Transcript Title of Presentation

Pursuing Funding in the
Humanities and HumanitiesRelated Social Sciences
Proposal Development Workshop
UT San Antonio
April 14, 2015
Lucy Deckard
Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC
[email protected]
Copyright 2015 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved
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Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC
Our goal:
To help your institution, faculty and staff to
develop the skills they need to compete
successfully for research funding.
http://academicresearchgrants.com
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Lucy Deckard
President, Academic Research Funding Strategies
979-693-0825
[email protected]
Established 2010
Nine years in proposal development at Texas A&M
University
Junior Faculty Initiative, CAREER, instrumentation,
research, education, Center-level proposals
NSF, NIH, DOE, DoD, DoED, IMLS, Foundations
Research Engineer (16 years in applied research, with
extensive proposal writing experience to NSF, DARPA,
ONR, AFOSR, ARO, DoE)
Overview
Getting started
Finding funding opportunities
Understanding what the funder is looking for
Writing the proposal narrative
Getting Started
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Establish Your Research Agenda
Long-term plan
Projects are steps along the path
Build a line of scholarship
May change
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Network
Talk to senior colleagues, department head
What are the expectations in your department
regarding funding?
When should you start pursuing funding for your
research?
Where have they been funded?
If possible, find “grant mentors”
Attend conferences and seek out program directors
from agencies, colleagues in your area who have been
funded
Determine where you expect to seek funding and
work to become part of that community
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Be Strategic
Use your time wisely.
Outline grant submissions for the first 2 or 3 years as
part of your overall career plan
Understand expectations in your field, institution and
department
Get to know your agency(ies) and programs
Work to position yourself to be competitive
(publications, preliminary work)
Allow enough time to prepare a well-written
proposal
Learn the process at your institution
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Persevere Intelligently
Plan on rejection
Funding rates typically 20% or lower
Even the best researchers are declined more than
they are funded
Learn from declined proposals
Each proposal will get better than the one before
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Narrow Your Net
Identify agencies and organizations most likely to
fund your research
Learn about them
How do they announce funding opportunities?
Do they accept investigator-initiated proposals?
What are their mission, goals and culture?
Who are the Program Directors?
Do they have recurring competitions?
Check funding opportunities regularly
Network with others funded by these agencies
and with Program Officers
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Finding Funding Opportunities
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What Do You Need?
Support while you write your dissertation
A semester off to work on a book
Travel to a museum or collection
Funding for an entire research project
Grad students support
Travel to research site
Materials and supplies
Summer salary support
Payments to research subjects
Funding for an outreach or education
project
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Think from the potential funder’s
point of view
What will the outcomes of your project be ?
A book
New policies?
Expanded access to original sources?
A new piece of art?
Who would be interested in those outcomes?
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Where Are You In Your Career?
Starting graduate school
Starting to write your dissertation
Looking for a postdoctoral position
New faculty
Mid-career faculty
Senior faculty
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Ways to Find Funding
Talk to colleagues doing similar research
Look for funding sources credited in books and
journal articles describing similar research
Use the web and other information resources
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Resources for Finding Funding
Grants.gov
Foundation Center
UCLA Humanities Funding Opportunities
Duke University Funding Opportunities
William and Mary Humanities Funding Sources A-to-Z
Portable Fellowships and Grants for Humanities Faculty (UC-Boulder)
Residential Fellowships and Grants for Humanities Faculty (UC-Boulder)
Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas
Arts & Humanities Funding, Vassar College
Humanities Opportunities by Funding Program, Swarthmore
MLA Fellowships and Grants (login ID required)
Finding Grants and Fellowships in the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University
Funding for Humanities & Arts Research, Michigan State University
Funding Opportunities in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences, Lewis & Clark
Humanities & Social Sciences, Barnard
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Some Agencies and Foundations that Fund
Research in the Humanities
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National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Ford Foundation
Fulbright Programs
National Humanities Center
American Association of University Women
Spencer Foundation
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Graham Foundation
Some Agencies and Foundations that Fund
Research in the Social Sciences
Ford Foundation
Fulbright Programs
Carnegie Foundation
American Association of University Women
Spencer Foundation
Social Science Research Council
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More Agencies and Foundations that fund
Research in the Humanities
Discipline-specific Institutes, Foundations,
Societies
Council on Library and Information Resources
Army Heritage Center Foundation
Luce Foundation
American Institute of Indian Studies
Libraries, museums, collections, e.g.
