Creating Proposals — Research at the New School

The ORS Pre-Award team supports faculty and administrators in the preparation of grant and fellowship applications, management of sponsored awards, development of non-disciplinary components of proposals, and enhancement of proposal competitiveness. We facilitate the internal proposal review and submission process, ensure adherence to sponsor guidelines and University policies, and ensure compliance with sponsor terms and conditions as well as University policies.

Developing a Proposal

A detailed project budget and proposal narrative (and/or scope of work) are essential and required components of all sponsored project applications. Every external organization has different requirements in terms of a proposal’s content and format whether you are preparing a Letter of Intent/Inquiry (LOI), pre-proposal, scope of work and budget, or full proposal to submit to an external organization.

Upon request and with adequate lead time, Office of Research Support (ORS) staff can provide informal feedback on proposal application materials prior to final internal routing and sign-off.

Outreach and education services

+ Office Hours

Sign up to meet with us over Zoom at the Pre-award Spring 2021 Office Hours.

+ Consultations

Schedule a consultation to review a grant opportunity, discuss sponsor guidelines, or other Pre-award issues.

Budget Resources

In grantseeking, everyone at the university is required to follow federal regulations for developing a competitive, cogent, and compliant proposal budget. The budget can quickly illustrate for a program officer or panel reviewer the scope of work and what is really involved in the project, and helps answer the basic question: What is the requested funding specifically being used for?

Our template has pre-populated formulas to help you develop a budget that is feasible and realistic about project costs while being compliant with federal regulations. Grant budgets are a combination of key project personnel time (e.g., salary and fringe costs for the PI or co-PIs, RAs, post-docs on a project) calculated as a percentage of time over a specified grant period, other-than-personnel costs (e.g., estimated travel, event costs, equipment, consultants/vendor services, subrecipients, participant costs/stipends, tuition), and the university's facilities and administrative (indirect) costs.

Please access our Overview of Grant Budgeting Principles for a summary.

Recommended Resources for Developing a Proposal Budget

The following materials are found in the Policies, Procedures, and Forms section of the website:

Follow the Budget Preparation for Restricted Grants instructions in completing the Grant Budget Template.
Always download the current Grant Budget Template from the website to your computer; this ensures all the pre-populated formulas meet current regulatory, funding agency, and university requirements.
Refer to the Proposal Fast Facts sheet for institutional information requested by sponsors.
Review the Common Budget Cost Categories and Justification for information about the level of detail needed in a proposal budget; this information is also required in order to establish a restricted fund if the proposal is awarded.

Please work with your school budget officer/staff in your Dean's Office to develop your proposal budget before providing a draft to Research Support. The Budget Template addresses items such as fringe rates, indirect costs/facilities and administrative (F&A), and other project costs. Research Support staff can address questions about policies and can assist with planning issues in coordination with the Dean's Office, prior to proposal routing and submission.

Please note that a final budget should be provided to ORS at least one month before the submission deadline; this time is needed for ORS to work with the PI/PD to ensure that the final budget meets the requirements of the grant program and the Uniform Requirements of 2 CFR 200prior to internal review, which often must start at least 12 business days prior to the submission deadline.

OVERVIEW

To allow for adequate time for proposal development, the Office of Research Support (ORS) recommends identifying an appropriate grant opportunity approximately six months prior to the sponsor’s deadline. Timelines may vary depending on the complexity of the proposal and familiarity with the sponsor. ORS services are available at any time during the application process, in response to the scheduling needs of the Principal Investigator (PI).

Award notification can often take anywhere from 6 months to 1 year. Applicants should map out their work plan in accordance with sponsor guidelines on review timeline and notification date.

The following graphic illustrates the university's pre-award process:

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The ORS also provides researchers with a PI Customized Support Plan, which consists of a checklist with a timeline that can be downloaded here.

The role of ORS varies depending on the needs of the PI. If you are not sure where to start, contact one of the ORS Pre-Award Team members at researchsupport@newschool.edu for additional help.