Finding Funding
The Foundation Center ( http://fdncenter.org/ ) has a search tool that allows you to search private foundations by geographic area or subject keyword.
GrantsNet ( www.grantsnet.org ) allows you to create a customized profile to search for funding opportunities in biomedical research and science education. You must register to use this free service.
Research Funding Service (http://healthlinks.washington.edu/rfs/sources.html ) has information on finding appropriate funding sources, as well as grant-writing tips, with an emphasis on NIH grants.
Community of Science ( http://www.cos.com/ ) has a searchable database of over 400,000 funding opportunities, options to promote your own research and communicate with other researchers on current activities and opportunities. You must register to use this free service.
UMResearch ( http://www.research.umich.edu/funding/funding.html ) sponsored by the University of Michigan, the site includes many links to relevant funding sources in the behavioral and social sciences.
Grant Writing Resources
1.) Where to start:
Professional Associations : Check the website or other materials from professional associations in your discipline. Some have compiled internet resources, tips relevant to funding sources for that discipline, and/or testimonials from colleagues who have successfully procured funding from the sources you'll be targeting. Many have internet links to funding agencies most relevant for its members. For example, the Social Psychology Network ( http://www.socialpsychology.org/grants.htm ) has numerous links to relevant funding information in both general and social psychology.
2.) Be sure to check out:
NSF ( http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf9891/nsf9891.htm ) offers a "Guide to Proposal Writing" with tips specific to NSF reviewer criteria. The site includes input from NSF Program Directors, panel reviewers and successful grantees, and information on writing workshops available from NSF staff.
NIH ( http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/grant_tips.htm ) offers grant-writing tip sheets and computerized tutorials to help biomedical investigators, especially new ones, plan, write, and apply for the basic NIH research project grant.
3.) Additional sites of interest:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting ( http://www.cpb.org/grants/grantwriting.html ) offers a basic guide for grantwriting beginners.
Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR) ( www.iaswresearch.org ) offers tips especially helpful for individuals preparing NIMH grant applications.
LeapFrog SchoolHouse ( http://www.leapfrogschoolhouse.com/funding/index.asp ) offers free grant support services for educators in search of funding.
Columbia University Health Sciences ( http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/research/writing.htm ) offers a useful array of information and relevant links for faculty members preparing grant applications.
Next Wave Science Magazine ( http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/01/06/1 ) an online publication from Science magazine, ran an entertaining, informative 6-piece series titled "How Not to Kill a Grant Application."
The Foundation Center ( http://fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html ) site includes a 2-part "Proposal Writing Short Course."
4.) One more avenue to explore:
Many for-profit services are also available to aid researchers in locating funding sources and preparing grant proposals. These run the gamut from subscription services for personally-tailored funding announcements, to grant-writing workshops run by experts, to software packages that guide users through all steps of the grant proposal process. Check out "grant writing tips" on your internet search engine to explore these opportunities.