Pre-Award Guidelines

Introduction

Grant support has become a multi-billion dollar business in the United States. It has become increasingly important to meet the research and program development needs of faculty and staff at Spelman College.

However, while the needs of the College and individual departments may be great, these needs must be weighed against the requirements of other, aptly qualified institutions applying for funds from a limited number of resources.

Competition is greater now than it has ever been. The ability to articulate your ideas in the form of a competitive grant proposal is one of the main keys to success.

The Office of Sponsored Programs has developed this Grant Proposal Handbook to provide faculty and administrative staff with general guidelines and procedures when applying for a grant or contract. We take you through the step-by-step process and even provide a list of technical hints. These activities are known as the pre-award period.

A subsequent guide will be developed to help you administer a grant award, monitor the budget, and achieve project success. These activities are known as the post-award period.

This handbook is not meant as a substitute for those specific instructions published by a prospective funding source. Such information will ultimately direct your efforts. Rather, this handbook is a simple source of helpful hints to make the task of proposal development more effective and efficient. It is important that all proposals approved for submission to a foundation, corporation, government agency or other philanthropic organization be consistent with the College mission and the divisional/departmental goals and objectives. The submission of a proposal must also conform to established policies and procedures.

Information contained in this handbook and personal consultations with staff in the Sponsored Programs Office will acquaint you with the system and guide you through the process.

We hope you will find this handbook useful and refer to it often. Feel free to call on office staff to answer any questions you may have or to provide further assistance. We welcome your comments and look forward to working with you throughout the academic year.