Northern Grants Office Services
Biosketch/CV Review and Formatting
NGO contacts work with faculty to ensure that all the elements of a biographical sketch (or CV) comply with the funding agency’s specifications, and can format these documents for group consistency.
Budget and Budget Justification Development
The development of budgets and their narrative justifications that meet the guidelines of the NNMC Office of the Provost and respective funding agencies can be difficult to generate. The NGO network offers extensive expertise in this area of proposal development.
Editing and Proofreading of Narrative Sections
NGO has highly qualified faculty and staff who read and edit proposals from all disciplines. They can compare the proposal and solicitation for completeness and accuracy; proofread for spelling and punctuation errors, typos or incorrect use of English; and provide edits to clarify meaning, ensure coherence and flow, and improve the overall quality of narrative sections.
Finding Appropriate Funding (including Early Career and Seed Funding)
Finding funding opportunities that match faculty research interests and creative works can often be aided through funding database tools, such as Grant Select, and with the experience and other resources available to the NGO network. Grant Select provides access to a global database of funding opportunities from public, private, domestic, federal, and international sources. NGO can assist faculty with setting up their own Grant Select accounts and profiles for targeted searches, both through in-person and online tutorials.
Letters of Support and other NNMC Documentation
NGO contacts can help draft and edit required letters of support and institutional commitment, and assist in acquiring signatures from NNMC administrative leaders. In addition, they can provide copies of NNMC’s Federally negotiated cost rate agreement, Title III/Title V designation letters from the Department of Education, and other documentation that may be required for a particular submission.
Navigating the NNMC Proposal Submission Process
NGO contacts can help guide faculty through the NNMC institutional proposal routing and approval process. They can also assist in completing the sponsoring agency’s on-line submission portals (e.g., Fastlane, grants.gov, and GrantsOnline).
Proposal Planning and Development
This is the stage of the process where faculty have identified a specific upcoming funding opportunity and want to plan the development of their proposal. Creating customized timelines to meet the deadlines of funding agencies and the Office of the Provost, as well as coordinating efforts with Co-PIs, are elements of services offered by NGO.
Research Collaboration and Partnership Building
Faculty are often unfamiliar with the research interests of faculty in other disciplines at NNMC. NSF, among other funding agencies, is requiring more interdisciplinary collaboration with education and social science researchers in some of its programs, and many require strong evaluation and assessment of program success, as well as data management plans. NGO can provide introductions to faculty who specialize in these areas and bring them together to discuss collaboration opportunities and offer guidance on what the funding agency requires of each.
Solicitation and Guideline Interpretation and Analysis
Reading through scores of pages of instructions and program announcement information can be complicated and time consuming. NGO contacts have considerable experience in helping faculty interpret sponsors’ funding policies, priorities, eligibility criteria, and other elements necessary to prepare a complete and comprehensive proposal.
Workshops and Seminars
NGO works with faculty, staff, and other experts in hosting workshops and seminars that focus on specific elements that strengthen opportunities for securing external funding, including NIH grant writing seminars, NSF CAREER proposal workshops, and informational workshops about campus resources available to faculty in preparing a funding proposal.
