Grant Timelines

I don't know about you, but for me this time of year flies faster than any other. I feel like as soon as I've thrown away my jack-o-lantern, there are holiday decorations everywhere you turn. This reminded me of grant timelines (what doesn't!?!). Grant application deadlines often feel very far away, and for more novice grant-writers they may set aside a program announcement as they work on other seemingly, more pressing work. Yet, with a grant deadline on the horizon, the clock is ticking, even if you can't hear it yet.

Below are some things to consider as you create a timeline for your grant-writing.

Grant development is more than just writing a grant
Part of the reason that researchers don't always give themselves enough time to write their grants is that they don't consider all of the pieces of good grant development. For instance, taking the time to research the sponsor and the program to which you're considering applying takes significant time. Just looking through a sponsor's grant application guidelines can be time intensive as they are sometimes over a hundred pages long! Also, as I've discussed before, it's very important to give yourself time to contact and work with a Program Officer (PO) to give you the best chance for success.

A solid grant development timeline is six months
Realizing how much is involved in addition to writing your grant proposal, ORDE recommends a six month grant development timeline. Although you won't begin writing your proposal till closer to three months before, you must begin assessing the fit with a sponsor, working with a PO, and developing your project early on.

The due date should not be the day you turn it in
As you develop your timeline, do not simply look at the due date and count backwards. The problem with this strategy is that planning to turn in your grant application on the deadline is really testing fate in a number or ways. First, you're not alone if you're planning to turn it in on the due date. Sponsor and university systems are flooded with submissions on a big deadline, and things can go wrong. For instance, with NIH applications, they must clear two systems error free before they are considered accepted at the NIH. If you wait till the due date to move through these systems and receive an error that may take some time to correct, you'll really be down to the wire. Also, it's not unheard of that sponsor or university sites go down especially under heavy traffic. So, play it safe and get your proposal in at least a day ahead of the due date.

You must rely on others
Another reason why you really should not wait till the last minute is that you're not the only person involved in your grant application. Working with your grants administrator and submitting your application to the Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC) can take more time than you might anticipate. In addition to carving out additional time for these processes, you should also check in with your grants administrator as early as possible to alert them to your proposal and timeline. Also, double check the time and process required by OGC to avoid any hang ups.

Grants are getting increasingly competitive and some sponsors will reject any application that doesn't follow the rules or that isn't a good fit. Giving yourself the time to avoid these problems will be well worth it!

Resources:
ORDE Grant Development Timeline

Grantitude

As we look toward the Thanksgiving holiday next week, I thought it would be a good opportunity to blog about the opportunities for incorporating gratitude in grant development, or what I'm coining, grantitude. Within fundraising offices, gratitude is an essential part of the equation. Annual Funds will hold thank-a-thons in their phone banks and in the major gift realm, there is a whole professional field focused on stewardship, or folks who are tasked with thanking donors and continuing to cultivate them toward other gifts.

Is this done because these institutions and professionals are just overwhelmed with gratitude? Well, not to be skeptical around Thanksgiving, but no, thank-a-thons and stewardship happen because they've been shown to generate more giving.

Now, it's true that fundraising is different from grant development, however, we can glean some strategies from fundraisers that are applicable.

Always say thank you
At the heart of stewardship is showing appreciation to anyone who gives you money. So, when you receive a grant of any kind, make sure to figure out where to give thanks and do it. Send a thank you note or email to a PO that worked with you in the process, or send a note of thanks to any folks in leadership positions at the agency that it would be appropriate to contact for a quick thanks. This is a nice thing to do and shows appreciation for those who spent time and ultimately money on you and your work, but on the strategic side, it allows you to stand out from your competition. How many researchers think about sending a thank you or showing gratitude for a grant? Probably, not a whole lot, so if you do it, it may give you an edge or at least get your name in front of people you want to know who you are.

Cultivate relationships
These thank yous are a part of continuing the relationship(s) you have with an agency. Chances are, your first grant is not the only one you'll ever try to get from a sponsor, so it makes sense to build your relationship. Aside from saying thank you, make sure you are a good steward of their money - get those pesky progress reports to your PO on time and follow-up with any requests or questions that a sponsor has. Being nice to work with may work to your benefit the next time you go to submit a grant application.

Show grantitude to all involved
Even though they don't have direct responsibility for your being funding, don't forget to show gratitude to reviewers. Now, I don't mean sending them thank you notes (you don't know who they are anyway). I'm saying that in any resubmissions, when responding to reviewer comments, show gratitude for their work in reviewing your proposal, and be gracious in your revisions and explanations. Don't be argumentative; it won't get you anywhere good.

This hopefully gives you few ideas on employing grantitude in your process. The resource below gives other related strategies. Have a happy thanksgiving and may the grant-makers continue to smile on you. :)

Resources
Grant Management - Stewardship - The Grant Helpers.com

The Science of Team Science

Many of today's biggest research questions cannot and will not be answered or solved by a single, lone-wolf researcher. Questions around climate change, diseases, genomics, etc. call for a brilliant and diverse set of researchers and thinkers...working together. Yet, academic institutions, where so many of these researchers are employed, are traditionally geared to support and promote independent researchers.

In the midst of this conundrum, several scholars have begun working together to develop a field that looks at how scientists can best collaborate and be productive. This field is referred to as Team Science, and the study of Team Science is referred to as The Science of Team Science (SciTS).

Team Science looks at several barriers or opportunities to promote effective collaborative science. According to NCI's description of Team Science, they include the following:

• Funding opportunities
• Institutional infrastructure and resources
• Organizational rules particularly around tenure and promotion
• Team processes: table-setting, early agreements, publication ownership, and a feedback loop on how collaboration works for everyone
• Interpersonal dynamics
• And collaborative skills among scientists

SciTS has been digging into these barriers to discover how Team Science can be best developed and promoted. For instance, recent SciTS articles have come out that look at how women are under-represented in team science, particularly in co-authored research and continued collaborative relationships with other Scientists.

Below are SciTS and Team Science resources for you to access if you're trying to better understand how you can effectively collaborate with other researchers while navigating the structural realities that can sometimes be barriers.  

Resources:
The Science of Team Science Website
Team Science Toolkit - NCI
Difference in collaboration patterns across discipline, career, and stages - PLOS Biology Journal
Rosalind's ghost: Biology, collaboration, and the female - PLOS Biology Journal