Transcript Grant Writing: Education grants

Grant Writing: Education Grants
Janet Townsend, MD
Alice Fornari, EdD, RD
AECOM/DFSM
Funding Skills
Education
Funding
Advocacy
Relationships/
Collaboration
Experiences/Grant Generating Ideas
Educational Grants
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Purpose
– Faculty development
– Curriculum development
– Program development
– Training
– Mentoring
 Opportunities
– Improve faculty knowledge and skills
– Incorporate an innovative concept into education
– Implement a new program/service to learners or community
– Add skill sets to learners
– Increase career satisfaction
 Impact
– Increase faculty skills
– New curriculum and programs to service learners
– Increase creativity and career productivity through innovation
– Academic promotion
– Ultimately, improve patient care/health outcomes
Unique Attributes of Educational
Grants

Have you aligned your ideas with an
educational framework?
– Hint: begin with an educational framework or theory on
which to base your project; if unclear partner with an
education specialist
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If your proposed project is successful, what
new educational program/ activities will be
established (process objectives)? What will
the participants have learned (learning
objectives)?
Unique Attributes of Educational
Grants
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Is this a curriculum/training project which will
require evaluation of learner outcomes and
impact? (may be response to a national or
individual departmental curricular need. Important to
anticipate/quantify numbers of learners)
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Or is this an educational research project?
(implies need for stated educational hypothesis,
control group or rigorous qualitative methodsconsider multi-institutional project)
DFSM Examples-Federal
Source
Grant
Learner
$$
Impact
HRSA
FD
Fellows
HRSA
PreDoc
Students
HRSA
AAU
Faculty
$225K Fac training
FT/PT
$300K Collaboration
Student
mentoring
$200K 10 scholarsprojects
HRSA
Residency Residents $180K CQI/MI skills
fac/residents
AECOM Examples-Federal
Source
Grant
Learner
NIH/K07 RHIME Medical
Education
NIH/K07 B&SS
Students
NIH/K07 NAA
Students
$$
Impact
Cult. Comp.
Education
Career devel
New 3rd yr
course
Collaboration
Career impact
Collaboration
Nutrition
Education
DFSM/AECOM Examples
State/organizational/foundations
Source
Grant
NYS
DOH
Learner
$$
Impact
Contract IM/FP
MRDD
fellows
$150K
12 MRDD
leaders
AAMC
CQI
FM/IM
Fac/res/
staff
$25K
Prestige
Networking
Best
practices
MACY
Minority
FD (4
NE med
schools)
Jr and
mid
Faculty
COMs
Fac skills
Networking
Pilot projects
Visibility
Getting Started: The Sequence
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Form team with diverse skills
Identify opportunities for synergy/integration
with other educational efforts
Brainstorm idea with team
Identify partnerships/collaborators
Think about potential letters of support
– Focus on impact on improving healthcare outcomes
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Big picture thoughts on budget- any
departmental obligations or will this be new
funds for a new project?
Sequence: Planning Grant Writing
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Timeline for grant prep/writing/submission
Block protected time!
Tasks with responsible persons and internal
deadlines (sections, full draft, budget)
Identify person to contact/meet with partners;
draft LOS
Assess impact on program/department
Negotiate needs of project (space, curriculum time,
faculty resources)
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Draft abstract early
Anatomy of a Grant
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Abstract
Grant Narrative
– Background, Setting, Institution, Program
– Needs Assessment/Rationale
• Target Learners
– Goals/Objectives
– Methods: Activities, Staffing, Timeline
– Outcomes and Evaluation
 Budget
 Budget Justification/Sustainability
 Appendices
Anatomy of a Grant
Federal grants are long
 State and large foundation competitive
applications are intermediate
 Other requests to foundations are short
(1-2 page concept paper, 3-5 page full
application)
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Abstract
See example in your packet
 Summarizes your grant project in
concise format
 May be the only document, along with
budget, that is read by all members of
the review committee
 Use active language, quantify expected
outcomes where possible
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NARRATIVE: Telling Your Story
WHO?
 WHY?
 WHAT?
 WHEN?
 WHERE?
 HOW?
