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Here is another question submitted through the
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(some previous questions answered on the blog can be found via the search box to your upper right).
Q: We applied for a grant last year and got it. This year’s RFP is totally different. Can I use the same proposal as last year and just update a few details?
No. To briefly show why this is discouraged, consider both the funding agency and the new RFP itself.
Most of the time, whoever in the funding agency updated the RFP saw the previous one. The funding agency makes changes to RFP’s for several reasons, but one reason that shouldn’t be discounted is to discourage people from just updating a few dates and numbers on an old proposal. In fact, the agency may have also made changes to catch those organizations too lazy to update their old proposal.
Know that something bigger than just a sentence here or there can drastically affect your proposal. Consider if the change is big, like the modification of an absolute priority, adding a new set of requirements, or a shifting in the purpose of the funding. This would change the angle of your submission entirely. Just doing a copy-and-paste version of last year’s submission would be a serious hindrance to your being taken seriously by the funder.
Here’s the fix: always make your proposal look like it was written fresh for a grant submission, even if you are using data or program descriptions from previous grant submissions. Make yourself go through the thought process and write to the new RFP. You can rely somewhat on the content of the old grant, but you must make sure all the information in your current submission is relevant to this RFP, not an old one.
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