The Fountain of Funding:
Strategies for Securing Financial
Support for your Project
February 27, 2007
Keenan Dungey, Associate Professor, Chemistry
Deb Koua, Coordinator, Grants and Contracts
Pamela Salela, Assistant Professor, Library Instructional Services
& Coordinator, Central Illinois Nonprofit Resource Center, Brookens Library
Stacey Willenborg, Director of Development, Corporate/Foundation Gifts
University of Illinois at Springfield
Corporate and Foundation Relations
 Find matches
 Conduct research on funders
 Set-up and attend initial
meetings
 Serve as a general resource
to help you find funding
Proposal Preparation
 Faculty and staff know their
projects best
 Tailor to your audience
 Use your contacts
 Talking points are helpful
 Ask for assistance
Central Illinois
Nonprofit Resource Center
http://library.uis.edu/findinfo/grants/index.html
Pamela M. Salela, Assistant Professor
CINRC Coordinator
Brookens Library
psale2@uis.edu
217-206-6783
University of Illinois at Springfield
Affiliations
 Foundation Center
http://foundationcenter.org
– Publications
– Training
– Reference Guide for Researchers
http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/guides/research.html
 Donors Forum of Chicago – Partner
http://donorsforum.org
– Publications
– Workshops (Chicago)
– 20% discount UIS
Resources
 Databases
– Foundation Directory Online campus only!
http://fconline.fdncenter.org/ipl.pl
– Foundation Grants to Individuals Online campus only!
http://gtionline.fdncenter.org/ipl.php
– Illinois Funding Source campus only!
http://ifs.donorsforum.org/
– Campus Only! – but… VPN client
 Reference Materials
– Directories
– Manuals
– Budget tools
Select Bibliography of Directories
 Directory of Research Grants
AS911 .A2 D5 2005
 Annual Register of Grant Support: A Directory of
Funding Sources AS911 .A2 A67 2007
 The Grants Register: The Complete Guide to
Postgraduate Funding Worldwide
AS911 .A2 G734 2007
 The Europa International Foundation Directory
HV7 .I56 2005
 Grants for Higher Education
AS911 .A2 G7247 2007
Workshops
Community
Course specific
Faculty/Staff
Services provided by G&C Office
 Identification of external funding sources
 Interpretation of sponsor guidelines and
requirements
 Assistance with all stages of proposal
development
 Official submission of proposals to outside
sponsors, including electronic submissions
through grants.gov, Fastlane, etc.
 Assistance with protocols for research
involving human and/or animal subjects
 Assistance with intellectual property issues
 A webpage with links to relevant information,
and downloadable forms
Where to look for funding
 IRIS www.library.uiuc.edu/iris
 SPIN (coming in FY09)
 Google
 Association listserves,
funder newsletters, etc.
 Grants.gov
 Colleagues
UIS Provost Funding
 Summer Competitive
Scholarly Research Grant
Program (SCRGP)
 Strategic Academic Initiatives
Grant (SAIG) Program
 Collaborative Project Seed
Funding (CPSF)
 Scholarly Presentation
Support Program
UIS requirements for proposals & awards
All proposals submitted to
external sponsors by UIS
faculty, staff and students
require internal approval
using the UIS Internal
Clearance Form.
All awards must be officially
accepted by the campus, and
must be signed by the proper
authority.
Proposal Writing Tips
DO:
 Follow directions
 Learn as much about your
funder as you can
 Use language that is simple
and direct
 Repeat the funder’s language
back to them
 Include tables, flowcharts and
diagrams when they are useful
Tips continued …
 Proofread
 Have someone not familiar
with your work read your
proposal
 Prepare a detailed and
justifiable budget
 Talk to staff at the funding
agency if possible
 Ask for reviewer comments
Tips continued…
DO NOT:
 Go over the number of pages allotted
 Pad your budget with items that can’t
be justified
 Assume that reviewers are experts in
your field
 Wait until the last minute – to write or
to submit
 Send the same proposal off to multiple
funders
 Get discouraged!!
