Skip to Main Content Skip to Footer Toggle Navigation Menu

Tips and Tools

The staff of the Foundation, Government and Corporate Relations office is available and happy to provide individual guidance when crafting your grant proposal. We can assist you in finding a funding source, developing your budget, reviewing your narrative, and acting as a liaison for other relevant offices and services on campus. In addition, we have compiled some tools to further assist you in developing a successful grant proposal.

Grant Lifecycle
A flow chart of activities for moving your project from idea to implementation to completion

Project Profile Tool
Developing your idea and finding funding

Proposal Checklists

FAQs for NSF Reports
Frequently asked questions on reporting requirements for your National Science Foundation grant

Significant Changes and Clarifications to NSF Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures
Here is a summary of changes and clarifications that have been made throughout the most recent version of the NSF-PAPPG guidance document.

Data Management Plan

A Data Management Plan (DMP) is a document outlining plans to manage data during and after a research project including how the data will be organized, maintained and shared. A DMP is required by some federal funding agencies, including NSF and NIH. There are a number of places you can go for guides and tools to help you create an effective and sound DMP.

  • Macalester library staff and your AIA are important resources and they have developed a good place to start.
  • Some NSF programs have program-specific guidelines on what the DMP should include. Check the NSF website for your program to see if this pertains to your proposal.
  • You can review the templates, tools, best practices and examples made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. These resources are relevant for projects outside of the social sciences, as well.
  • DMPTool will walk you through the steps to create a DMP.

Advice from Other Resources