Smithsonian
The Getty Foundation
Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and
Culture
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Understanding What the Funder
Is Looking For
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Step 1: Understand the Funder
What is their mission?
What is their culture?
What are they trying to accomplish with
this program?
How are proposals reviewed?
Who makes the funding decisions?
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Step 2: Understand the Program
If it is a solicited grant, analyze the solicitation
carefully
If it is investigator-initiated, understand the
program
What’s motivating this opportunity?
Who has been funded in the past?
What are the review criteria?
What outcomes do they expect from funded
project?
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Private Foundations
Can be large and similar to federal agencies
Can be small and quirky
Tend to have very focused priorities that can
change over time
Do your homework
Check out their website
What and who has been funded?
990 finder on Foundation Center website
Try to talk to the Program Officer
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Example: American Council of Learned
Societies (ACLS)
Funds humanities and related social sciences
Research Fellowships
New Faculty Fellowships
Dissertation Fellowships
Postdoctoral Fellowships
More
Does not fund creative works (e.g., novels or
films), textbooks, or pedagogical projects
Ultimate goal of the project should be a major
piece of scholarly work
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Example: Japan Foundation Center
for Global Partnership
Funds policy-oriented topics relevant to both
the U.S. and Japan
Must have Japan-based collaborative partners
Tangible project outcomes (publication, paper,
etc.)
Minimum 20% total project budget from nonCGP sources
See link
Example: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Public Understanding of Science and Technology
Funds film development programs at Tribeca,
Sundance, etc.
Apply to those organizations
E.g., Tribeca Film Institute Sloan Filmmaker Fund
Example of why you need to understand the
funder, funding opportunity, and process!
Clues
Read and re-read the solicitation very carefully
Look for words that are repeated often, special
terms
If reports or publications are referenced, read
them
Use agency funding databases to learn about
funding history
Talk to the Program Officer
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Program Requirements
Read carefully and make a checklist
Plan to explain how you will meet each program
requirement
Start work on setting up collaborations, partnerships if
needed
Supporting letters may be needed for your proposal
To be competitive, you must meet all program
requirements
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Explicit Proposal Requirements
Note carefully formatting rules (page limits,
fonts, margins, etc.) – these may be in a
separate document or on their website
Look for suggested or required sections
Make an outline that mirrors solicitation
Include checklist of everything that must be
addressed, divided by sections; keep this
checklist through early drafts
Note supplementary documents needed
Bios, Lists of Current Funding, Letters of
support, Annotated bibliography, etc.
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Unspoken Expectations
Qualifications and experience of PI(s)
Infrastructure provided by PI’s institution
Preliminary work
Often very important
Varies greatly depending on agency, discipline,
etc.
Info sources:
Previous awardees
Previous reviewers
Program officers and previous program officers
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Talking to the Program Officer
Do your homework first
Read solicitation carefully
Read background documents
Investigate previously funded projects
Prepare a concise description of your project
Goals, objectives, outcomes
One short paragraph
Try e-mail and phone
If possible, use e-mail to set up phone conversation
Ask open-ended questions and listen carefully
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Talking to Previous Awardees
Most previous awardees very generous (unless
they will be competing with you for renewal)
Ask about program reviews, feedback from
program officer
Be aware that programs may evolve and
criteria change
Previous awardees often also reviewers
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Review Criteria
Most important part of solicitation or
program description!
