OK, your grant application is now written. It’s been revised—undoubtedly more than once—as a result of your own careful editing and proofreading as well as the input you’ve requested and received from mentors, colleagues, and trusted advisers. You finally have a finished application, one of which you are pleased and optimistically confident will gain you the full amount of funding you’re requesting.
Hold on, though. Before you relax and divert your attention to other matters, you’ve got to make sure that all of the hard work you’ve just finished gets to where it needs to go.
Here’s a quick list of things you’ll want to know, check, and confirm as you submit your application to the funding agency.
Required approvals—Get approvals from all regulatory agencies (IRB, IACUC, IBC, etc.), as needed for your application.
Letters/signatures—Collect all required letters and/or signatures from your collaborators, consultants, department chair, Office of Research, and others, as needed.
Supplemental materials—Find out whether the funding agency will accept supplemental materials and, if so, what kinds and when they should be submitted. (Note: Materials submitted after the application may not receive adequate attention by the reviewers.)
Deadline—Determine the submission deadline, whether it’s based on when the application is postmarked or when it arrives at its destination, whether there’s any flexibility for late submissions, etc.
Receipts—Get a receipt showing when you mailed the application and, if possible, written confirmation of when it was received.
Review requests—Although the outcome is not guaranteed, some funding agencies will allow you to request review of your application by a particular committee. See if that's possible in your case.
Program officer—Before submitting your application, check with the program officer at the funding agency about protocol issues, the review process, and related matters. The program officer can answer particular questions you might have and can confirm receipt of your application materials.
What can go wrong?
Well, just about anything, really. Computers break, as do printers. Bad weather can delay deliveries. Maybe that one last collaborator whose signature you need is out of the office with the flu for a day—or more. Do yourself a favor. Expect that something will go wrong and allow extra time to collect, copy, and collate all of your materials and to get your application out the door and into the hands of the funding agency. You might be very glad you did.
Online—The way to go
Let’s face it—paper is, well...so yesterday, right? Today’s investigators and funding agencies are increasingly embracing online mechanisms for submitting and tracking grant applications and for managing other facets of the funding process. Here are some Web sites that should be bookmarked and frequently accessed by anyone interested in the convenience and efficiency of electronic access to information and applications for federally funded grants.
- Electronic Research Administration, better known as eRA, was developed by the Office of Extramural Research at NIH to support “the full life cycle of grants administration functions” for NIH and other federal agencies. Applicants can interact with the agencies before and after the grant award through the program’s online interface known as eRA Commons.
- FastLane is an interactive, electronic communication system maintained by the National Science Foundation, which says the program “covers the full range of transactions between a research organization, its researchers, and NSF,” including online grant applications.
- Grants.gov is a central information source that enables investigators to find and apply for more than 1,000 grant programs from 26 federal funding agencies that administer approximately $500 billion in annual awards.
NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases maintains a wealth of online information about various aspects of research funding, including questions and answers on the following topics related to electronic grant applications:
General Info and Planning for Electronic Applications
Preparing Your Electronic Application
Signing up to Apply Electronically
