Corporate & Foundation Relations

Tips for maximizing your application

What your research statement needs to accomplish

  • A lot in a little space; get help with compressing
  • Page/character limits aren’t about being short or giving reviewers less to read;  limits are about your capacity to articulate complex ideas and methods at a powerfully lucid conceptual level
  • Who you are as a scientist/scholar, how you think
  • Your energy, passion for the work, questions
  • A vision
  • Accessible to educated lay readers as well as experts (but never “dumb down”!)

What other application components need to accomplish

  • Different roles, no redundancy
  • Shortened CV
  • Publications
  • Budget tells story
  • Letters: the perspective only that writer can give
  • View as a whole package, not just pieces; consider how each component contributes fully to a larger whole

Choosing letter writers

  • Your impact on their lab/research
  • Can they characterize your scholarly qualities and strengths?
  • Do they have sufficient information about the funder to aim their letter?