Prepared by Martha L. Means, M.L., Research Consultant
Research Funding Service, Health Sciences Libraries and School of Medicine
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/talks/nigrants.html

• Basic Vocabulary
• Finding Funding Sources
• Writing a Grant
• The Funding Application Process

Basic Vocabulary

• Grant: In general, the idea and purpose of the grant is suggested by the recipient.
• Contract: The funder usually determines the idea and purpose of the work to be done. However, the military considers funding opportunities that are investigator-initiated as contracts or procurements.
• Extramural Funding: Funding for research done outside of an agency or organization. For example, National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural research funds research done in its own laboratories, but NIH’s extramural funding goes to universities, businesses and labs outside of NIH.
• Program Officer: Person to contact at an agency or organization to ask questions about the funding opportunity. Often called a Program Director, Branch or Section Chief, Group Leader, Vice President for Research, etc. Call or email a program officer before you write your application to see if your work matches their interests.
  

Finding Funding Sources

• Look for a win-win situation: Find out what the funders are trying to accomplish and help them accomplish their goals and yours.
• Community of Science (COS):http://fundingopps.cos.com/, U. of Colorado link, If you can only look at one resource, the COS Funding Opportunities Database is the best choice. It lists public and private funding. This is where I look for military funding, for example. If your institution subscribes, ask how you sign up for a COS Workbench.
• Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS):http://www.library.uiuc.edu/iris/ Similar to Community of Science Funding Opportunities Database. Has useful Upcoming Deadlines and you can search in "Keywords" with the phrase "{Opportunity for Junior Faculty--Medical Sciences}" (without the quotes).  Institutional subscription required for access.
• Small or Local Funding: University of Washington Funding, professional societies, FC Search at your local public library, Foundation Finder , or IRS 990-PF that lists all a foundation's grantmaking activity for the year.
• Late-Breaking Funding Opportunities: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/lb/

Potential Search Terms

Databases with National Institutes of Health (NIH) Information

• CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) Database of Grants Awarded: http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/, contains information on grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It also has information from the CDC, FDC, HRSA and AHRQ. Useful for identifying the appropriate NIH Institute to fund a grant, the best Study Section to review it for scientific merit, and the most appropriate funding mechanism (R01, K23, R03, etc.).
• NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts:http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html. Weekly announcements detailing extramural funding programs and policies of the National Institutes of Health. The Table of Contents is available via email each week.
• Program Announcements (PA): describe new research programs or update the scope of ongoing programs and are used to invite investigator-initiated or unsolicited research. There are no deadlines and no funding is defined for this purpose.
• Request for Applications (RFA): a topic of high priority to an institute. They are one-time opportunities with defined research objectives, deadlines, and setaside funds. This is often called "targeted research."

NIH Basics

• NIH Institutes, Centers, and Divisions:
  • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), for example, support grants to study traditional, indigenous systems of medicine.
• Dual Review System: Peer review process used by NIH. See "A Straightforward Description of What Happens to Your Research Project Grant Application (R01/R29/R21) After it is Received for Peer Review," The first level of review provides a judgment of scientific merit. The second level of review assesses the quality of the first review, sets program priorities, and makes funding recommendations.
• NIH Program Officer (often called a Program Director, Branch or Section Chief, Group Leader): Names and contact information can be found from Institute Web sites and NIH Guide PA's & RFA's .
  
• Study Sections: Panel of experts, organized by subject area, that review grant applications for scientific merit
  
  • Scientific Review Administrator (SRA): Administrator in charge of a study section. Names and contact information can be found at the Center for Scientific Review. This is someone you can also contact to be sure your grant is assigned to the correct Study Section.

Other Federal Funding

• Many Federal agencies are of interest to health professionals: NIH, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Science Foundation, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA), and Administration on Aging, who produce a Compendium of Grant Resources for Native American Elders Program (List of funding sources last updated in 1998). Some fund research and others programs and projects.
• Federal Databases: For non-NIH funding and programmatic funding
  Federal Register Funding Announcements, The Federal Commons; Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (updated twice yearly); Federal Register (The official publication of the Federal government. Can be overwhelming to search. Click "Notices" under "Article Types to Search" for most effective searching.)
  

  Non-Federal Funding

• There is no one "best way" to find non-federal opportunities. Most of the books and databases do not list all possibilities so that many different sources must be used to do a thorough search.
• Private funders, especially corporations, often give funds to communities where they have employees. For example, Safeco (Seattle) or ARCO Foundation Community Programs (Denver).
• "We don't fund individuals". Researchers at universities or other non-profits, however, are not applying as individuals. They are applying as part of a university or institution. There are occasions, however, when you should classify yourself as an individual, e.g., when applying for funding mechanisms such as NIH's National Research Service Award or F32 Award.
• Types of Non-Federal Funding
  
  • National Foundations: e.g. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • Special Interest Foundations: e.g., Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation (for mental retardation)
  • Alliances of Organizations: e.g., NABCO (National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations)
  • Professional Societies: e.g., American College of ... (Some administer grants for others.)
  • Corporate Foundations: e.g., Microsoft Corporation
  • Family Foundations: e.g., Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 
  • Community Foundations: e.g., Seattle Foundation

• Community of Science: Funding Alert searches are set up through your COS Workbench.
  
• NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts Email Alert: The table of contents will be sent weekly via email.
• Other Funding Alert Services: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/alerts.html

• Directory of Biomedical and Health Care Grants. Oryx Press. An excellent annual listing of federal and nonfederal research opportunities with indexes to subject, sponsoring organization, and program type.
• Funding in Aging. E.H. Rich. The Foundation Center. Includes federal, state, and voluntary organization programs.
• More Funding Books: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/talks/nigrantbooks.html

• Essays: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/gw/
  • "The Art of Grantsmanship" by Jacob Kraicer, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Toronto.
    
• Writing NIH Grants: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/nih.html#nihwrite
• NIH Grant Applications:
  • NIH Application Forms: PHS 398 (rev. 5/01, Update of the PHS 398 instructions and forms)
  • Standard Receipt Dates and Review and Award Cycles
    
• Healthy People 2010: The mission of the NIH is "to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone." NIH is committed to achieving the to health objectives and disease prevention objectives in Healthy People 2010, at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/. Healthy People 2010 sets national funding priorities for all agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The above Web site includes a list of DHHS and other Federal agencies that serve as coordinators for specific focus areas of Healthy People 2010.
• Community of Science Expertise Database: http://expertise.cos.com/

• Plan time for internal institutional processing of grant applications--at least ten days to two weeks. Be sure to submit all required internal paperwork, deal with human subjects review, document space issues, etc.
• Sponsors often restricts how many applications may be submitted from a university or agency. In those cases, there is an internal review process and the time to prepare a grant application is even shorter in those cases.
• The university office with grants and funding resources is often called the Office of Sponsored Research, Sponsored Projects Office, or Office of Research.
• UW Researcher's Guide: http://www.washington.edu/research/guide/
• University of Colorado Office of Grants and Contracts: http://www.uchsc.edu/ogc/

March 5, 2002 Presentation at the Native Elder Research Center
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado