With current constraints of public funding of research the question of principal investigator (PI) success has gained prominence. Yet understanding grant success remains problematic. While often associated with peer acceptance of the proposal text, research fundability in large part is informed by PI participation in the social systems of research…

The impact of resubmission assistance on grant proposal success is relatively unknown. Given that a significant proportion of proposals, up to 90%, are rejected by the sponsor, this lack of information makes it difficult for Research Development (RD) professionals to decide whether to invest resources in this service. This study responded to New…

Background: The content presents a conceptually powerful and attractive framework for understanding the proposal development process to capture the complexity of the steps that contribute to successful grant writing. Based on experiences from 15 years in research administration and using real-life examples, the author juxtaposes the diverse roles…

An award as principal investigator (PI) is an aspiration for many post-PhD researchers. However, we know little of the actual journey from PhD graduation to achieving this goal. Using a qualitative narrative approach, this study explored how eight science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine post-PhD researchers (on contracts and…

The national need for higher education research has increased over the years with the growth of societal issues. Funding for this research is often acquired through competitive grant proposals due to the lack of internal funding in most universities. The skills required to write the grant are sometimes lacking and represented in current literature…

Student philanthropy projects empower students to become grant givers. Through learning by giving, students get hands-on practice making decisions with real monetary impact. This article explains the steps in a student philanthropy project in a grant-writing course, illustrating how business and professional communication courses can be a natural…

This article describes the Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation (SEPA) grant-writing program at Austin College. The SEPA program provides a service-learning experience in which students spend a summer writing grants with local nonprofit agencies. In the hope that others might choose to emulate our efforts, what follows is a detailed…

With music education's continued unstable role within the school system, music educators are actively seeking external funding to support and augment their programs. However, there are many challenges involved with grant writing including understanding where to find potential funders, writing the proposal, developing a budget, and including an…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Building University Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) initiative to increase engagement and retention of undergraduates from diverse backgrounds in biomedical research. Portland State University, in partnership with ten other academic institutions, received a BUILD award and…

In this essay, I reflect on my experiences and lessons learned while serving as Commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Although I was in the grant writing business for my nearly 30 years as a professor of special education, I learned that I knew very little…

In this study, educators' requests for foundation grant funding to purchase desired educational materials or services were examined. Specifically, this study sought to review to what extent, and in what manner, educators utilize research and other forms of evidence to support their decision making. Data analysis revealed several themes. Although…

Call it innovation, creativity, imagination, cutting edge, paradigm shift, or any other term for new information, an assessment of innovation may now impact the final decision on awarding grants to investigators. What exactly is innovation and how does the reviewer perceive innovation in the research approach? Procedures, the approach, and…

Although the Faculty Learning Community is not a new structure or initiative in the higher education arena, adapting this model for faculty development focused on grant proposal writing is relatively new. This article describes how the concept developed by Milt Cox of Miami University has been successfully modified and implemented twice on the…

Little information exists about the structure and content of grant writing courses offered in the United States. To fill this gap, we used multiple data sources, including a content analysis of syllabi from 93 graduate-level grant writing courses in the United States, and an online survey that sought insight into (a) the ways in which textbooks…

Physical educators often find it difficult to secure funding for their programs in these tough economic times. However, there is funding out there, if one knows where to look and how to ask for it. This article describes how physical education teachers can make a funding action plan, who to contact, where to write to, and how to get equipment for…