Cast a Wider Net

GMP at Academic Jungle is leaving "no funding stone unturned." To keep competitive, GMP has been putting together a three-page white paper to formally pitch a particular project to an agency to which she has never before applied for funding. But before she even arrived at the white-paper writing stage, GMP e-mailed "all program managers in my general area," suggesting a handful of projects she might tackle, "with a paragraph-long writeup for each," she says. From there, one manager solicited a white paper on one of her proposed topics. Researchers must extend the reach of their grant-getting tactics if they wish to find funding right now, GMP says. "In order to keep going, you have to mold yourself to how the funding winds blow," she says.