How to get your project funded
(1 faculty perspective)
Keenan Dungey (CHE)
University of Illinois at Springfield
Writing the Proposal
 Clear hypothesis/goals
– State the importance of the project
 Clear statement of resources/personnel
needed and timetable
– Make the case that you can do the project
 If your project involves students, describe
their learning goals
 Be considerate of the reviewers
– Correct format, excellent language skills
Help for Writing the Proposal
 Get copies of proposals that were funded by
the agency
 Volunteer to serve as a proposal reviewer
for the agency
You make contacts and learn first-hand about the
grants that get funded
 Pre-”peer review”
– Send a copy of your proposal to a colleague
before the submission deadline
Start Now
 Set goals and deadlines for yourself
 Contact program officers at granting
agencies
– find out more information about their program
– learn from them what has worked in the past
 Don’t wait
– Submit a proposal and get feedback.
– Some programs give preferences to new faculty.
Finding Funding
 Resources at UIS
– All of the above
– Center for State Policy and Leadership
http://cspl.uis.edu/
 Professional Organizations
– Council on Undergraduate Research
www.cur.org
 Colleagues
– Attend professional meetings
What if you don’t get funded?
 Don’t be discouraged by the failure rate
– Some NSF programs have a 10% funding rate
 Always pursue comments on why you were
not funded;
– even gather comments on why you were funded
so that you know what you did correctly
KED Grant Proposals Written 2000-2006
Agency and Program
Proposal Title
Amount Funded
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
Photochemistry of Confined Transition Metal Complexes
$10,000
Research Corporation
Self-assembly of Gold/ Zr(HPO4)2 Nanocomposites
denied
Council on Undergraduate Research
Self-assembly of Gold/ Zr(HPO4)2 Nanocomposites
$3,500
UIS Summer Competitive Scholarly Research
Award
Self-assembly of Gold/Zirconium Phosphate Nanocomposites
$1,500
The National Science Foundation
Major Research Instrumentation
RUI: Acquisition of a Powder X-ray Diffractometer
denied
American Chemical Society
Decorating the Gallery: Improving the Properties of Cobalt Hydroxide by Anion
Intercalation
denied
Research Corporation
Self-assembly of Gold/ Zr(HPO4)2 Nanocomposites for Optical Applications
denied
UIS Summer Competitive Scholarly Research
Award
Intercalating Anions into Cobalt Hydroxide
$1,000
American Chemical Society
Nanometal Pillaring of Inorganic Layered Compounds
denied
Research Corporation
Mesoporous Transition Metal Oxides for Energy Storage
denied
The National Science Foundation
Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory
Improvement Program
Integration of Powder X-ray Diffraction Throughout the Chemistry Curriculum
denied
American Chemical Society Petroleum Research
Fund
The 2D to 3D Magnetic Ordering Transition in Layered Double Hydroxides Mediated
by Polyoxometalates
denied
NCUR/Lancy Initiative
Summer Support for Exceptional
Undergraduates
Research Community for Water Literacy: Chemistry, Biology, Environment, and
Policy
denied
Research Corporation
Porous Heterobimetallic Oxides for Energy Storage
$33,494
The National Science Foundation
Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory
Improvement Program
Collaborative Project Gemini XRD: Powder X-ray Diffraction in Undergraduate
Chemistry Courses
$92,179
The National Science Foundation
Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement
Program
Upgrading undergraduate education by the acquisition of a Gas ChromatographMass Spectrometer (co-PI with Dr. Harshavardhan Bapat)
denied
Merck/AAAS
Undergraduate Science Research Program
$60,000
The National Science Foundation
Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory
Improvement Program
Collaborative Project Gemini SPM: Scanning Probe Microscopy in Undergraduate
Chemistry Courses
pending
Suggestions for Success
 Establish a track record with peer reviewed
publications
 Gather preliminary data on the project to
demonstrate that you can do it
 Show institutional support
– List all available resources even if you haven’t
tapped into them yet.
 Find collaborators
– Colleagues down the hall, at another campus
– Attend professional conferences
Finding Time for Research
 Schedule your academic week into blocks
for teaching and research
– reserve a day, or at least an afternoon, to your
scholarship (no meetings, no committees, no
classes)
 Reserve summers for research
 underload/overload semesters
– Since contact hours are counted for the entire
year, you can underload one semester to make
time for writing.
 Course-related research can lead to
published articles