Clarifying your Scholarship Aims - Do you Need Funding?
Basic Query:
What do you want to achieve through your scholarship, and will that require external funds?
How the EHHD Office of Scholarship Development & Academic Impact can help:
- OSDAI staff conduct orientation meetings with every new faculty. In addition to introducing
you to the office's resources and activities, a primary aim is to learn what the new
faculty member cares about and wants to investigate, and help to assess where to begin
if funds are needed.
- For example, will your current publication record set the stage for securing an external grant?
- If not, what steps can you take in the interim to make yourself competitive?
- OSDAI staff remain available at any time to serve as a sounding board for your ideas and needs.
- OSDAI staff also regularly offer workshops, seminars or brown-bag discussions that can help you clarify aims and strategies.
What are Funders after?
- A partner looking to change the world in accordance with their vision.
- A funder's vision may arise from the organization's original mission, or from new research.
- In the public sector it may follow directly from legislation and agency rule-making.
- Funder representatives (program officers) are likely very committed to their organization/program's mission. Be prepared to speak their language and to their interests when you contact them.
How competitive are external grants?
- Generally anywhere from 5 to 20% of proposals are funded, depending on the source.
- It's essential to be prepared for rejection, especially with your first proposal.
- Plan to resubmit!
What does it take to win a grant?
- A strong project that fits with the funder's mission.
- A persuasive narrative that:
- tells a compelling story, or
- makes a compelling argument (these can be the same)
- is crisp and clear
- A proposal that very carefully follows the funder's instructions - every one of them! To a T!