National Institutes of Health (NIH) Version

The January 2026 edition has been updated to comply with the recently updated FORMS-I general and program-specific instructions for NIH grant applications due on or after January 25, 2026. Some of the updates and information include: a new preface has been added; detailed instructions for preparing the Biographical Sketch Common Form and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement; added information about NIH’s new award structure that prohibits subawards for foreign components from being nested under a parent grant; guidance on how NIH is resuming operations after the government shutdown; added content about NIH’s plan to move away from strict paylines in making funding decisions; guidance on how to stay current with NIH Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs); and added note that NIH has instructed Institutes and Centers to discontinue the use of Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs). All Notice of Funding Opportunity numbers, URLs, and screenshots have also been updated.

National Science Foundation (NSF) - Research.gov Version

The May 2024 edition has been updated to comply with the revised version of the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1) effective for all proposals due or submitted on or after May 20, 2024. Some changes for this revised version are updates to: NSF-approved Biographical Sketch format; Synergistic Activities; NSF-approved Current and Pending (Other) format; Mentoring Plan; Index. All URLs, screenshots, and references to PAPPG sections have also been updated.

United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) Version

The October 2021 edition was extensively updated with additional content on strategic presentation of background literature and supporting preliminary data; creation of compelling arguments for project significance and novelty; and biographical sketches. Additional samples, sentence starters, and other practical tools/resources are now included throughout the workbook, along with complete examples of the Overview, Rationale and Significance, and Project Summary parts from a funded AFRI proposal. Other features include modifications for proposals that do not involve traditional hypothesis-testing work, and additional consideration of integrated proposals and those with stakeholder engagement. All URLs and screenshots have also been updated, and this edition is congruent with the new NIFA Grants Application Guide, released October 5, 2021.

Successful Proposals to Any Agency

(For proposals other than to the NIH, NSF, or USDA)

Grant applications to most agencies contain basically the same sections – only the specific names for the sections and the order in which they appear in the application are different. In addition, the principles and fundamentals of good proposal writing are the same for all agencies. Given these two facts, we have written a “generic” workbook that can be used to write a proposal to any granting agency. It walks the applicant through the preparation of each section and is meant to be complemented by the specific instructions of the agency that is being targeted. September 2016 edition.