Develop Proposal

Well-written proposals take time.

Set aside more than a few months to write, review, edit and write again.
Create a timeline so that you can meet both internal and external deadlines.
Have a colleague or mentor serve as your editor.

Finding the right sponsor also takes time. Familiarize yourself with both the sponsor and the sponsor guidelines.

Does your research fit into the sponsor’s goals and objectives for that year?
Understand who is reading your grant (the audience).
This may mean you frame your project in a different light or language.
Reframing your research to fit a specific sponsor’s requirement is legitimate and necessary. For each application you will need to tailor your research to the sponsors guidelines and mission.

Be realistic in designing your project. Identify your needs:

Is this preliminary or pilot research?
Are you seeking money to write a book? A manuscript? Travel?

What is the focus or your research?

What is the topic? (Why is it important?)
What are the research questions that you are trying to answer?
What is your hypotheses?
What are your research methods?

Final decisions often come to down to the reviewer believing that the proposal is well planned and feasible. Reviewers in general will want you to answer the following:

What is going to be learned (goals, aims, outcomes)?
Why is it worth knowing (significance)?
How will your conclusions be validated (criteria for success)?

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Preliminary Proposal

Letter of Intent – A brief preliminary proposal that allows a foundation to quickly assess if there is match between the foundation’s mission and your project. If it does, and, if they are interested, they will request a full proposal. The LOI must be concise and engaging. It is a condensed version of the complete proposal to follow.

Common Proposal Elements

Abstract/Summary – No longer than ½ page to 1 page maximum. Includes responses to: What will be done? By whom? How? Length of time? What is the problem/need? Who will the outcomes benefit?

Project Narrative – The meat of your proposal. It describes the project work to be performed.

Personnel – Staffing requirements (make sure that they make sense and provide details about the skill set of each person listed).

Budget – Spells out the project costs. Generally a spreadsheet is used.

Budget Justification – A budget justification explains the various expenses. Make sure that all budget items meet the funding agency’s requirements.

Developing a Budget

Every proposal includes and requires a budget. Work with your Grant Administrator to prepare the budget. This will ensure that rates and salaries are correct and that everything you need to purchase or pay for is included in the budget.

The budget provides the sponsor with a very detailed breakdown of the finances you are requesting. The budget reflects the costs (a best estimate) required to perform the work outlined in your proposal. Remember, that when you apply for an award, you are doing so 6-9 months ahead of receiving the award. This means you need to factor in future costs such as salary, fringe, facilities and administrative costs.

Sponsors may have their own set of budgetary requirements. You will need to adhere to their guidelines. You may also need to use their template. Be aware that the sponsor may restrict what can be charged to the grant. For example, you may not be able to charge for your salary.

Budget Categories

There are generally two types of cost categories: Direct and Indirect Costs.

Direct costs – are expenses. For example: salary, fringe benefits, tuition, consultant costs, equipment, supplies, travel, etc.

Direct costs must be considered reasonable, allowable and allocable. This simply means that the expense has to be grant related and listed in the budget. You should not include any of these in a budget. All you need to be concerned with is the Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) rate.

Direct and Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs – are commonly known as Indirect Costs. They are also called Overhead.

The full cost to a university of doing research includes other costs such as:

Utilities such as electricity, heating and lighting
Information technology infrastructure, libraries
Operating and maintain the building, campus security, ground care and custodial services
Departmental administration of grant (including grant preparation and tracking expenses)
Central administrative granting (ORA and SPA)

These costs are impossible to calculate for each research project, but these are the real costs that the university has to pay to support your research.

Sponsors know that their award only covers what is in your budget. They understand that the full cost of doing research includes these other costs. They actually have built into their grant making system F&A costs to help the university recover a small percentage of what they outlay to do research.

Most sponsors indicates what their specific F&A is. For Federal sponsors, the F&A rates are negotiated by the university with US Dep of Human Services.

Typical Direct Costs

Personnel/Salaries and Wages – for each member of your research team provide a name (TBD if not known), the project role, effort, base salary, total salary requested, and cost of living increases.

Fringe Benefits – There are different fringe benefit rates based on whether the personnel is faculty, staff, or student (as well as year as the rates do change).

Consultant Costs – consultant charges can only be paid to non-Brandeis employees. Consultants provide special knowledge or skill for the project. Include the daily rate of pay, the number of days the consultant will work and other costs such as travel or per diem.

Equipment – Equipment is defined as costing $5000 or above.

Supplies – Items under $5000. List each item and provide an estimated cost.

Travel – Provide the following details — purpose and destination of each trip. Cost of meals, lodging, ground and air transportation

Other costs – Publication, equipment maintenance, rental costs, tuition costs, meeting costs.