• Step 1: Formulate a Proposal
• Step 2: Involve Your Supervisors
• Step 3: Prepare a Proposal Summary
• Step 4: Identify a Sponsor
• Step 5: Write the Proposal
• Step 6: Submit the Proposal
• Step 7: Grant Award Management
• Forms and Organizational Profile

A successful proposal will generally contain the following key ingredients:

• It is a discrete task or project which is important at a local, regional, national, or international level.
• It makes a clear case why the submitting institution, project director, and relevant staff are qualified to accomplish the defined task.
• Goals and objectives are clearly defined.
• It is cost effective, providing a clear and defensible budget.
• The proposal matches the specific criteria and goals of a particular funding agency or interests of the donor.

When you have come up with an idea for an attractive proposal or an important funding opportunity that seems to further the goals and objectives of your unit and the Library, obtain the support and approval of your supervisor/AUL. They can help you analyze options and requirements and help ensure that the correct procedures are followed and that necessary approvals are obtained. If their approval is forthcoming, send a brief message to Edward Weissman and Marisue Taube informing them of your intention to work on a proposal. This information will initiate an entry into the Library's grant tracking database.

After a proposal for external funding has been formulated with the help/approval of your supervisor, draft a proposal summary taking the following factors into consideration:

• The Larger Need: What is the problem or issue the funding of your proposal will address? Why is it important? Who will benefit? Why now?
• Project Overview: How does your proposal address the problem you identified? What will you do? When and how will you do it? What are the expected results? How will success be evaluated?
• Strengths You Bring: Why is your department, the Library and/or the University the place to accomplish this? What resources, experience, education and training make you qualified to succeed? Who else will be involved? What qualifications and experience do they bring?
• Cost, Time and Personnel: What is the estimated cost of this project? What is the estimated time involved for completion? To what extent must the Library share the costs of the project?
• Likely Impact and Necessary Collaboration: How much of your time will be required? How about other staff in your department? Will new staff, space, or equipmwent be needed? Will other departments be affected?

There are a variety of sources you can use to identify potential sponsors. See Identifying Potential Sponsors for further information.

The Library External Relations Office (LER) can assist you in this process. The office will be particularly helpful if you are preparing to make an unsolicited approach to a sponsor. LER in consultation with the University's Office of Foundation Relations and Office of Corporate Relations will try to identify appropriate (e.g., Cornell-related) sponsor contacts and connections, and provide you with information about the sponsor and its current policies and politics. LER can offer "how-to's" to increase your chances of success. Prior approval is required before contacting a sponsor with which the University has developed a continuing relationship. Contact Marisue Taube (5-9568) for advice regarding sponsors. If you need assistance getting information from or about governmental or quasi-governmental agencies, contact Edward Weissman.

When you have identified a sponsor and you are preparing to draft your proposal, fill out and submit to either Edward Weissman or Marisue Taube the Cornell University Library External Funding/Preliminary Proposal Notification Form. This will insure that the Library administration is aware that a proposal is being submitted, the deadline for submission, the sponsor being solicited and the approximate cost and length of the project. This information will be entered into the Library's grant tracking database.

When writing the proposal, follow the sponsor's guidelines carefully and precisely. Failure to do so is one of the most common reasons proposals are rejected. The guidelines will provide the basic elements necessary to fit the project to the needs and goals of the specific sponsor.

Sometimes a literature and grant support search can be helpful in seeing if others have conducted similar projects.

Enlist experienced and knowledgeable staff to review the proposal. LER can provide advice and guidance, as can other staff members with grant funding experience. The narratives and strategies of past proposals are on file in 201 Olin Library and can be consulted.

For proposals to governmental sponsors and other proposals submitted through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), discussions with the OSP should begin early in the process. This is particularly important in preparing the budget. OSP must sign off on the facilities and administrative (i.e., indirect) cost rate, and insure that cost sharing and matching funds information is in order. The Library's Grants Coordinator at OSP is Linda Brainard. Phone# 5-7123.

For other proposals direct inquiries to Marisue Taube. When appropriate, LER will serve as a liaison to Cornell Development.

The Library's Director of Finance and Administration, Lee Cartmill and Linda Westlake, the Director of Accounting Services, also provide advice and assistance with regard to budget preparation and review.

If the proposal will impact units or departments other than your own, contact and get the approval of the heads of the affected units. Their signatures will be needed on the Form 10 Addendum (for proposals submitted through OSP) or the External Funding Proposal Impact & Approval Form (for all other proposals) that you will have to submit along with your proposal.

Elements necessary to successful proposals include:

• Doing the appropriate homework
• Matching guidelines precisely
• Providing a clear statement of the problem or purpose of the proposal
• Advancing a critical area of library preservation, education, access, service or technology
• Justifying the project's importance
• Placing the project in the context of long-term goals and overall benefit to scholarship
• Provide supporting data (e.g. the importance of a collection, the special qualifications of staff, etc)
• Providing easy-to-understand evidence of technical feasibility
• Using succinct and cogent language
• Using layman's language, especially when approaching private foundations or individuals
• Setting out a specific and scheduled Plan of Work
• Detailing and justifying the budget
• Developing a personal contact with officers of the funding agency to discuss the proposal

Common proposal criticisms include:

• Not within the scope of the funder's interest
• Does not match/follow funding guidelines
• Poor justification of project importance and failure to demonstrate need Ineffective strategy.
• Lack of expertise and track record
• Lack of sufficient details for evaluation
• Poorly written or presented, spelling or budgetary mistakes
• Too broad and overly ambitious
• Resorting to unverified superlatives
• Too much jargon and library-ese

At least two weeks prior to the submission deadline, submit a copy of the proposal and budget with the appropriate signed and completed approval forms to:

For proposals being submitted through OSP: Ed Weissman, with Form 10 and the Form 10 Addendum

For all other proposals: Marisue Taube, with the External Funding Proposal Impact & Approval Form

They will make sure that the budget is reviewed by the Director of Finance and Administration/Library Accounting and that the other necessary signatures, most importantly the University Librarian's, are secured. If any revisions need to be made in the proposal, the proposal will be returned to you.

Following the final review, make the number of copies required for submission to the sponsor, plus two copies for the Library's files and, if the proposal is being submitted through OSP, one copy for OSP files. At least one week before the submission deadline, bring copies of the proposal for the sponsor and for OSP to Linda Brainard in OSP along with the completed Form 10. The Form 10 Addendum remains in the Library's files and is not submitted to OSP. Linda Brainard will prepare a letter of transmittal and send the proposal to the sponsor.

The time between proposal submission and award depends on the funding agency. Sometimes the funding agency will have questions about the proposal, and may offer an award below that requested. It is up the investigator to discuss these queries and to negotiate an award amount appropriate to an acceptable form of the project. The award decision may be directed to the investigator directly by the sponsor, with formal notification through the Development Office or OSP depending on the type of submission. In most cases, these are the official Cornell University offices which manage funding awards as they have the legal and financial authority to accept external funding awards. These offices provide the legal and financial authority for post award management. In the event a proposal is not funded, please notify Edward Weissman or Marisue Taube of this circumstance so that the Library's grant tracking database can be updated. Good luck!

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• Overview
• Getting Started
• Impact
• Identifying Potential Sponsors
• Forms and Organizational Profile