Grants

Hired Pen, inc. has several years' experience writing and editing grant proposals, mainly federal RFPs, but also grants from private foundations. We are well versed in the often highly particular requirements of federal grants, including National Science Foundation awards. We have assisted on several large (multi-million dollar) grants as well as smaller private grants. Hired Pen has also been responsible for assembling quarterly reports to funders on the progress of funded grants. Below is a selection of the grant proposals in which Hired Pen has participated.

• National Science Foundation Grant
  Northwestern University, Institute for Policy Research
  When Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research responded to a Request for Proposal from the National Institutes of Health for a large-scale training grant, they turned to Hired Pen, inc., to manage the process and edit the grant proposal. The project included coordinating the input from more than 20 scholars across several departments at Northwestern University. The project also included managing tight deadlines, editing individual sections, editing and assembling document, ensuring stipulations of federal NIH document grant were followed, and proofing and formatting the final proposal.
  
  
• Illinois Department of Employment Security
  The state agency responsible for the Unemployment Insurance system and the state's workforce development frequently responds to requests for proposals from the federa government. Hired Pen, inc., has headed up the grant-writing team, helping to conceptualize the proposal, coordinating the contributions of various departments, and keeping everyone on task and on time, always under impossible deadlines and high stakes.
  
  "Barbara Ray was wonderful at taking our rambling conversations and making them a tight grant proposal."
       -- Don Davies, Deputy Director, Operations, Illinois Department of Employment Security
  
  
• Joint Center for Poverty Research
  Hired Pen, inc., helped write and edit the large, 5-year, $5 million Dept of Health and Human Services grant for renewed funding of the University of Chicago/Northwestern University's Joint Center for Poverty Research. Hired Pen also was responsible, with a team of two others, for writing the quarterly reports to DHHS during the first five years of funding.
  
  
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  Also for the Joint Center for Poverty Research, Hired Pen, inc., was part of the team to develop grants for various communications efforts of the Center, including 5-year funding commitments from the MacArthur Foundation for monthly noon research briefings and other outreach to policymakers. Hired Pen also prepared the quarterly reports to the Foundation on the status and success of the funded efforts.
  
  
• Mentored Career Development Award (K01) award, Department of Health and Human Services
  Hired Pen, inc., has helped emerging scholars further their research careers with support from K01 awards. In one particular project, Hired Pen helped structure the grant proposal, as modeled on past successful grants, and helped compile the necessary content, and ensure that all requirements were met. Hired Pen also helped write and edit the proposal.
  
  
• Chapin Hall Center for Children
  Hired Pen, inc., has assisted Chapin Hall Center for Children, a research center at the University of Chicago, write and assemble several federal research grants. The team process typically involved several strategy sessions, identifying the myriad requirements of the RFP, assembling the literature review, and writing or editing descriptive sections of the research plan, often under extremely tight deadlines.