Proposal Development & Submission
This sub-cluster covers pre-award work: everything between identifying a funding opportunity and submitting a complete application package. That includes narrative writing, budget and budget-justification development, biosketch and other-support documentation, institutional endorsement and routing, and the mechanics of electronic submission through portals such as Grants.gov, NIH ASSIST, and Research.gov. The material here is organized to mirror the day-to-day workflow of a pre-award research administrator: reading a funding opportunity announcement, assembling required forms, coordinating compliance sign-offs (human subjects, animal welfare, conflict of interest), and resolving submission errors before a deadline. This is one of the two core domains tested in the Certified Research Administrator (CRA) credential, administered through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) in partnership with the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI); the CRA Body of Knowledge's "Proposal Development" domain defines much of the competency scope reflected here. It also overlaps substantially with the Level I curriculum taught by NCURA, the National Council of University Research Administrators, which trains new research administrators in this same pre-award sequence. Pages in this sub-cluster distinguish proposal development from the broader grants-management lifecycle: they stop at the point of award, before cost principles, effort reporting, and post-award compliance take over, which are covered separately under award financial management. Readers should expect definitions and process explanations for specific pre-award artifacts and terms — budget justifications, letters of support, just-in-time requests, and the routing and internal-deadline conventions that vary by institution but recur across the field.
Guides
Gates Foundation: Research Grant Programs (Global Health, Global Development, Discovery & Translational Sciences)
How the Gates Foundation (formerly Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) funds research through its Global Health, Global Development, and Discovery & Translational Sciences programs, including Grand Challenges, indirect cost policy, and open access requirements.
Writing an Expression of Interest (EOI) for a Large Collaborative Research Grant
How the Expression of Interest (EOI) stage-one narrative for large collaborative grants — Horizon Europe two-stage calls, UKRI large-grant and lead-agency schemes — differs from a full proposal, and from a federal Letter of Intent or foundation Letter of Inquiry.
How to Withdraw an NIH or NSF Grant Application: Process, Timing, and When It Makes Sense
A practical guide to withdrawing a submitted NIH or NSF grant application before a funding decision — the eRA Commons and Research.gov processes, who can initiate and finalize a withdrawal, timing windows, and when withdrawal makes sense versus letting review proceed.
NIH Just-in-Time (JIT) Submission Process: What It Is and When It’s Required
What triggers an NIH Just-in-Time (JIT) request, exactly what has to be submitted (Other Support, IRB/IACUC approvals, human subjects training, DMS Plan updates), and how and when to submit it through eRA Commons.
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: Research Grant Programs and How to Apply
How the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funds science, environmental conservation, and Bay Area programs, and how its largely invitation-based application process actually works for research administrators.
David and Lucile Packard Foundation: Research Grant Programs and How to Apply
How the David and Lucile Packard Foundation funds research: the nomination-only Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering, its broader invitation-based grantmaking model, and its tiered indirect cost policy.
Arnold Ventures: Evidence-Based Policy Research Grants
How Arnold Ventures funds evidence-based policy research across criminal justice, health, higher education, public finance, and infrastructure — and what distinguishes its causal-evaluation funding model from discipline-focused private foundations.
NIH Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan: When It’s Required and What to Include
What triggers NIH’s Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan requirement, the elements it must address, and how MPI applications differ from single-PI submissions.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Research Grant Programs (STEM, Economics, Public Understanding of Science)
A grants-office guide to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: its Science, Economics, STEM Higher Education, and Public Understanding of Science programs, what it explicitly will not fund, and how it differs from the Sloan Research Fellowships.
Writing a PCORI Research Proposal: Merit Review Criteria and Patient-Centeredness Requirements
How PCORI’s merit review criteria differ from NIH and NSF, and what patient-centeredness and stakeholder engagement requirements mean for your proposal.