Plan how you will meet each review
criterion
Structure your proposal outline to reflect
review criteria
If you are weak in an area, plan how you will
address this
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Typical Things Reviewers Look For
Is the research original and important?
How does it serve the wider field of the
humanities?
How does it contribute to the mission of the
funder?
Does it integrate multiple fields?
Are the research methods and costs
appropriate?
Government agencies: If Fox News called, how
would they justify funding this project?
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Planning Your Project
Start with your great idea

Translate it into a project
What will your outputs be?
How long will it take?
What will your approach be?
What have you done so far?
How does this advance your line of scholarship?
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Grantsmanship
Things to
Keep in
Mind
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It’s not about you…
It’s about the funder
Understand what the funder is trying to
accomplish by giving this grant
Explain how funding you will help them to
accomplish those goals
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A Proposal is Not an Academic Article
Must be persuasive
Must communicate passion
Must communicate impact
Must be easy to understand by readers
with various backgrounds
Must tie research to the goals of the funder
Focuses on future, not past
Must inspire confidence in researchers’
abilities and resources
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Make Your Proposal Easy to Understand and
Easy to Read
Write to the intelligent reader not an expert
Write simply, clearly, and avoid jargon
Include white space
Quickly implant in the reviewers’ mind the
compelling reasons why your research is
relevant to the field and why it should be
funded.
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You must convince the reviewers…
This is a project that should be done
It supports the goals of the agency and program
It will yield significant results
It is more important (or cooler or more significant) than
other proposed projects
You are the right person to do it
You have the skills and resources to be successful
You have thought through the project
And most importantly, you must….
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Intrigue the Reviewers
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Now to the Nitty Gritty…
Writing
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Producing the Proposal
Do you need to submit through your
institution? (Usually the case for faculty)
If so, involve your Office of Sponsored
Projects early
If you have collaborators involve them early
Work on your budget in parallel with your
proposal text
Finalize your proposal several days before the
due date (check with your Office of
Sponsored Projects for deadlines)
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Scheduling Your Writing
Work backward from due date
Check with your pre-award administrators
How much time for routing?
When do they need the finished proposal?
Do you need letters of collaboration?
Do you need input from others?
Line up editors (when do they need a draft?)
Work on budget in parallel
Don’t forget other requirements (Bio, Letters
of Reference, etc.)
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Example: NEA Art Works Grants
Components Required
Application for Federal Domestic Assistance (SF-424)
Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form
NEA Organization & Project Profile Form
Attachments Form to which you have attached:
Organizational Background Statement
Details of the Project Narrative
Project Budget Form, Pages 1 and 2
Financial Information Form
Biographies of Key Project Personnel
List of Current Board Members
Your Own Project Budget (optional)
Programmatic Activities List
Special Items
Work samples to be submitted electronically
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Typical NEH Fellowship Narrative
Section
Narrative Section
Goal, significance, context Generally not
Background
separate
named
Prior Work
sections
Project Plan
Three page limit
One-inch margins
Font size no smaller than eleven point
Exercise: You are a Reviewer
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The Project Narrative: Getting Started
Reviewer’s Attention Level
14
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Get to the
exciting
Concise background
stuff here! Strong,
that provides context
Unique Intro
10
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Generic Intro
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4
2
0
Long, unconnected
Zzzzzzz
background
Get to the
exciting stuff
here!
First
Paragraph
The Introduction and Overview
Long-term research goal/Context
Project specific goal(s)
Significance/Need
Hypotheses/research questions/new
knowledge
How your approach is different
Expected outcomes
Put Your Project in Context
Preliminary Work Funded project 1
Further work
Project Goals/Specific Aims
 Outcomes
The Big Question or
The Big Need
What is the kernel of your great idea?
What you will accomplish
The approach you will use
The problem you’re addressing
New tools or resources you’ll bring to the
problem
The team you’ve assembled
Put it up front!
