Hi Pendleton,
All right then. I appreciate the opportunity to give you an assist in
beginning to learn the ins and outs of the grant application process.
Obtaining grant funding is no great mystery, but it does take a good
understanding of the grant process, skill in making application, and
research into sources of grants for a particular purpose. After that
it takes dedication, perseverance and, most of all, patience. Most
grants require you to submit your application at least a year in
advance of actual disbursement. Some take longer. And you absolutely
must follow every little rule to the letter. Ignore the rules; be
passed over for the money. Also bear in mind that you must have the
necessary qualifications. For example, funds are sparse for
undergraduate students (though not nonexistent), but become
increasingly available as one goes up the scale to graduate student,
post-graduate, professional astronomer, consortium, scientific
institute on up to major research universities.
Getting the first grant is usually the hardest. Once that's done,
however, you'll find other doors more likely to open. It's as if
grant funds administrators look at the applicant and think, "Hm, this
other foundation thought this candidate was worthy of funds; perhaps
he is. Maybe we should give him some money too." One very important
note of caution is to be sure to follow the rules as to simultaneous
applications. That is, don't submit applications to more than one
source for the exact same thing at the same time. If a source denies
your request, then you can apply to another source, but do it
sequentially, not simultaneously. That is not to say you can’t submit
multiple applications at the same time. You can, but only for
different purposes. For example, if you've applied for funds to pay
for a telescope, then make your next application for a computer with
which to catalogue your observations. It’s a small world, and the
scientific community is an even smaller segment of it. Grant-giving
entities do have contact with each other, and word gets around. Ignore
this caution to your peril.
Starting with the first part of your question, here are some links to
sites that give information that can help you begin to educate
yourself on "grant writing." That term really means "completing grant
applications," a field of endeavor which is actually a career for many
people. These sites offer good information, advice and are, best of
all, free.
http://www.epa.gov/seahome/grants/src/grant.htm
http://www.npguides.org/
http://www.cfda.gov/public/cat-writing.htm
http://granthelp.clarityconnect.com/school.htm
http://www.uvm.edu/~reshmpg/guides.htm
Using the search terms “grant writing” or "proposal writing" will
yield many more returns, though people apply for grants for every
conceivable purpose from business to film making to scientific
research. You’ll need to look through them all to find the ones with
advice most appliable to your situation.
Once you've got a good handle on the grant writing process, then you
can search out sources of funding for your purpose, which is
astronomical research. It would be nearly impossible to list every
source that gives grants for scientific purposes or even astronomical
research. Believe it or not, there are people who build whole careers
on searching out sources of grant funding, which range from tiny
private foundations to the federal government and even international
entities, and most of these people charge quite a bit for their
expertise. However, take heart, as with the advent of the internet,
it's become very possible for an applicant to do much of this
previously esoteric research on his or her own. To get you started,
here are some links to sites with information on available funding for
scientific research, including astronomy:
http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/index.shtml
http://libnet.ucsd.edu/se/list_bytype.html?subject=0&t=13
http://www.nsf.gov/home/menus/funding.htm
http://alpha.ddm.uci.edu/zotmail/archive/2003/20030224101.html
http://www.aas.org/grants/chretien.html
Search terms to use for turning up others could include:
grants astronomy OR astrophysics
research grants astronomy OR astrophysics
grants “astronomical research”
Federal grants astronomy OR astrophysics
private grants astronomy
state grants astronomy
You might also experiment with including terms such as undergraduate,
graduate, awards, fellowships, and/or prizes in order to uncover even
more sources of funding. In searching through the results, I’d
recommend that you start with general scientific sources, look for
those that indicate or state an interest in astronomical research, and
then gradually narrow them down to the ones that would best fit your
specific area of proposed research.
Also, for the purpose of this answer, I’ve assumed, perhaps wrongly,
that you reside in the United States. If not, you might add the name
of your country to the above general search terms to narrow down the
results. But bear in mind that the scientific community is a global
one, so just because a grant source is located in one particular
country, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be interested in funding
research in another.
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance. I hope you’ll find
this information useful for your needs. Please do ask for
clarification if there is something you don't understand so I can try
to clear it up for you and ensure the information provided is what you
were looking for. Best of luck in your quest.
Regards,
--Byrd |