The Pew Charitable Trusts: Biomedical Scholars and Policy-Research Grant Programs
How The Pew Charitable Trusts funds research: the nomination-only Pew Biomedical Scholars program, its in-house policy research model, and how it differs structurally from a typical private foundation and from the affiliated Pew Research Center.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: Humanities and Arts Research Funding
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the largest private funder of arts, culture, and humanities research in the US. This guide covers its program areas, endowment, invitation-based funding model, eligibility rules, and how it compares to peer foundations.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Research and Higher-Education Funding Programs
How the Hewlett Foundation funds research and higher education: its program areas, invitation-based grantmaking model, and how it compares to project-based peer foundations.
Templeton World Charity Foundation: Grant Programs and How It Differs from JTF
Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) is a separately incorporated, independently governed funder distinct from the John Templeton Foundation. This guide covers TWCF’s structure, funding areas, application process, and how research offices should tell the two Templeton foundations apart.
Carnegie Corporation of New York (Now the Andrew Carnegie Foundation): Funding Areas & Grant Process
Carnegie Corporation of New York is now the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. This guide covers its research-relevant funding areas and its proactive, invitation-only grant process.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI): Science Funding Programs and Grant Process
How CZI is structured as an LLC-led philanthropy, its main science funding programs (CZ Biohub Network, imaging, Human Cell Atlas, open source software, neurodegeneration, Rare As One), and how the RFA-based application process works.
Simons Foundation Research Funding: Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Autism Research
How the Simons Foundation funds basic research across Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, SFARI autism research, and Neuroscience, and how eligibility, application, and indirect-cost mechanics compare to a federal grant.
John Templeton Foundation: Research Funding Areas and Grant Process
An orientation to the John Templeton Foundation’s six funding areas, its Intelligence Venture, the Online Funding Inquiry to Full Proposal process, and eligibility rules for research applicants.
Pivot-RP: How to Use the Funding Opportunity Database
How to access, search, and set up alerts in Clarivate’s Pivot-RP funding database, and how it compares functionally to Grants.gov.
What Is NORDP? The National Organization of Research Development Professionals
NORDP is the professional association for research development (RD) professionals — the pre-award, proposal-strategy side of research funding, distinct from NCURA’s research-administration focus. Here’s what it is, what it offers members, and how it differs from NCURA.
NSF Broader Impacts Statements: What the Review Criteria Reward
What NSF’s Broader Impacts merit-review criterion actually is, the five review elements panels apply to it, NSF’s own example categories, and how the April 2025 Statement of Priorities changed what counts as an acceptable plan.
How to Fill Out a Grant Application: A General Step-by-Step Checklist
A cross-agency, step-by-step checklist covering the components common to most federal and foundation grant applications — project narrative, budget and budget justification, biosketches, letters of support, and compliance certifications — for first-time and early-career PIs.
Foundation Research Grants for Early-Career Investigators: How to Find and Apply
How early-career investigators can identify the right private foundation funders, use foundation-relations offices and grant databases, navigate letter-of-intent vs. full-proposal stages, and understand how foundation awards differ administratively from federal grants.
Letter of Inquiry for Grants: Format and When Funders Require One
What a foundation letter of inquiry (LOI) is, how it differs from an NSF/NIH letter of intent, typical structure and length, which funders require one, and what happens after you submit.
NSF Letter of Intent (LOI): When It’s Required and What to Include
A plain guide to the NSF Letter of Intent: which solicitations require one, the content elements PAPPG expects, deadline mechanics relative to the full proposal, and how it differs from a Letter of Collaboration and a preliminary proposal.
NSF Collaborative Proposal Guidelines: How the Separately Submitted Mechanism Works
How NSF’s separately-submitted collaborative proposal mechanism works: linking proposals across institutions in Research.gov, matching titles/timelines, and per-organization budgets and AOR certifications.
PHS Assignment Request Form: What It Is and How It Differs From PHS 398 and HSCTI
The PHS Assignment Request Form lets NIH applicants suggest an Institute/Center and study section, flag reviewer conflicts, and note needed expertise — distinct from PHS 398 and the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.
W.M. Keck Foundation Research Grants: Programs and How to Apply
How the W.M. Keck Foundation funds high-risk, paradigm-challenging basic research through its Science and Engineering Research and Medical Research programs, and how the staged, letter-of-inquiry-style application process works.
