Find pre-award support for your proposal
For researchers and departmental administrators coordinating funding proposals before submission.
Northbridge University is a fictional multi-campus example. Use this guide to identify the next support conversation for opportunity fit, internal review, budget preparation, or submission handoff. It covers proposal development before submission, not post-award grant delivery.
Find the support you need
These summaries help you identify what to bring to the relevant support conversation; they are not request links.
- Bring the funding call or opportunity details.
- Summarize the proposed work, intended participants, and likely partners.
- Share the draft scope and the proposal's key commitments.
- Identify which departments, campuses, or collaborators need to contribute.
- List planned costs and the assumptions behind each estimate.
- Flag partner contributions, shared resources, and items needing local clarification.
- Bring the current proposal version and the call's submission instructions.
- Clarify the submission route and remaining responsibilities with the relevant support role.
Coordinate review and costing
A worked example from the fictional Northbridge setting.
Opportunity fit
A researcher at Northbridge's East Campus finds a call that may suit a joint project with a colleague at West Campus. They share the call details, a short project summary, and partner roles with the research support team so the opportunity can be discussed in context.
- Name the opportunity and its stated submission date.
- Summarize the proposed work and the people or units involved.
Review and budget
The departmental administrator gathers the draft scope and a working cost outline. For example, they label a shared equipment estimate as provisional and note which campus is expected to provide it. The research support team can help clarify what needs internal review and which role should resolve open assumptions before the next handoff.
- Separate confirmed figures from estimates that still need discussion.
- Record the owner of each open question and the next handoff.
Submission handoff
Before submission handoff, the researcher and administrator bring together the current proposal draft, working budget, call instructions, and a concise list of unresolved items. The receiving support role can see what is ready for discussion and what still needs an owner; this example does not imply approval or guarantee a submission outcome.
- Use the same current proposal version across contributors.
- State the next action and responsible role for each unresolved item.
Roles and help route
Responsibilities in the Northbridge example
Research support team: coordinates pre-award guidance, helps identify internal review needs, and clarifies the next handoff. Ask this role when an opportunity question crosses departments or campuses, or when the next internal step is unclear.
Departmental administrator: coordinates local inputs, brings proposal and budget information together, and makes open assumptions visible to the researcher and relevant support roles.
Researcher or proposal lead: supplies the project scope, opportunity details, and decisions needed from collaborators. Bring local costing questions to the departmental administrator and opportunity or handoff questions to research support.
The example describes responsibilities, not named staff assignments or a confirmed local process.