What to Do Once You Have Identified Potential Sponsors

OSP strongly encourages the Principal Investigator or Project Director (PI/PD) to contact the program manager or technical point of contact for the funding opportunity to confirm that your idea, goals, and approachfit well with the solicitation.


To facilitate your conversation with the program manager, it can be very helpful to send a concept paper in advance of the call that briefly (~1-2 page) outlines the:

  • application’s purpose, or problem to be addressed (if applicable), and context or background;

  • significance;

  • question(s) addressed;

  • project plan or experimental design(s);

  • evaluation plan or analyses;

  • project team; and

  • approximate total costs.  

The concept paper allows the program manager to be informed quickly about the project, to respond efficiently to questions and to make suggestions  on  refining the project, if appropriate.  Developing the concept paper and sharing it with colleagues or OSP for feedback is also an effective approach to help crystallize projects or flush out ideas that may be relatively immature.

Next Steps in Proposal Developmentt

After having identified a sponsor and confirmed the funding opportunity (also called a solicitation), now proposal development activities can begin in earnest! 

Tips for time management

  1. Remember - writing a compelling grant application takes time so plan accordingly!

  2. Work backwards from the OSP internal submission deadline (three business days in advance of the sponsor’s deadline) and develop a timeline of key activities and deadlines for when they must be completed.

  3. Set aside time every day for working on your application

  4. Check out top ten tips for success

Approach