How to Apply for an NSF Grant: A Step-by-Step Process
A procedural, NSF-specific walkthrough of applying for an NSF grant: Research.gov account setup, proposal preparation per the PAPPG, institutional routing, submission, and the merit-review process that follows.
AI Tools for Grant Writing: A Category Overview for Research Administrators
A category overview of AI tools used in grant proposal preparation — drafting assistance, budget-narrative help, and compliance-checking — plus the funder-policy and institutional-disclosure considerations research administrators need to weigh before adopting them.
NSF Synergistic Activities: Requirements, Format, and How It Changed
What belongs in NSF’s Synergistic Activities document, its one-page/five-example format rules, and how the requirement changed when NSF split it out of the Biographical Sketch in May 2024.
NIH Senior/Key Personnel Training Requirements: RCR, Research Security, and Mentoring Plans
What NIH senior/key personnel actually must complete: RCR training for covered trainees, the newer research security training (RST) requirement effective May 2026, FCOI training under 42 CFR 50, and mentoring plan obligations for trainees.
NSF Letter of Collaboration: What It Must (and Must Not) Say
NSF letters of collaboration confirm an unfunded collaborator’s intent to participate — and PAPPG strictly bars them from committing resources or endorsing the project’s merit. Here’s what NSF allows, prohibits, and expects in format.
How to Find a Research Funding Sponsor
How to match a research project’s scope to the right federal agency, private foundation, or industry sponsor, use institutional research-development resources, search funding databases, and evaluate a funding opportunity before writing a proposal.
NIH Specific Aims Page: Format, Structure, and How to Write One
How to write the NIH Specific Aims page: the mandatory 1-page format, the standard opening/aims/closing structure, common reviewer pitfalls, and how F31 and other mechanism-specific aims pages differ from a standard R01.
Diversity Statements for Researchers: What Reviewers Look For
What faculty-hiring committees and grant reviewers actually look for in a diversity statement: concrete past actions, specific future plans, common weaknesses to avoid, a structural guide, and the current, unsettled US policy landscape.
How to Write a Grant Proposal: A Research Administrator’s Guide
How to write a research-grant proposal that scores well: writing to the funder’s actual review criteria, the core narrative components, common reviewer pitfalls, and a practical drafting sequence.
NIH ASSIST: What It Is and How It Differs from eRA Commons Registration
ASSIST is NIH’s application preparation and electronic submission tool; eRA Commons is the account-registration and post-award system it runs inside. Here’s exactly how the two differ and connect.
NIH Other Support Template: Foreign Disclosure and Certification Rules
How to complete NIH’s Other Support / Current and Pending (Other) Support disclosure: what counts as reportable support, foreign-component documentation rules, and the SciENcv certification now required for due dates on or after January 25, 2026.
Team Science and the Science of Team Science (SciTS): What It Means for Research Administration
What distinguishes team science from single-PI research, what SciTS studies, why funders build team structures into large awards, and the leadership-plan, credit, and cross-institutional agreement burden this creates for research offices.
How to Apply for a Research Grant: The Application Process, Step by Step
A step-by-step orientation to applying for a research grant: finding opportunities, confirming eligibility and registrations, budget development, the application narrative, internal routing, and submission — for researchers and research administrators, not general nonprofit or small-business grant-seeking.
NSF Funding Search: How to Find NSF Funding Opportunities
Where NSF funding opportunities are actually published, how program solicitations differ from Dear Colleague Letters, and how Grants.gov cross-posting works.
Components of a Grant Proposal: What Every Section Needs to Do
A structural breakdown of what belongs in a research-grant proposal — specific aims, significance, approach, budget justification, biosketches, letters of support, and the other components reviewers and sponsors expect, and how the list varies by funder.
NIH Research Strategy: Significance, Innovation, Approach (With a Worked Example)
What goes in an NIH Research Strategy attachment — Significance, Innovation, and Approach — how it differs from the Specific Aims page, and a fully worked, clearly-labeled illustrative example.
Statement of Need: Examples and How to Write One
What a Statement of Need is, how it differs from an NIH Significance section, and a fully worked, clearly-labeled illustrative example.
