By Dan Casion, July 2012
On July 2, the Department of Education announced that of the 654 Investing in Innovation (i3) Development pre-applications received, they have selected 124 to submit full applications. While this is welcome news to those 124 applicants, what about the 530 applicants that were denied? What steps can they take to be among the elite that are invited back to submit full applications for next year’s competition? The short answer is there is much that can be done between now and early next year. Specifically I recommend the following strategies:
1) Get your pre-application review and scoring. Obtaining this information will be invaluable in ascertaining exactly what part(s) of your pre application needs to be revised, retooled or even removed. This is one of the most direct actions you can take to make sure that you will be able to submit a more qualified pre-application next year.
2) Network with successful i3 applicants. Besides gathering reviewer commentary, there’s no other better source of information than speaking with folks who have “been there and done that.” You might want to explore the DOE’s i3 website to review the list of 124 qualified pre-applicants or previous year’s i3 awardees. Oftentimes, they will be able share their experiences (both good and bad), processes, and project details. This information can help you guide your project appropriately and avoid hard-learned lessons. Keep in mind that these applicants may be in the swing of full development of their application and may not be in the best position to have a meaningful conversation with you at this point in time, but would probably be willing to share their experiences with you after the application period ends.
3) Begin project development now! Writing the grant application in most instances is the easy part. The difficult part is constructing the actual project that will be articulated within the application. Assemble an “i3 task force” with relevant personnel and stakeholders to start developing the project. I suggest meeting monthly, or bi-weekly (ideally), to hammer out all of the details of your project. Be sure to take minutes of your meetings to keep a record of your progress and retain any ideas that surface. To ensure that your project will address the goals and priorities of the program, use the i3 pre-application and full application guidance documents (available at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html) to help you shape your project.
4) Start preparing your pre-application early. Another way to get a jump on the competition is to begin the preparation of your pre-application in advance of the next year’s solicitation. Now that you’ve constructed your project with i3 in mind, you can start to put pen to paper. Use the most current guidance available to direct the writing of your proposal. This will allow you to work your project into the basic context of the i3 pre application, circulate early, preliminary drafts to key personnel and stakeholders, and work out all of the wrinkles in your application well in advance of the deadline. When the next year’s solicitation is released, you’ll want to carefully read and review the new guidance document and instructions and amend your pre-application as necessary to reflect any changes in the grant program’s priorities, instructions, and directions. One of the biggest complaints that I hear from folks is: “If only we had more time” or “I wish I had started this process earlier!” You absolutely can. If you can extend your runway for proposal development, why not do it?
Hopefully you’ll be able incorporate one or more of these strategies into your process so that you find your organization as part of the “winning team” or, following the i3 Development pre-application process, part of the “chance to be a winning team.”