General Grant Proposal Guidelines
for County Extension Employees

Effective June 1, 2003

The following guidelines are general guidelines. Each situation needs to be evaluated on what is proposed and also funding agency guidelines.

1. Steps involved in the NDSU grant proposal approval process:
2. Contact your District Director to let them know you are writing a proposal.
3. Contact Ona Vig (231-8528, ona.vig@ndsu.edu) early in the proposal development process.
4. The Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) writes the grant proposal.
   The PI/PD completes an NDSU Proposal Transmittal Form (PTF) available at
   http://www.ndsu.edu/research/forms/ and sends it to their supervisor for signature along with the proposal. The proposal does not need to be in final form, with the exception of the budget and budget narrative. Also, any forms or pages that require signatures from NDSU will need to be included and a copy of the grant guidelines or a reference to the Web site if they are on the Web. The supervisor will then send the PTF and proposal to Ona Vig for approval by the Director.
5. If your project involves recombinant DNA, vertebrate animals or human subjects, please see the NDSU Sponsored Programs Web site at http://www.ndsu.edu/research/compliance/. You don't always need approval at the proposal stage but you should have at least contacted the appropriate compliance director to see what you will need to do.
6. The PTF and proposal will be forwarded to the Sponsored Programs Administration Office for final approval by Val Kettner, Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs Administration.
7. The proposal and a copy of the fully signed PTF will be returned to the PI/PD.
8. The complete grant proposal is submitted to the funding agency.

Steps 4-7 will probably take a minimum of 8-10 days so it is important to allow enough time for the process.

Proposals submitted through NDSU will normally not use matching funds from a county office because of the difficulty in obtaining the appropriate approval from the county before a grant application is submitted and the documentation of matching funds. If matching funds from a county are needed, approval from an appropriate county official (auditor, commissioner, etc.) will need to accompany the grant proposal when it is submitted for approval. Follow the same procedure that is used for the FNP project. This is covered under Section 800 and 801 in the NDSU Policy Manual.

Some Dos and Don'ts:

• Follow the instructions exactly, read the RFP thoroughly. Don't hesitate to contact the funding agency to see if your proposed idea fits the scope of their organization or a particular RFP, you don't want to waste your time writing a proposal and their time reviewing a proposal that doesn't fit the mission of the funding agency.
• Contact the funding agency to get examples of funded proposals if you are unsure about how to present certain parts or all of the proposal. Please keep in mind they may or may not be available to you.
• If matching funds are required, contact the person who is authorized to confirm the availability of matching funds.
• Has an appropriate official approved your application?
• See Sections 800-823 of NDSU Policies and Procedures Manual at http://www.ndsu.edu/policy/ for additional information.

Go to NDSU Agriculture Policy Statements