Funding Announcement First Read

Read the whole announcement first. Then capture what matters, with page numbers, before you commit a single hour. Supports Habit 5.

The opportunity

Funder

Program / announcement number

Award amount

Final deadline

Who may apply (org type, geography, size)

Who may lead (PI / leadership requirements, required expertise or publications)

Anything that disqualifies us, as written?

These do not get scored. They get discarded. Find every one.

Required topics, aims, populations, or approaches

Required documents and attachments

Formatting rules (page limits, fonts, file types)

Copy the exact "rejected before review" sentence here

The single most useful section. Build your outline from it.

Scoring criteria and point values

Reviewer questions, copied into my outline

Budget caps

Match or cost sharing requirements

Subaward, contractor, or vendor limits (percentage caps)

Letter of intent due (required or gate?)

Applicant call / webinar

Registration lead times (portal, SAM.gov)

Internal deadlines (our office, partners')

Program officer / contact

Which of our programs does this fund? Is the type of work funded the type of work we do? Apply or decline, and why, in one sentence