How to Ask for a Sample
Happy new academic year to those of you starting a new semester or session!
How do you ask for a sample? When I interviewed scholars for my grant writing book, I was struck by the differences in people’s experiences. Some people learned grant writing by opening their advisor’s filing cabinet of funded grants. They had a library of sample grants at their fingertips. Samples in their area, from people in their network.
Meanwhile, many of the rest of us stumble forward. Unsure if we are on a path, let alone a path towards funding.
This is a big disparity. Funded samples matter. They show you how people frame a vision for ideas, what the culture of the funder is like, how to write to review criteria, and more.
Sometimes you can level the playing field by finding openly available samples. But sometimes that strategy doesn’t get you a sample for your funder or your area. In these cases, you can ask someone if they might share a sample with you.
Here’s how to ask. Look up past awardees for your target grant.
- Do you know anyone on the list?
- Do you have a connection with anyone on the list? Perhaps a colleague in common. Maybe you went to the same school. Find any connection that could help you get a warm introduction to the awardee.
- Could you make a connection? Go to their talks. Ask questions, introduce yourself. Ask them if they would be willing to meet for coffee. Invite them to be part of your symposium, speak at your brown bag lunch, etc.
Once you know who you want to ask, send an email to request a sample. Here’s a template email from p. 73 of The Grant Writing Guide:
Subject: Willingness to share a grant sample?
Dear Dr. [their name]:
My name is [your name], and I am a [your position]. I am submitting a grant to [name of the program] at [the funder]. I am in a grant training program that suggests that I reach out to esteemed colleagues in the field to ask if they might be willing to share a grant sample with me. I was wondering if you would be willing to share a copy of [name their grant]? Please do not feel any pressure to share your grant with me. I understand that there may be many reasons why people would not want to share a grant. Thank you so much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[your name]
It’s not easy to send these types of emails. But remember that the worst that usually happens is people say no or ignore your email. And at best, you get a sample that shines a light on how to move forward in your career. I want that to be true for you.
If you know someone who might benefit from today’s newsletter, would you mind forwarding it to them? As always, thanks for reading and believing that scholars deserve support for incredible ideas.
Betty
Stay in touch: The Newsletter, Bluesky, TikTok, and The Grant Writing Guide book.
P.S. You don’t need to spam everyone who’s ever been awarded the grant you’re targeting. Finding 1 - 2 samples is enough to get started. See pp. 73 - 78 of The Grant Writing Guide to know what you’re looking for in your samples.
P.P.S. Check out this interesting new vending machine that has appeared on my campus. It has salads and fresh food inside. I am both fascinated and scared to try it. How do they make sure the food is safe to eat!
