Letter to my younger cousins on grantseeking that my friends may find helpful:
I recently took a trip to the Foundation Center in Washington DC to research grants for our new "China Study Center" at work. My office actually paid me a $200 a day salary to go learn how to apply for free money. That was cool.
I was tasked to look at "non-profit" funding, since my company has a non-profit 501(c)3 status. But, I also looked into individual grantseeking and scholarship info. I found that there is so much money out there for students like me and you, and we just need to have the patience and assertiveness to apply for it.
Below are some good links:
http://foundationcenter.org/
http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/faqs/html/finaid.html
http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/guides/student.html
There is limited info on their website, and they keep trying to sell subscriptions to their database for quite a bit of money, since that is how they make money. However, the good news is that you can use their entire 500,000 grant database in one of their office libraries for free. They have locations in NY, DC, and SF. I highly recommend a half day trip over there to look at their collection of books and electronic database. The places have a dozen computers, so there are plenty of electronic access. The computer search has subject fields that really help you narrow down grants that apply to you. Plus, they have books that list grants and also books that teach you how to write your grant proposal.
I took 2 free hour long seminars - basic proposal writing, proposal budgeting. I also recommend that you take these free seminars. There are no gimmicks, just helpful information and teachers who speak from experience. Day-long seminars cost $190, but you may be able to go for free on a scholarship.
Grantwriting skills are so impt for you now, and could be a big part of your future - esp if you get a PhD and need constant research funding. It is the backbone for non-profit finance, consulting in the public sector, and virtually all international development projects. You might as well learn it while you are young.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Letter to my younger cousins that my friends may find helpful:
Here are some tips for the younger cousins, a lot of which I learned this week from talking to professors who are my coworkers here...
(1) If and when you get your PhD, be sure to go straight into teaching as an asst professor for a few years before going into work outside of academia (private sector, govt, etc). It is easier to go from being a professor to working for a consulting firm (1 ex) and back to being a professor, than if you were never a professor at all. It has to do with publications, credibility, experience, etc. Uncle1's experience shows us that teaching at a university is a great way to retire. So not teaching right after grad school would limit yourself out of academia, who do that?
(2) Get grants. Apply for the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, etc. Receiving grants puts you on the "gravy train," as Mary and I joke, meaning that once you get one, others follow more easily. Getting a grant for research validates your work, tells others that what you do is impt enough for people to fund, and reflects on the quality of your research. Bad research is hard to get funded, and getting funded prompts people to throw more money at your later. Plus, independent grants are fun and give you so much freedom to do whatever.
(3) Positioning. One interesting lesson I learned in DC is that the job doesn't usually go to the most qualified (edu, experience), but to the best positioned. Positioning, to me, refers to qualifications plus where you are and who you know. It is the combination of education, experience, living in a "cluster" for what you do (politics = DC; business = NYC; bio = SF, SD) to benefit from the "positive externalities," and being connected to the right people.
Continuing on with positioning... I have a surfing analogy. I like surfing analogies bec I'm often out in the ocean during a beautiful sunset waiting for a wave and thinking about life. With positioning, education is like your board, experience is past surfing experience, but without good positioning you might as well be on the beach holding a board and looking at the waves. You need to be out there, properly positioned, to catch the wave. This means timing the wave break (hiring cycles), exact breaking distance from the shore (geographical location), the right amount of paddling (pursuing your goal), and keeping the nose of the board just 1" above water (being careful, paying attn to all other factors). I think this surfing analogy also works well with getting a gf/bf, work, applying for schools, etc.
I feel like a freak for writing a long email about random thoughts and surfing analogies, but I thought it might benefit you guys to just take a lot at what I consider valuable lessons. I really care about my extended family and want to help you succeed according to your own goals. I'm humbled when compared to our parents, who have so much more experience than me, so I really don't claim to know everything. I hope I didn't sound like a "self help" book.
