Proposal Preparation

Search for Funding Opportunities

LIU has an account with InfoED SPIN – the world’s largest database of sponsored funding opportunities. Faculty and staff can create an account using their LIU email address on the SPIN website for access from anywhere. Searches can be customized to bring back precisely the results you want, SPIN offers active searching, automated opportunity matching, and daily opportunity notifications. For more information or questions about SPIN, please contact michael.marino@liu.edu.

Before You Begin

Download and review the Grant Submission Checklist.

Before submitting a Letter-of-Inquiry (LOI) or Proposal you should contact angela.stark@liu.edu with a cc to osp@liu.edu with the following information:

Your name, school, and department
Funder and due date
Project title and brief description
Link to or copy of Request for Proposal (RFP)

Once we have the above information we will get back to you (typically within 2 business days) to help you with your proposal.

Assistance provided by the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) typically includes:

Developing and formatting budgets
Coordinating proper University clearances and approvals
Alerting PI to special requirements and issues
Assisting in the coordination of any subcontract materials

For help with improving the competitiveness of the proposal, PI's should contact Rick.Nader@liu.edu or Alan.Gertler@liu.edu in Research Development at least 4-6 months prior to the submission deadline.

Grant Proposal Routing Form

Prior to any submission for external funding, the PI must initiate LIU's Grant Proposal Routing form in OSPPortal to garner the necessary LIU approvals of your proposal. Once the proposal has cleared the routing process, the application is authorized for submission. If you are a new investigator or this is your first grant application, please contact pre-award as soon as possible and submit your annual Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure form prior to submitting the grant proposal routing form through OSPPortal. Instructions are below on how to navigate OSPPortal. Should you have any questions or wish to schedule training with OSP, kindly contact Michael Marino, Executive Director of Sponsored Projects at Michael.Marino@liu.edu with a cc to OSP@liu.edu.

LIU OSPPortal grant routing form & COI instruction manual
OSPPortal quick guide grant routing form

Budget Preparation

All budgets must be approved by the OSP prior to submission to a funder. Please contact angela.stark@liu.edu with a cc to osp@liu.edu for assistance in budget development.

A few important things to keep in mind when developing your budget:

Typically, cost sharing is only allowed when mandated by the sponsor/RFP. If cost sharing is required, it must be approved by OSP and potentially others prior to submission of the application.

If release time from teaching is sought it must be approved by your Chair/Dean prior to proposal submission. The table below shows the required percentage of salary that needs to be budgeted for each Campus/school and faculty type (not including Library faculty):

Percentage of salary required for release time from one course:

	Brooklyn/Post (Tenure/Tenure Track)	Brooklyn (NTTA)	Post (NTTA)	Pharmacy or Veterinary Medicine
	16.66%	12.5%	n/a	15%

LIU’s negotiated Facilities and Administrative and Fringe Benefits cost rates should be used for budgeting purposes.
- LIU will honor a lower rate if it is mandated by the sponsor and applied to all grants provided by that funder. Approval for use of F&A rates lower than the negotiated rate is required by OSP prior to submission.

The documents below can assist you when thinking about budget categories and required institutional rates for overhead and fringe costs:

Budgeting Primer on externally submitted grant applications
Budget Template
Facilities and Administrative and Fringe Benefit Rate Agreements