The Grant Writing and Budget Planning Workbook

OVER 80% OF FIRST-TIME GRANT APPLICATIONS ARE REJECTED-NOT BECAUSE THE SCIENCE IS WEAK, BUT BECAUSE THE PROPOSAL IS.

Your research deserves funding. This workbook makes sure your application earns it.

You already know the frustration. Months of writing, a rushed budget thrown together the final weekend, a Specific Aims page rewritten six times-and then a summary statement full of criticisms you could have caught yourself. Generic grant writing advice tells you to "be clear" and "tell a compelling story." But nobody hands you the actual fill-in templates that turn blank pages into evaluator-ready sections.

The Grant Writing & Budget Planning Workbook changes that. This is not a textbook. It is a hands-on, template-driven planning tool with 56 practical worksheets, budget calculators, and reviewer score sheets that walk you from funder selection to submission-one structured template at a time.

Built for graduate students drafting their first F31 or dissertation grant, postdoctoral researchers preparing K-award and fellowship applications, early-career faculty writing R01 or R21 proposals, and experienced investigators adapting NIH proposals for NSF, Wellcome Trust, WHO, or Horizon Europe funding.

Inside this workbook, you will:

Draft a Specific Aims page that hooks reviewers from sentence one-using the proven Hook Builder and Gap-Objective-Hypothesis framework

Build an airtight research budget at $50K, $250K, or $1M funding levels with line-item calculators that comply with 2 CFR 200 federal cost principles

Write budget justification narratives using starter language templates so every dollar is defended before a program officer questions it

Assemble a complete NIH SF424 package (R01, R21, R03) or NSF proposal without missing a single required document-using mechanism-specific checklists

Prepare fellowship and K-award applications (F31, F32, K23, K99/R00) with dedicated Career Goals, Training Plan, and Mentoring Plan templates

Adapt any US proposal for international funders-Wellcome Trust, WHO/TDR, and Horizon Europe-using the Funder Comparison Matrix and international budget worksheets

Score your own application before reviewers do with the NIH Mock Review Score Sheet and NSF Merit Review Self-Assessment-then convert summary statement criticism into a funded resubmission