Limited Submissions: Managing Internal Competitions for Restricted Funding Opportunities
When a funder caps how many proposals one institution may submit, the research office runs an internal competition to choose who applies. How the process works, why funders impose the limit, and what it means for a PI.
Tri-Agency Common CV (CCV) Worked Example: A Filled-In Sample
A fully filled-in illustrative example of the Canadian Common CV (CCV), the standardized form CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC use for grant and fellowship applications, with section-by-section guidance and notes on the emerging narrative tri-agency CV.
How to Write a Timeline for a Research Grant Proposal
A practical guide to writing the timeline, schedule, or Gantt chart section of a research grant proposal, covering NIH/NSF requirements, milestones vs. deliverables, formats, and common mistakes.
SF-424 (R&R) Instructions: How the Federal Research Grant Application Package Is Structured
A field-by-field, component-by-component guide to the SF-424 (R&R) research grant application package: government-wide forms, agency-specific layers, the Cover form fields, and how it relates to PHS 398.
PHS 398: What the Legacy NIH Grant Application Form Still Covers Today
PHS 398 was NIH’s original paper-based grant application kit. Electronic SF-424 R&R submission superseded it for most applicants, but the PHS 398 name persists as NIH’s component forms (Research Plan, Biosketch, Cover Page Supplement, fellowship and training budgets) nested inside today’s SF-424 R&R package.
Funding Opportunity Databases: Where Researchers Actually Search for Grants
A landscape guide to the databases and platforms used to discover open funding opportunities — Grants.gov, Pivot-RP, GrantForward, and Candid — how each is accessed, what it covers, and how research offices typically combine them.
2 CFR 200 Subpart C: Pre-Federal Award Requirements Explained
A section-by-section walkthrough of 2 CFR 200 Subpart C (200.200-200.217): public notice of funding opportunities, merit review, applicant risk assessment, specific award conditions, pre-award costs, and pre-award screening requirements.
Call for Researchers: What It Means and How to Vet One
What “call for researchers” means, how it differs from a call for papers, how it maps to FOA/RFA/Program Solicitation terminology across funders, and how to evaluate whether one is legitimate.
Research Development Manager: The Role, and How It Differs from Research Administration
What research development (RD) managers do — funding intelligence, proposal coaching, limited submissions, mock reviews — and how the role differs from research administration, grounded in NORDP’s definition of the field.
Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team: Proposal Review Stages
How Pink Team, Red Team, and Gold Team reviews stage a grant proposal’s final weeks before submission, and what each stage checks.
Budget Justification: A Worked Example
A worked, line-by-line example of a grant budget justification narrative, showing how to explain personnel, equipment, travel, supplies, and indirect costs to reviewers.
Grant Budget Template: Structure and Categories
The standard cost-category structure behind a grant budget template — personnel, equipment, travel, participant support, and indirect costs — and how it differs from a budget justification narrative.
The Grant Proposal Approval Process: Institutional Routing, Sign-Off, and Submission Authorization
How institutional grant approval actually works: the routing chain from PI to department chair to Sponsored Programs to the Authorized Organizational Representative, and how it differs from a funder’s award decision or IRB approval.
How to Build a Research Grant Budget: A Step-by-Step Guide
A step-by-step walkthrough of building a grant-proposal research budget: direct vs. indirect (F&A) costs, personnel effort and salary, standard budget categories, and the justification narrative.
NIH Funding Opportunity Changes: The FY2026 NOFO Overhaul
Starting in FY2026, NIH is cutting the number of active funding opportunities roughly in half, retiring the NIH Guide as a NOFO source in favor of Grants.gov, eliminating Letters of Intent, and piloting a plain-language NOFO format. Here is what changed and how it affects proposal strategy.
Letter of Support for a Grant Proposal: What to Include
A practical guide to letters of support for grant proposals: what they must contain, who should sign them, and how NIH and NSF policy on this document differs sharply.
Budget Justification Narrative: What to Include (NIH vs. NSF)
What a grant budget justification narrative must cover by cost category — personnel, equipment, travel, indirect costs — common reviewer red flags, and how NIH’s modular budget and NSF’s participant support costs change the requirement.
