This page offers many resources for those who want to advance their proposal writing skills. Feel free to reach out to Becca Edwards, Director of Access and Cultural Innovation, for questions or suggestions on this page.
Proposal Writing Clinic
CIRES is offering support for proposal writers through this new “Proposal Writing Clinic” program. If you are looking for feedback on finding a call, or crafting a successful proposal for a particular call, you can fill out this form. We will help match you with someone who has experience for 2 one-hour meetings. In these meetings, you can discuss your ideas and get feedback on your writing.
You can also fill out this form if you would like to be in our database as an experienced proposal writer!
Proposal Writing Workshops
CIRES hosted sessions in Summer 2025 to support the development of proposal writing skills. These workshops were intended to support researchers from various disciplines and backgrounds.
Please make sure to contact the CIRES Proposal team as soon as you start working on a new project!
- How to initiate a New Proposal (6 mins)
- The Proposal Submission Request (PSR) Form (7.5 min) - this video is currently being updated! New version available soon.
Summer 2025 Workshops
- “Best practices for clear and persuasive proposals” – Jim Mazzuoccolo, proposal writer, editor and research development strategist for the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) offered a two part series. In his first workshop, he covered characteristics of effective proposals, key questions that you proposal must answer and communicating effectively to your audience (reviewers). In the second workshop, he covered reviewer expectations, crafting your story using various paragraph structures and common problems in paragraph structures.
Workshop #1: Slides and Recording, and Recommended YouTube video
Workshop #2: Slides and Recording
- “Tailoring your research to fit a proposal call” – Anne Gold, CEEE Director, offered this workshop in which she talks through her process of building a proposal. She discussed how she develops a pitch, structures her proposals, constructs measurable goals and implements a logic model.
- “Budget planning for Post-award success” – Rebecca Stossmeister, CIRES Finance, and Ted DeMaria, CIRES Proposals, offered a workshop on putting together a strong budget for a proposal. You will find these resources very helpful!
Slides, Demo budget, and Budget justification
- “Proposal writing Q&A” – Eric Hintsa, CIRES GML research scientist at GML, offered his expertise as a former NSF Program Director. He fielded questions on what stands out in a successful proposal, adding students to proposals and budget questions.
Campus resources
Sign up for the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) Bulletin, which is emailed out every other Tuesday. It provides information on upcoming funding opportunities across all disciplines, as well as awards, fellowships, events and related news.
Information about the RIO Bulletin
Check out the RIO “Proposal Development” resources which include office hours, webinar series and programs.