Supporting Alaska’s Communities

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) supports Alaska Pacific University’s externally funded research, training, and public service initiatives. Working with faculty, staff, students, and community partners, OSP helps secure and manage funding from government agencies, foundations, and private donors that advances APU’s mission and strengthens communities across Alaska.

From identifying funding opportunities and developing competitive proposals to award management and sponsor compliance, OSP provides guidance throughout the entire grant lifecycle. Whether you’re applying for your first grant or managing an existing award, OSP is here to help you navigate the process and ensure projects are positioned for success. Keep reading for insight and guidance on the grant application process.

If you have any questions, please reach out to sponsoredprograms@alaskapacific.edu. You can also review our Policies & Procedures.

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Applying for Grants & Other External Funding

Review the key steps, timelines, and requirements for applying for grant funding and other external funding opportunities.

Whether you are faculty or staff, all APU grant proposals must be processed by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). OSP manages the internal notice, review and approval, and submission proposal process. This proposal process will establish and ensure eligibility, submission requirements, institutional capacity, and funder compliance.

Step 1: During the grants proposal process, the lead project director, or Principal Investigator (PI), is required to submit the Notice of Intent to Apply for External Funding (NOIA).

Information collected from this form will be reviewed for completeness by OSP then forwarded to the President’s Council. The President’s Council will have three days to review and submit any comments or questions. This step is meant to be informative; if no serious objections are raised, the President’s Council approves the further development of a proposal.

Step 2: OSP will meet with and work with PIs to complete a Grant Proposal Routing Form which will ask for further project details and include the attachment of a draft project narrative/statement of work and proposed budget and budget justification. Sponsored Programs will then forward this form with attachments to the Provost, Grants Accountant, Institute Director, and others deemed appropriate for proposal approval.

Step 3: The PI will be submit all final proposal documents for final review and approval by the OSP who will then submit them as the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR).

Timeline:

OSP cannot guarantee availability or capacity to complete an adequate review for any NOIAs or proposals that are submitted too close to the submission deadline.

For rigorous proposals such as those to federal agencies or those that include large budgets, subawards, multiple partners, etc., the earlier PIs can submit the NOIA and start this process, the better. PIs should be starting this process 6-7 weeks in advance of the deadline. For simpler submissions, PIs must allow a minimum of 4-5 weeks for OSP to adequately complete the review and approval process.

PIs should never consider the sponsor’s deadline as their own. Instead, OSP will provide an internal deadline that all final proposal documents must be submitted to OSP; no less than one week (five business days) in advance of the sponsor deadline. This ensures OSP staffing availability and allows for any IT issues, last-minute error notifications, and/or submission issues which do and will happen. PIs should plan to be available for this last week prior to the submission deadline should the OSP require any assistance.

Notice of Intent to Apply

To begin the grant proposal process, you must complete the Notice of Intent to Apply for External Funding (NOIA) form to notify APU’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and the President’s Council of your intent.

The NOIA form should be used for grants, subaward commitments, sponsored contracts, letters of intent, letters of interest, pre-proposals, and full proposals. If you are uncertain if submitting a NOIA is appropriate, please contact sponsoredprograms@alaskapacific.edu.

You are encouraged to submit the NOIA as early as possible even if you are uncertain if you will submit a proposal. Completing the NOIA does not commit you to applying for a grant. It simply starts the process. Should you decide not to continue with your proposal, please let the OSP know by sending an email to sponsoredprograms@alaskapacific.edu

The NOIA should be completed by the intended Principal Investigator (PI). You will not be able to save the form and return to it later. It is best to click on the form, read through the questions to see what information you need to collect, then enter it all at once when you are ready.

Once a NOIA has been submitted, the PI and OSP will meet at their earliest availability to complete the Grant Proposal Routing Form together. This meeting can occur prior to approval by the President’s Council if needed.

Project Requirements

As part of this meeting, OSP will work to better understand all that is involved in the PI’s proposed project. This information will be used to identify the proposed project requirements including but not limited to:

Eligibility
PIs and Co-PIs
Senior/Key Personnel
External partners
Subawards and contracts
Facilities and equipment
Information Technology
Data Management
Travel
Fieldwork
Export Control
Financial Conflict of Interest Training
Mentoring Plan
IRB Research Review
Responsible Code of Research Training

Project Planning

At this meeting, OSP will also help the PI understand the project management aspect of facilitating the grant proposal process and help them develop a plan and timeline. By establishing all the requirements early in the process, PIs can send necessary requests, set up regular team check-in meetings, and solicit help from their proposed team members and peers. Completing this step prior to focusing on the narrative and budget will prevent any last-minute delays.

OSP will also assist the PI in identifying additional proposal requirements as provided by the sponsor including but not limited to:

Letters of Collaboration and Support
Biosketches
Current & Pending Statements
Synergistic Activities
Portal Logins and Accounts

Final Submission Method and Deadline

Finally, the OSP will determine what method must be used to submit the final proposal package and how the required information and documents are to be uploaded. The OSP and the PI will confirm the sponsor submission deadline and the OSP will work with the PI to establish an internal final proposal submission date (no less than five business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline).

As the PI, it is your responsibility to ensure your proposal’s thoroughness, accuracy, and competitiveness. It is also your responsibility to learn from the sponsor what the requirements are for the narrative in terms of formatting, page count, etc. It is highly recommended that you ask peers as well as your project team to perform peer reviews early and often in the drafting process. OSP does not have the capacity or the expertise to adequately review all proposals.

Every budget must have a corresponding budget justification. It is highly advised that PIs work on both the budget and the budget justification simultaneously as writing out the justification often leads to fine-tuning the budget numbers. This process takes time and should not be left for the last minute. Keep in mind that program officers have stacks of proposals to review. It is critical that the budget and budget justification match and that both are precise, succinct, and easy to read.

As soon as the PI has a draft project narrative, budget, and budget justification, OSP will forward these to the appropriate APU reviewers for institutional approval. While the draft proposal is being reviewed, the PI is encouraged to collect all remaining required documents and finalize their narrative and budget. Once approved by the institutional reviewers, the PI can submit all final documents to OSP for final review and approval prior to submission.

APU is governed by these Policies & Procedures.