How to Apply for Grants

By Paul Hirt,

Arizona State University

Do you wish you had more money to support your research? Do you have an idea for a public program but lack resources to implement it?  Do you want to create a new curriculum but need assistance?  Get a grant!  In his 1987 recording “Cow College Calypso,” songwriter and Montana State University English Professor Greg Keeler parodied the typical humanities lament at the typical university:

[sung to a calypso beat]

Please, Mr. man with de budget,

Why do you not give me a raise.

He say, "What you want a raise for?

We don't got hard money.

We only got soft money.

Get a grant."

No, please don't make me get a grant.

For decades, external research funding has been the sine qua non of academic success in the sciences and social sciences.  Only scholars in the humanities (historians included) continue to depend largely on the rather stingy “hard money” available in college and university budgets.  Times are changing, though.  Increasingly, universities expect their humanities faculty to win external grants for research, teaching, and public programs.  Even where such expectations don’t exist, grant-getting can immeasurably enhance one’s opportunities and job satisfaction. Fortunately, there is more external “soft money” support available than in the past, partly owing to expanding roles for historians in interdisciplinary environmental research programs.

Most historians are familiar with travel grants, fellowships, and small curriculum development proposals, but there are other much larger sources of funding available from federal and state governments and private foundations that can facilitate multi-year creative activities on a more ambitious scale. Regardless of your needs and interests, competition for funding can be stiff and preparing grant proposals is time-consuming so one should approach the task strategically. The following are some basic principles for successful grant-writing:  

Elements of a successful grant proposal:

• Many federal programs and foundations will regularly publish “Requests for Proposals” (RFPs) with identified funding priorities and eligibility rules. These are usually the large grants.  If you are applying for one, be sure to concertedly craft a proposal that speaks directly to the program priorities.  The central clearinghouse for US government grants is http://www.grants.gov/  The clearinghouse for environmental grants from private foundations is http://www.ega.org/
• For all grants, your main task is to convince the review panel that your (proposed) work is interesting, significant, and original. Assume you are writing for someone who knows nothing about your topic or your specialization and make them care about it.
• Avoid specialized terminology.  Using academic jargon may shortcut the task of explaining your interpretive framework, but reviewers who are unfamiliar with the terms will not be impressed. 
• Explain why your work matters and how it will address issues of concern beyond academia.
• Show that you are well-informed about the larger intellectual conversation regarding your subject and that you have something unique to contribute. 
• Be concise.  Make your point, illustrate it with an example, and move on.
• Be ambitious in what you propose, but be reasonable. Make sure you (or your team) can accomplish the goals in the requisite time frame and with the identified budget.
• Show as much commitment and “cost-share” as possible: get cash or in-kind contributions from your university, show the value of donated time from consultants and from your own salary, and get supplemental grants from other sources. 
• Follow the application instructions to the letter, start to finish.
• Give yourself about twice as much time to complete the proposal as you originally thought would be necessary.  A small grant proposal might take a week to prepare.  Large multi-year grant proposals that involve teams of collaborators can take six months to a year to complete.
• Get comments on a draft from several different people and revise often before submitting the final.
• If you are turned down the first time, read the reviewer’s comments carefully, get advice from the program officer, revise, and resubmit the next year.

Keep in mind that most universities require faculty to submit grant proposals through a special office for grants and sponsored projects.  There is a lot of paperwork involved and many levels of approval, so allow at least a week for that.  The same office usually has staff trained to assist faculty in writing and submitting grant proposals.  Use their resources. 

Also bear in mind that when you bring in external funds to support research or public programs your university takes a large percentage off the top as overhead or “indirect costs.”  For research projects using university facilities, the overhead rate these days is around fifty percent!  That means you only get to use half of the money you bring in.  Sometimes this is negotiable, especially for humanities grants.  Make sure you know what the overhead rate is before you do your budget.  Some granting organizations will not pay overhead and some universities will not allow faculty to apply for grants that do not pay overhead, so check before you prepare your proposal.

Good luck! 

Paul Hirt will be glad to answer questions or offer informal advice to ASEH members seeking to develop grant proposals.  You can contact him at paul.hirt@asu.edu

(ASEH News, summer 2008)