In an earlier blog, I said I would provide a list to all the pieces involved in developing a grant proposal, because there is a lot more to it than the writing, although the writing is obviously a huge part.

This is a long list and it is also why I think you need time to develop your proposal. So without further ado, I give you the list (mostly in order of how it should be done):

• Read solicitation/guidelines
• Alert your grant specialist to your intent to apply
• Check out sponsor/program for priorities, funding history, strategic match
• Identify and contact collaborators, including—if needed—external evaluators
• Work with collaborators on roles within the project
• Develop concept paper
• Communicate with program officer regarding the concept paper
• Draft abstract
• Draft narrative/description
• Draft evaluation plan
• Draft budget
• Draft budget justification
• Draft project timeline
• Draft facilities section
• Draft current and pending support
• Draft references
• Request, draft, and collect letters of commitment
• Collect bio sketches from collaborators
• Do internal paperwork for proposal submission, including conflict of interest, IRB/IACUC, and financial disclosure information
• Draft/revise your bio sketch
• Develop figures and tables
• Review and edit drafts based on solicitation review criteria
• Identify colleagues to review drafts
• Send drafts to colleagues for review
• Review and edit drafts based on colleague feedback
• Revise drafts based on feedback
• Send revised drafts to colleagues and Office of Research editors
• Edit and revise drafts based on reviews
• Finalize proposal package, including placement of figures, pagination, special characters, fonts, margins, institutional information, and correctly naming files and placing them in correct format
• Submit complete package to grant specialist

As you can see, the sooner you begin, the less likely you are to stress about deadlines and the more likely you are to be able to complete this entire list.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, talk to your grant specialist. They can and want to help you!