Example: NEH Fellowship
First Four Paragraphs
Long-term Goal: Explore concepts of the
relationship between mind and body in the
nineteenth century
Goal of this project (a book): Nervous illness in
America in the late-nineteenth century
Opportunity/Innovation: New source - letters
from women suffering from “nervous illness”
Key Questions: What did late-19th-century
Americans mean when they spoke of nerves…
NEH Fellowship: First Paragraph
First sentence is unique to this project
Project goal is presented early
I am writing A Case of the Nerves, a book on late-nineteenth century “American
nervousness.” Many believed in that era that Americans were too tense, suffering from
neurasthenia or hysteria, and experiencing “nervous prostration.” Before Freud and
his followers informed the American public that all was in the mind, especially in
subconscious mental life with its profound link to the emotions and sexuality,
American physicians emphasized the important role of the body and physical organs in
what is today labeled mental illness. In particular, Americans read, heard, and thought
about the controlling force of the nerves. As a cultural historian, I hope to explore the
nervous body as those in the late nineteenth century envisioned it. The subject offers
a critical intersection where the biological person meets the ideas and practices of the
age.
Provides context
On NEH website: Link
Overarching goal
Significance
NEH Guidance: Address Research and
Contribution
Intellectual significance of the proposed project
Describe value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.
Provide overview of the project - basic ideas, problems, or questions examined
by the study.
Explain how the project will complement, challenge, or expand relevant studies
in the field.
Methods and work plan
Clarify the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the fellowship.
Provide a work plan describing what will be accomplished during the award
period.
For book projects, explain how the final project will be organized. If possible,
provide a brief chapter outline.
For digital projects, describe the technologies that will be used and developed,
and how the scholarship will be presented to benefit audiences in the
humanities.
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NEH Guidance: Address Competencies,
Skills and Access
If the area of inquiry is new to the applicant, provide
reasons for working in it, and explain the ability to work
in it.
Specify the level of competence in the languages or
digital technologies needed for the study.
Describe where the study will be conducted and what
research materials will be used.
If relevant, specify the arrangements for access to
archives, collections, or institutions that contain the
necessary resources.
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NEH Guidance: Address Final Product
Dissemination
Describe the intended audience and the
intended results of the project.
If relevant, explain how the results will be
disseminated and why these means are
appropriate to the subject matter and audience.
If the project has a Web site, provide the URL.
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NEH Evaluation Criteria—an example
Evaluators are asked to apply the following five
criteria when judging the quality of applications.
The intellectual significance of the proposed project,
including its value to humanities scholars, general
audiences, or both.
The quality or promise of quality of the applicant’s
work as an interpreter of the humanities.
The quality of the conception, definition,
organization, and description of the project and the
applicant’s clarity of expression.
The feasibility of the proposed plan of work,
including, when appropriate, the soundness of the
dissemination and access plans.
The likelihood that the applicant will complete the
project.
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Another Example: One Month
Residency at the Harry Ransom Center
What are they trying to accomplish by funding
this residency?
Project Title: “Theatre and Friendship: Modern Drama and Sociability, 1880-1930”
RequestingOne-MonthResidency,Harry RansomCenter
byKatherine E.Kelly,Associate Professor, Department ofEnglish
The objectives of this study are threefold: at its most ambitious,
this study attempts to contribute to a new understanding of
modernism as a movement infused with and participating in
theatrical and dramatic culture (cf. Daniel Albright, Nina
Auerbach, Penny Farfan). Secondly, this study brings to light
some of the particular methods by which self-identified
members of Modern Drama coteries in London and the US
circulated a new kind of urgent theatre, achieved through the
force of various alliances and accompanied by interartistic
exchange both on and off the stage. And thirdly, in line with
recent studies of the marketing efforts of modern artists, this
project attempts to demystify the anti-commercial claims of
modern drama, complicating avant-gardists’ self-presentation as
non-commercial purists. All of these objectives aim to
reconfigure the history of Modern Drama as intertwined with but
distinct from that of modernism.