 WHAT IF? (Barriers)
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Narrative
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Background
– Description of current educational
program/setting/resources
– Departmental/team/institutional
strengths relevant to project
– Local need for education project
– National trends/drivers (Accreditation:
LCME or ACGME, service learning, learnercentered instruction, patient-centered care
models, HP 2010)
Narrative
Needs Assessment
– Convinces funder proposal is
necessary
– Cite literature/statistics
– Pilot data, survey & focus group data
 Innovation
 Impact on learners, educational
community, and patients
 Relevance of your project to funder and
national priorities
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Goals and Objectives
Goal(s): intended purpose of the
educational program
 Objectives: SMART
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– Specific, measurable, aligned, realistic,
time-sensitive
– Process/programmatic and learnercentered
Methods/Activities
Activities linked to specific objectives
 Based on educational framework
 Describe what is new or different
 Staffing/expertise to conduct activities
 Can activities be evaluated?
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Workshop Grant Planning
Exercise
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Worksheets
– One Goal, 2 objectives
– Activities
– Responsible Faculty
– Outcomes
– Evaluation
Evaluation
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Relates to objectives, activities and
outcomes of grant, both process and
learner centered
– Qualitative & Quantitative
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Frequency of evaluation: formative &
summative
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Resources for data collection and
analysis (often underplanned and underfunded)
Budget
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Get help from your department/program
administrator
 List PI, co-PIs, project staff
 Plan for research assistants, program
coordinators, administrative support
 Assess need for research expenses, travel
to train project staff or to present findings,
equipment
 In-kind support, institutional commitment
Budget Justification
The budget justification should specifically describe
how each item will support the achievement of
proposed objectives.
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Specifies the function, and sometimes,
qualifications, of each person on grant
budget
 Describes the percent effort and lists
specific tasks
 Scope of work must match requested
funds for each person
 Justifies need for equipment, travel funds
Appendices (not too many)
Needs assessment data,pilot efforts
 Curriculum outline
 Interview guide for program evaluation
or qualitative study or draft survey
 Outcome data from your educational
program
 Bios
 Letters of support/ institutional
agreement
 Required components
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Letters of Support
Essential to document likelihood of
successful implementation
 From key leaders (Deans, residency directors,
course directors, chairs), community partners,
potential learners
 Specific statements about need for
project, potential impact, commitment to
participate
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Building Effective Project TeamsMembers
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Core writing team: 2-3 people
 Department administrator (budget planning and
approval, resource allocation, protocol for submitting
grant)
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Content experts
 Technical experts (graphs, tables, stats, on-line
submission)
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Partners
 Education expert (as funded staff or consultant)
 Administrative support
 Internal reviewers
Building Effective Project TeamsTasks
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Assign roles and tasks
Plan grant writing timeline and checkpoints
Provide feedback on each others’ sections
Proofread
Meet with partners and draft agreements
Keep each other accountable for grant writing
timeline
Anticipate inevitable crises
Strategize to free grant writing team from
some responsibilities as deadline approaches
TIPS
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Abstract
– Do not leave to last minute-use key
sentences from narrative
– Invest time in writing a clear,
powerfully stated abstract
– Most important section of the
proposal-the ONLY section a reviewer
may read
Tips
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It always takes longer than you think
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READ and then FOLLOW the directions
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Explicitly address review criteria and
funding priorities
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Ask for help
Tips
 Data
–Choose limited and relevant data
to support problem
–Local data is necessary
–Makes a case for proposal
 Don’t make it hard for reviewers to
find required elements
Tips
Learn your institution’s rules about grant
budget approvals, grant accounting and
management, internal submission
deadlines
 Get to know your internal grants
management folks and try to make their
life easy
 Gather data for priority points and grant
funding preferences early
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Tips
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Save time for members of the grant
writing team and an “outside” internal
reviewer to read your proposal with
grant review criteria
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Make your deadline 2 days before the
real deadline
Next Steps
What will you do next to build your education
grant writing skills and develop a grant
idea?
1. Identify a project idea or redefine an idea
2. Develop project idea-go back to unique
attributes and steps to get started
3. Prepare worksheet to meet with medical
librarian and make an appointment
4. Meet with a potential collaborator.
5. Prepare intro/background/needs
assessment