Planning to submit a
grant proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), or the American Heart Association (AHA)? These sponsors provide resources to help
ensure your grant application makes it successfully through the submission
process and into reviewer hands.
NSF:
There are ten reasons NSF may return a proposal
without review. See PAPPG Chapter
IV.B, Proposals Not Accepted or Returned without Review for the list
of reasons. In addition, NSF currently
utilizes automated
compliance checking of your grant application such as Section Headings, Allowed Font Types, File Size, Character limits, among others. The system requires any identified errors to
be resolved prior to proceeding with submission.
NIH:
NIH provides a list of Common
Application Errors, as well as information on common
mistakes in writing grant applications. Also, a reminder to utilize the How to
Apply – Application Guide when preparing your grant proposal.
AHA:
AHA may administratively withdraw an
application from consideration for reasons including eligibility issues or
non-compliance with formatting requirements [see Research
Funding Application Instructions (p.45)]. They also provide useful Grant
Writing Tips with a handy section of Fatal Flaws-A look at Common Errors. These and other resources are
located within their complete list of Applicant
Help Documents.