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Project Title: “Theatre and Friendship: Modern Drama and Sociability, 1880-1930”
RequestingOne-MonthResidency,Harry RansomCenter
byKatherine E.Kelly,Associate Professor, Department ofEnglish
Role of HRC Collection: I am aware of a number of HRC
holdings that I will need to consult for various chapters of
this study*; however, I suspect I will continue to discover
materials as I begin to work, as I am especially interested
in how the subject of theatre and theatrical attendance
appears in the letters and diaries of modernists, some of
whose materials are held at the HRC: James Joyce, Nancy
Cunard, E.M. Forster, Radclyffe Hall, D. H. Lawrence,
Wyndham Lewis, and members of the Bloomsbury Group,
for example.
For Chapter 1 “Avant-Garde Sociability: Ibsen in London
and the Amateur in Provincetown,” I will view HRC
holdings on Elizabeth Robins, Lady Florence Bell, and G.
B. Shaw…
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Helpful Resources on Grant Writing for
the Humanities
How to Get a Grant from NEH
Writing Proposals for ACLS Fellowship Competitions, by
Christina M. Gillis
How to Write Effective Proposals, Susan Stanford Friedman,
Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ten Myths About Fulbright
Humanities Resource Center
How to Write Grants in the Arts and Humanities
ACS Workshops for Grants Development
Signposting and Front-Loading, by James Mulholland,
Assistant Professor of English at Wheaton College in
Massachusetts.
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The Budget
Follow guidelines of the funder
Depends on the type of grant
Check if cost share if required (typical for
arts grants)
If yes, start working on this early!
Be sure your budget is appropriate based on
your project plans
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Don’t Forget Other Required
Components
Requirements depend on funder and program
Examples
Biosketch
Letters
Samples of work
Budget Narrative
Additional Forms
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You’ve finished a draft!
Ask others to read it and give you feedback
Is it clear? Is it compelling?
Does it address all of the review criteria?
Did they see any weaknesses that should be
addressed?
Include time for revisions
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Submitting Your Proposal
Usually submitted via web (Grants.gov or other
web interface)
Check this out in advance
Do you need to register?
Follow the requirements of our institution (check
with Office of Sponsored Projects or equivalent)
Routing and Approval
Quality Check
Uploading
Submittal (must be done by an institutional
representative)
Try to submit at least a day before the deadline
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NEH Review & Selection Process—
an example
Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each
application and advise the agency about its merits.
NEH staff comments on matters of fact or on significant
issues that otherwise would be missing from these
reviews, then makes recommendations to the National
Council on the Humanities.
The National Council meets at various times during the
year to advise the NEH chairman on grants.
The chairman takes into account the advice provided by
the review process and, by law, makes all funding
decisions.
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If you get funded…
Celebrate!
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If you don’t get funded…
Read the reviews
Get mad/depressed
Remember that even the most prominent
scholars have a drawer full of declined
proposals
Put the reviews in a drawer for a few days
Read the reviews again carefully
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Analyzing the Reviews
Did the reviewers have particular concerns
that you can address?
Were the reviewers confused or unclear
about your project?
Were the reviewers unimpressed by the
significance or novelty of your idea?
Were the reviewers generally favorable, with
no clear issues brought up?
Were the reviewers unconvinced that you
could do the proposed work?
Did the project topic not fit the program?
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Get Feedback from others
If possible talk to the program officer - be
nice!
Ask for clarification of reviewer comments
Talk to your mentors
Ask for advice
Should you resubmit?
Should you apply to a different program?
What would strengthen your proposal?
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No Matter What
Your next proposal will be better than your
last
Your thinking about the project has evolved
You have learned from the experience and
developed new skills
Good luck!
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Questions?
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