As you cruise through search engines and read through newspaper articles you will find that research grants are very important to the development of future medical devices, manufacturing methods, life science progress, public policy updates, etc. Without research grants to pay for the research of advanced areas, we would be blindly adopting new ways without knowing the full outcome of such changes.
The primary website to visit for information on federal research grants is www.grants.gov. All federal organizations streamline their grant applications through this system. The system requires that all organizations register before submitting a federal research grant request. It is critically important to register with the system several weeks in advance of the grant’s deadline! Some of the information you must enter into grants.gov is identification information from other agencies. Your organization must be pre-registered with Dunn and Brad Street and with CCR (Central Contractor Registration). After you have received your identification number from Dunn and Brad Street and completed the CCR, you can complete the grants.gov registration and be on your way to applying for federal research grants. Be careful to allow for enough time to complete everything required and have the system verify the information. You will need to notify your designated authorized organization representative that a verification e-mail will be sent to them to confirm any request for additional authorized users. If they do not respond, the potential authorized user will not be able to access of utilize the system on the registered organizations behalf.
It may be necessary to contact the granting agency directly with questions concerning the federal research grant application. Make sure to download the instructions and grant research application packet to your computer for review several weeks or months in advance of the grant application deadline. Many organizations submitting a federal research grant request do not even make it through the threshold requirements because of required information that is not submitted along with the application.
Foundations are a large source of funding for research grants in the medical, life science, and government policy arena. Most research grants awarded by foundations are awarded to well-established organizations. Few new corporations receive research grants.
Whether you are applying for a research grant from a governmental source or private funding sources, it is important to create a competitive grant research application. More and more organizations are relying upon grant funding to sustain their research projects, thus creating a highly competitive process. If you follow the research grant guidelines carefully and sell your research project in a creative and compelling way, you are well on your way to receiving the funding you need to complete your project.