1. Consult With Your Department Chair and/or Dean About Your Idea
If you have an idea that needs to be funded, speak with your Department Chair or Dean. He or she may be able to fund your proposal internally or suggest potential collaborators within your department, school, or the University. Ultimately, your Department Chair and your Dean need to sign the Preliminary Grant Approval Form [doc], requesting external funding. Their participation early in the process will serve your project well. If you are a core faculty member who submitted a grant proposal in the previous academic year, you could be eligible to request a stipend from the Provost. Stipends are limited to one per semester per faculty member in each category (on the form) for no more than $2,000 per semester. The deadline for submitting a request for a stipend is June 1. First, fill out a Stipend Form [doc] then, contact the OGSP Grants Officer, Charles Eaton.
For more information, please reference the worksheets in the Document and Forms section of our website.
2. Contact a Grants Officer
Contact Grants Officer, Charles Eaton to schedule an appointment to further discuss funding for your project. Please review the Finance Office Grant Writing and Management Guidelines and Grant Seeking Criteria [pdf] prior to meeting. This information will guide the grant meeting discussion. The grants officer may be able to suggest additional opportunities for collaboration, potential funding, or background on the funders and their relationships with the University. The grants officer can help you with Lesley's guidelines for preparing and submitting a proposal.
3. Identify External Funding Resource Opportunities and Gain Approvals
Contact the Grants Officer to help you identify prospective government, corporate or foundation funding opportunities. The Grants Officer can provide you determine whether you should be seeking funds for your own individual project or on behalf of Lesley. For example, if you were seeking an NEH fellowship, you could apply on your own behalf and the grant award funds would be paid directly to you as an individual (usually taxable income). In this case, no formal administrative approval is needed, although applicants are urged to inform their Deans and program directors of their application.
If you and the Grants Officer determine that you are applying for a grant on behalf of the University, then you must secure your Dean's approval before submitting the proposal, especially if award funds are to be used to release the faculty member from full- or part-time teaching responsibilities. Lesley University is considered the project applicant and bears fiscal and legal responsibilities related to the timely and adequate completion of the project activities. As such, it is critical in the proposal development stage to secure preliminary approval for the project from a School Dean.
If you intend to submit a grant application on behalf of the University, please download Preliminary Grant Approval Form [doc] which must be signed by the appropriate Dean and the Provost before any University-sponsored grant application is sent.
4. Proposal Development and Submission
Four to eight weeks is usually necessary to draft your proposal and complete the grant application process. A timeline of responsibilities will be agreed upon which will help guide the process. For example, the budget should be developed as early as possible in the process using the Finance Office Grant Writing and Management Guidelines. The completed application must be submitted to the grants officer one week (five working days) before the deadline. The Grants Officer will help secure final approvals and obtain signatures on all necessary forms, and will electronically submit federal applications.
5. Grant Award and Project Completion
Usually faculty PI's receive notification from the funding agency and you will need to notify the Grants Officer if the project is funded or not funded. If funded, the applicant should forward a copy of the award letter from the agency or foundation to the Grants Officer, the School Dean, Provost, and the Grants Accountant in the Finance Office. As soon as possible you should schedule an appointment with your Budget Office and/or the Finance Officer who will review the post-award process outlined under the Finance Office Grant Writing and Management Guidelines.
The Finance Office will work with you to establish a budget account number and a schedule of progress reports that is consistent with the requirements of the funding agency and Lesley University. The Finance Office will also explain procedures for documenting expenses and matching commitments. Receipt of grant funds, particularly those from government sources, commits Lesley University to specific legal and financial requirements; therefore, it is critical for faculty involved with sponsored projects to document use of funds in a timely and accurate way. As the project proceeds, you will need to review budget printouts and complete progress reports according to the schedule developed with the Finance Office. Copies of progress reports should be forwarded to your School Dean and the Grants Officer.
Upon completion of the project, please contact the Finance Office or your school's Budget Office to assure that all financial records are complete. In addition, send the final report to the funding agency and forward a copy of the final report to the Grants Officer.