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Towards Faculty Research

Missouri State allocates over $500,000 annually to support faculty research and other scholarly activities.  Part of those funds are allocated to faculty and staff who develop grant  proposals. Click on $upport for faculty to learn more.

Whether you are a novice or an experienced grant writer, OSRP has created a Guide to Proposal Development that you can scan and find information at the click of your mouse. 

Proposal Development Process:

Use the OSRP Concept Outline to organize your project ideas and begin the proposal development process.

Proposal Checklists: (From the Grants Resource Center)   Get the Free Adobe PDF Reader

National Science Foundation-General
National Science Foundation-CAREER
National Institutes of Health
Grants.gov

(PDF documents open in a new window) 

Responsibilities of the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs:

The SRP office provides administrative services to assist principal investigators in developing and submitting proposals that comply with sponsor and university requirements; negotiates and accepts grant awards, obtains authorized signatures on sponsored agreements and contracts; documents human subjects or animal use approval; and coordinates with grants accountants to establish project accounts.

 

Tips to Get Started:

If you plan to write a grant proposal, please do the following:

  • Contact SRP immediately for project and proposal development assistance and funding source information.
  • Plan your project and write your proposal well in advance of agency deadlines.
  • Follow funding-agency guidelines.
  • Remember, SRP staff can review and edit your proposal in accordance with sponsor guidelines.
  • Have only authorized university officials sign grant or contract documents.
  • Consult Section VI of this guide for Federal Regulations & University Policies and Web links for contact and other information regarding conflict of interest, research integrity, research on human and animal subjects, research involving biohazards, and other issues with which you should be familiar.

 

Type of Sponsors:

Frequently, sponsors require specific institutional information such as a DUNS number or an EIN number.  You're one click away from what you need to know.

Support for research and scholarly activities can come from diverse sources. The more traditional sources include;

  • Federal agencies
  • State agencies
  • Private foundations
  • Corporations, industry, business
  • Not-for-Profit organizations (universities, libraries, museums, etc.)

Less traditional sources include local government, community groups, or discretionary funds from program officers in the more traditional sources. Some disciplines or activities lend themselves more readily to some types of sponsors than to others.

Some generalities can be made about these categories of sponsors. However, there are no rules that sponsors must follow in terms of their giving patterns, application process, or review procedures.

Federal agencies:

  • They generally have the most accessible information.
  • They are considered by some to be the most stable source of funding.
  • In some fields, support from this category may be used as a faculty performance tool (i.e. if successful in the peer review process).
  • Federal agencies often have the longest timeframe for reviewing proposals and making awards.

State agencies:

  • This is an increasingly important category of funding; there is some federal flow through to state.
  • The competition may be less intense than for funding from federal agencies.
  • State agencies often have less accessible information or mechanisms for advertising.

Private foundations:

  • Approximately 40,000 foundations in the United States annually award over $10 billion; 3,000 foundations have 90 percent of the assets.
  • By law, foundations must pay out five (5) percent of market assets on net return on investments.
  • Corporations, industry, business
  • These are a good source of non-monetary contributions.
  • They often have no established program or written guidelines.

Not-for-Profit organizations:

  • Such organizations generally offer smaller amounts of money.
  • They generally have a quicker turnaround than do other types of sponsors.

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