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The Office of Research Development works closely with students, faculty, and staff from across Montana State University to support and enhance the proposal development process. Whether you are pursuing a large center grant or a graduate research fellowship, our team offers a comprehensive suite of no-cost services from which you can choose:

  • Locating funding opportunities
  • Consulting on funding programs and project fit (strategic intelligence)
  • Understanding funding solicitations
  • Identifying proposal collaborators
  • Facilitating ideation and proposal planning meetings
  • Making connections to units, resources, and facilities
  • Managing complex, multi-investigator proposal projects
  • Procuring proposal exemplars
  • Developing white papers/concept papers
  • Providing templates and boilerplate language
  • Coaching on general grant/proposal/fellowship writing
  • Conducting non-technical proposal reviews 
  • Funding external expert proposal reviews
  • Coordinating institutional support letters and cost share
  • Enhancing societal relevance and impact of research
  • Interpreting proposal reviews and developing a resubmission strategy
  • Assisting with “Just-In-Time” requests
  • Preparing for funder site visits

Ideal Proposal Development Timeline

Image of timeline showing: At 12 - 8 Months: Find funding opportunity, confirm project leadership and collaborators, Request ORD proposal development support, & Assess proposal fit. At 6 - 4 Months: Create Proposal checklist, Outline proposal narrative, determine project/program goals, & connect with Program officer. At 4 - 2 Months: Request documents from collaborator, request boilerplate/ templates from ORD, & develop proposal budget. At 1 Month: Receive all subrecipient documents, ORD non-technical review of proposal narrative or other text. At 3 Weeks: Budget finalized Submit ePCF to OSP, any institutional letters complete & all key personnel documents received. At 2 Weeks: Complete proposal package, & proposal package reviewed for completeness and all requirements. At 1 Week: OSP submits proposal to sponsor.