Grant Proposal Process

 

Narrative Development

The competition for funded projects is fierce! Every funding agency has their own set of guidelines intended to "even the playing field" among applicants. To ensure your grant doesn't get thrown out of the game on "technicalities" contact OSP early, we will help you with the rules of the game.

Budget Development

The budget must reflect the narrative, it must also meet federal grant accounting standards, the funder's guidelines, and be compliant with ISU guidelines. OSP is here to help. Call our office early in your project planning.

 Routing Process

Prior to proposal submission or contract acceptance the document must be "routed". The routing process serves to advise and inform academic administrators such as a department chair and college dean of possible future project activities of a faculty or staff member; it also ensures that all Indiana State University budgetary and compliance requirements have been met.

ISU uses Cayuse424 software to set-up and circulate an electronic routing chain for ALL proposals. Regardless of how the application is to be submitted (mailed, on-line or Cayuse424), OSP will set-up a routing chain in the Cayuse424 system and get the chain started. It can take several days for a proposal to navigate through a routing chain. Please contact OSP early to get this process started.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

In today’s age of technology the majority of grant applications are submitted via an online application process that is unique to the funding agency, a pdf file attachment to an email, or in the case of federal agencies via the grants.gov system. On the rare occasions that the application must be mailed-in, OSP will handle the copying and/or binding requirements needed, as well as preparing and mailing the application package per guideline instructions.

ISU uses Cayuse424 software for the submission of most federal grant applications that can be submitted via the grants.gov system. Please contact Liz Metzger at x-3228 or Liz.Metzger@indstate.edu to get the application set-up in the Cayuse system.

Institutional Data for Grants and Contracts

Who is the Authorizing Official? What is ISU's DUNS number? These and many more are the standard "red tape" kind of questions that are on all applications. The attached chart will answer most of the technical questions.

 

List of Common Acronyms

The federal government is the champ when it comes to "alphabet soup". If you come across a form or name that you cannot make sense of checkout this list of acronyms.