success

What Makes a Successful Grant Writer?

Successful grant writers possess a variety of characteristics that contribute to their effectiveness. These are learned through experience, various proposal submissions, collaborative efforts with colleagues, and focus and determination. Thus, successful grant writers: Strong Research Skills: Can identify relevant funding opportunities, understand the funding organization’s priorities and requirements, and gather supporting data and evidence for… read more

Leader

Boost Your External Funding via Effective Leadership

Leadership is an essential component of any successful institution. Leaders guide their teams, inspire their people, and drive their organizations towards achieving their goals.  Equally, leadership training has become increasingly significant for those who need to be successful at managing and implementing grants, for their leadership skills will have an important effect on their teams… read more

writing

The Letter That Will Get You Funded

In order to assess the validity of a proposal in relationship to the solicitation, many donors, especially foundations, request a Letter of Intent (LOI) from future applicants. This is the letter that will lead to the invitation to apply for the grant. If the application that follows meets the donor’s criteria and is well written,… read more

doctor

How Can the Academic Community Recover from the Impact of COVID-19

There is no question that COVID-19 has had and is having a severe impact on faculty throughout US colleges and universities. This is reflected in all areas of their work, including research, teaching, tenure and promotion and service. Findings of a recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey of faculty stress which surveyed 1,122 faculty members… read more

diversity

Higher Education Applauds the Biden Administration FY 22 Budget

The Biden Administration’s FY 2022 Budget for higher education signals support for innovation in agriculture and science, climate change, rural development and access as well as equity via the funding of minority institutions. For example, the NIH and NSF budget increases of 20% are for innovative programs that translate to the increased funding for transformative… read more

match

SBIR/STTR: A Win-Win Partnership for Private and Public Sectors

Partnerships between institutions of higher education and the private sector are encouraged and often lucrative endeavors. The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) are the best mechanisms toward this effort and are often referred to as the nation’s largest sources of early stage/high risk funding for start-ups,… read more

support

University Support for Faculty Funding Success

The pool of funds available for grants in the US is steadily shrinking given that funding is similar from year to year, and those funds are not keeping up with inflation and labor costs. Also, grant funding has been dramatically reduced in certain federal funding agencies and in others it has fallen by 20-25 percent,… read more

success

How to Build a Successful Nonprofit

The key to maintaining a successful nonprofit organization is to have a diverse fundraising strategy that builds upon your organization’s core strengths and resources. It is essential, therefore, to know your organization, understand your place in the giving community, and build on your strengths and resources. Once, when I worked for a small, under-resourced organization,… read more

international

Foundations & Corporations: The Art of Procuring International Funding

In my last blog, I discussed United States federal funding for international programs and research. In this article, I will focus on foundation giving for international programs. According to The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations, during a five-year study from 2011-2015, grant-making by American foundations to charitable organizations outside the United States reached… read more

international

Increase Your Funding via International Partnerships

In my own career, I recall a very wealthy donor from Asia, who funded a major program at a leading university department where I was the director. He asked me what I believed would be an important funding area if he were to donate $1 million to my department. I told him that international research… read more