Information, please....

[ellid]

...from those of you who have applied for and gotten grants -

Suggestions? Sources? Advice? I'd like to apply for a grant to finance some of my research, especially CushionQuest 2008, but haven't the faintest idea of how to go about it....

Help?

Comments

[chazpure.livejournal.com]

That kind of grant is a little out of my field, unfortunately. *rg* You ought to talk to schemingreader - she writes grants for nonprofits, doesn't she?

Grants.gov indexes most of the federal government grant programs, but you kind of have to know what you're looking for to make much sense of it - for example, at work we usually apply for NIH grants through Grants.gov twice a year for research studies on driving impairment or education, but we *know* the NIH has solicitations out at those specific times - we're working from their solicitation rather than rummaging through the big clearing house they use to administer the application process.

Google turned up a lot of stuff, but it'd take a while to sort through it - here are a few likely looking ones:

http://www.neh.gov/GRANTS/guidelines/collaborative.html
http://www.getty.edu/grants/research/scholars/index.html
http://www.historians.org/prizes/SchmittGrantInfo.htm

You might also check with any museums you have contacts at and see if they have a list of grant programs available, also any organizations that might be interested in publishing your research. They all have sources of funding and some of them might be available to you.

Best of luck, honey! :-)

[baronessmartha.livejournal.com]

I have only written one, but I have a booklet you can borrow that I used for school. It is from the Granstmanship center. If you go to their website you can order one for $4. (yes, four dollars).

Also, I know where to look for grants.
dude. call me or stop by.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Will you be home on Wednesday? I have to go down to Hartford Seminary for a book signing and can swing through Springfield easily enough.

Also, some of us are going to the Cloisters on Saturday. Might I borrow your digital camera? :D

[baronessmartha.livejournal.com]

yes and yes.

Wednesday evening I will be home, not during the day.

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I have applied for two and been the recipient of one ( the other to be announced next week ). These were not research grants, they are gov. historic conservation grants, which of course is terribly different.

The most valuable things I have learned:

Own a typewriter. Many granting organizations don't have the best PHP sites, and require strange pages to be typed in.

Make friends with STAPLES. strange strange things are required.

See if you can borrow a completed grant from a successful applicant for a few hours, to get a feel for what they are looking for in specifics.

If you can, have access to someone who has earned a grant from the same place, who is willing to loan a few minutes here and there on style questions.

Don't let anyone else work on some of the sections, unless you rewrite absolutely everything in your own style. Consistency of written style matters.

If you need to make multiple copies for turnin, make one for your own records as well.

Again, for multiples, schedule three collating days and one "free" day before the due date.

Keep printed, perfect copies in a hanging file box, ready to be collated, with tab numbers on top, it will take a lot less time on the day of.

See if you can schedule a collating party with a couple of friends at the library ( no cats, huge tables ). Friends catch the boo-boos.

If you need lots of a certain type of notebook, see if you can find them used on Freecycle. I'm *not* spending 11$ per, when I need to turn in 12! ( we only had one ugly one, which we kept as our "records" copy".

If you are working on several grants at a time, take a day and rewrite the stuff you are sending to the second, third, and onward. If they talk to each other ( some do ) they will appreciate not being part of a slush.

Don't be surprised if you get a phone call asking for a defense of your intent. I learned this might happen, and had cue cards on the computer for in case. This allowed me to sound prepared and fresh, rather than shocked and panic-ed.

The hardest part: Once you have sent it off, let it go. Keep looking for other ways to fund and support the projects cleanly, in case you aren't fortunate enough to be selected.

Be prepared for the announcement to be even months late. They are chosen by committees, and some committees run late.

I hope their instructions are lucid, their committees are rational, and their choices favorable. More so, I hope your experience of their paperwork and bureaucracy is reasonable and relatively painless.