Grants Office

Suggested Format for Concept (or project) Description Paper

1. Introduction
   1. Create a working title for the project
   2. Write your name, campus address, phone and fax number, your email address.
   3. Write a brief description of the project (1 or 2 paragraphs) in layman’s terms if possible.
   4. Estimate the length of time for the project
2. Background
   1. Describe the history of your department/organization.
   2. Describe the expertise and scholarship available to address the problem.
   3. Describe similar successes of your work.
3. Need
   1. Write several paragraphs illustrating the definition of the problem or need.
   2. Write several paragraphs describing the significance of the need.
   3. From your descriptions above, select (or create) key words that are board in their             
      scope. (Note key words representing broad topics are useful for: (1) defining your   
       project according to a funding agency’s criteria in order to insert those key words  
       in the submission documents, and for (2) searching databases of funding agencies
       grant programs.  For example, to search for funding for “microbial temperature
       sensitive populations in aquatic environments” a good start might be to search
       using Biology, and then Microbiology, etc.)
4. Solution
   1. Write several paragraphs outlining your solutions to the problem or need.
   2. Describe how, when, and with what resources the solutions will take place.
   3. Describe in detail the methodology to be implemented in the solution of the problem.
   4. Create a simple time-line of the project
   5. Later, using the time-line data, create a workplan showing labor, and dates, activities and milestones for the project.
5. Benefits
   1. Describe how your solution will bring new and creative thought to the issue.
   2. Describe how your solution will benefit the university, state, nation.
6. Evaluation
   1. Describe how you propose to evaluate or assess the project/program, validating the success/failure of the project (sell, institutional peers, contract, etc.)
   2. Tell how the evaluation will be made available to the government.
7. Cost
   1. Identify a Principal Investigator or Project Director with an associated percentage of time required to successfully accomplish the project.
   2. Identify other professors or staff with an associated percentage of time required to successfully accomplish the project.
   3. Identify number of student assistants required to accomplish the project (each work approximately 20 hours and category of students (under grad, grad, etc.) per week during the life of the project).
   4. Identify any equipment needed to successfully accomplish the task (particularly specialized equipment).
   5. Estimate dollars per year needed for current expenses (phone, paper, photocopying, etc.)
   6. Estimate number of in-state travel miles dedicated to the project.
   7. Estimate number of out-of-state-travel trips required, location, length of stay, etc.
   8. Identify any consultants required to accomplish the task.  Estimate the cost of each.
   9. Identify other costs associated with the project, such as publications costs, conference fees and other
   For Additional Help check out:                                                                              Grant Proposal. Com                                                                                                  A Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal                                                                 -- a very good all purpose site for writing a proposal.                                      Writing from the Winner's Circle: A Guide to Preparing Competitive Grant Proposals by Dr. David Stanley                                                                                The Charity Channel's Don Griesmann's - Glossary of Terms                       A-C
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