram in as much text as you can. You want your grant to be as visually appealing as possible and appropriate white space and break up of ideas make your grant easier to read.


6. They are poorly organized
Although many writers get started by just writing and brainstorming, make sure at some point you step back from your free writing and craft an outline for your grant to make sure your final proposal is clear and logical.

5. The narrative is not compelling
Although researchers' projects are incredibly exciting to them, it's important to take the time to understand what makes the research exciting and what might make it especially exciting to the agency to which you're applying? Remember to focus on what's most important to your audience.

4. The aims/objectives are not clear
Certainly, you must be crystal clear on your research objectives before crafting a grant, but even when you are, it's a good idea to vet your aims or objectives with your peers, mentors, and even laypeople to make sure they are equally clear to your reviewers.

3. They submit at the deadline

Grants take a lot of work and a lot of time. So, it's not uncommon for applicants to be putting their final submission together at the last minute. However, doing this puts you at great risk. Systems go down and errors pop up, and you don't want to lose your shot at funding over a minutes-late submission.

2. They don't fit with the agency's mission
The grants climate is competitive. You may have heard the saying, "flat is the new up" in reference to federal granting agency budgets. Because of this, only the grants that are a perfect fit for an agency's mission, vision, and approach will have a chance of being funded.

1. They do not read the program announcement
It may seem weird that this is the number one suggestion. Yet, as Robert Porter found in 2009, 60% of grants are not even reviewed because they are a poor fit or they do not follow directions. And, anecdotally, we frequently come across PI's who are well into writing their grant and have not yet read the agency's program announcement.

Resources:
The Grant Development Lifecycle - NORDP 2015 Presentation
What Do Grant Reviewers Really Want Anyway? - Robert Porter