Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing: Making the Vision Plain So the Reader Can Run!

By Barrett T. Vaughan

Increase Your Chances at Winning Grants with Insights from a Review Panel Manager!

"Increase my chances? That's no guarantee!" you might be saying.

Well, to be honest, no book can legitimately make any promises that you will win grants. None of them can, not even mine. However, most books on grant writing will show you tools and strategies for improving your proposal.

"OK. So, why should I buy your book?"

I think you should get as many resources as necessary to prepare yourself to write the best proposal possible. Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing complements other books by offering something that they might not--the perspective of the review panel.

"Hmm. Now, what does that mean... to me?"

Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing was written to give you a better understanding of how the review process works and how the panel reviewers tend to think. It outlines the three major aspects of your proposal which are the presentation, the content, and the value. Each of these is important to the panel reviewer.

This book will help you understand and manage these aspects. For example, it tells about how you can:
- lay out pages for better reading
- make your plan more clear and cohesive
- format your budget to be easily understood
- obtain letters of support that impress reviewers
- do much more.

"That's good. But, what's the bottom line?"

Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing puts you in the mindset of the reviewers. You will gain a competitive edge through understanding how they think. In the reviewers' eyes, most proposals will fall into the "Just OK" category; this book can help you to avoid mistakes that give panel reviewers a reason to lump you in with the others.

As a bonus, this book provides you with an insightful questionnaire for you and others to review your proposal.

"Sounds interesting, but I don't know. There are a lot of good books out there."

Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing is one of them, and it's affordable. If you still need more convincing, scroll up and download a free sample! Or, you can even "Look Inside" the book.

You won't regret adding Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing to your collection. Act now!

P.S. The introductory offer will end soon. Get it today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barrett T. Vaughan
• Release date: Sep 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301135844

Barrett T. Vaughan

Barrett T. Vaughan, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he is a graduate of Michigan State University and The Pennsylvania State University. At Tuskegee, he serves as the Resident Engineer for the George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station in the College of Agriculture, Environment, and Nutritional Sciences. There, he engages in various activities involving research, teaching, and extension.His position at Tuskegee has afforded him the opportunity to serve on several dozen review panels between 2007 and 2013. He has served as a panelist and panel manager for two agencies in the United States Department of Agriculture. He has also served as a panelist for the US Department of Energy and several regional and state review panels. These experiences have been the inspiration and source for his books.Dr. Vaughan has been prolific grant awardee and has had funding for most of his career. He has been awarded over $1 million as PI (principal investigator) or Co-PI in several dozen grants from USDA, NSF, and regional and state agencies, not including grants awarded to him as a doctoral student at Penn State.He currently resides in Montgomery, Alabama with his wife and family. He can be contacted through his WordPress blog, "The Reviewers Eye".The Reviewer's Eye | The Things I've Seen Behind the Sceneshttp://reviewerseye.wordpress.com/

Book preview

Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing

Making the Vision Plain So the Reader Can Run!

By Barrett T. Vaughan, Ph.D.

Copyright (c) 2013 Barrett T. Vaughan

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Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

The Review

The Solicitation

The Presentation

The Content

The Value

The Submission

The Response

Bonus Resource

Invitation to My Blog

A Word of Thanks and a Request

About the Author

Author Pages & Links

Upcoming Books by Barrett T. Vaughan

Citations

Quotes and References

Acknowledgements

Preface

Reviewer-Focused Grant Writing. You may be thinking, Isn't that inherent? Well, no. I say this because I have had the honor of serving on several dozen federal, regional and state grant proposal review panels and have served as a federal panel manager over the past few years. In my experience, grant proposals fall into one of three categories: Very Fundable, of Some Merit for funding, and Not Supportable even with unlimited funding.

In terms of percentages, the Very Fundable category usually makes up about 10 percent of the proposals submitted and the Not Supportable category makes up another 10 to 30 percent. In most review panels, at least half of the proposals have Some Merit, but do not rise to the Very Fundable category, yet do not fall into the Not Supportable category either. In short, most grant proposals are good, or average. Normally, they may be missing something that the reviewer felt that they needed or they just did not capture the imagination of the reviewer.

In my own experience with writing grants, there have been many times when I got the Your Grant Proposal had Some Merit but was not Very Fundable letter or e-mail. Earlier in my career, I would call the Program Leader and ask about what happened. It is frustrating to hear back that a piece of your writing that you invested days if not weeks working on was Just OK. Nowadays, after serving in these review panels and beginning to grasp the dynamics, I write proposals often knowing what needs to be done to improve them. This is based on an understanding of how the reviewers will see what has been submitted.

Time is normally, if not always, a limiting factor, so I might not have time to do all that I can to fully develop the proposal. However, I usually send what I have so that I can analyze the feedback. This is important to me because, after serving in so many panels, I can read Panel-ese and decipher what they thought about it. This helps me to improve it for resubmission or for sending it elsewhere. However, on occasion, it does get funded, meaning what was submitted was sufficient to be considered Very Fundable.

If this sounds confusing, well, it can be. After serving as a panelist and panel manager, I tell anyone that the one guaranteed determining factor of getting your proposal funded is the Blessing of the Lord. That being said, it is important to give Him something to work with. Putting together the best grant proposal package is the surest way to get into that Very Fundable category, though not all of those get funded. After the other two categories are firmly determined, the top category is ranked and the best of the best are likely to be funded, depending on resources.

I wrote this book to help you understand the review process so that you can help the panel see what you see. Your vision is more likely to be funded if it is easier to gather, understand, and support. This goes without saying, but remember, between 50 and 80 percent of all proposals are rated as good or average. In these pages are insights into how the reviewer will read what you have written. There are also insights into the factors that will most likely gain the reviewer's support and prompt him or her to influence others on the panel. This book was not intended to be a primer on grant proposal writing; there are other great books available. What I hope to contribute is a greater understanding of the review process and how reviewers tend to think.

Introduction

Organization of this Book: A Study of His Word about Your Words

As I began to write this book, I sought a fundamental truth to link together and encapsulate the information that I wanted to share. In the scriptures, there are many commonly quoted verses that pertain to planning and selection. For example, relevant verses can be found at Jeremiah 29:11 (For I know the plans I have for you...), Proverbs 16:9 (...man makes plans, but the Lord determines the steps), and even John 15:16 (You didn't choose me. I chose you.). However, when I think about writing grant proposals, Habakkuk 2:2 always comes to mind.

And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (KJV)

In studying this verse, I consulted online lists of the various translations in English. From a brief study of the translations, and a few commentaries, I found that they did not all convey the same exact thought. More specifically, the different groups of theologians each with centuries of knowledge and varying measures of inspiration all came up with different interpretations of the original language. That may not be surprising.

What I did discover, however, was that the various translations of Habakkuk 2:2 could be classified into three different thoughts about the vision that is written:

1. The idea should be easy to gather or digest. It can be read quickly as if someone could take it in from a glance, as if they were running by it posted on a sign. Note the emphasis in the translation below.

Then the LORD answered me, Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly." (GW)

2. The idea should be plain or clear. It is a complete and whole idea and easy to understand without confusion or omissions. Note the emphasis in the translation below.

Then the LORD said to me, Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others." (NLT)

3. The idea should be written to inspire action. It should make the reader want to run to tell others about it. Note the emphasis in the translation below.

The Lord answered me: Write down the vision;