Submitting for Dollars: Playing the Funding Game to Promote Transcultural Nursing

Research requires funding! Every researcher understands the crucial role that money plays in implementing a research study. Research for nursing is no different. In the current economic environment, funding sources have become limited. Therefore, researchers need to be prepared to submit grant proposals which will give them a competitive edge over other proposals. This paper will: (1) describe the development of a grant proposal for National Institutes of Health funding, and (2) provide suggestions to novice researchers about how to write a proposal that has the potential to receive a fundable score. This team of early stage investigators submitted a proposal which received a fundable score, but was not selected for funding. The proposal was revised, re-submitted, and received a highly competitive score that did result in funding. The lessons learned from this process can be useful for other nurses seeking to secure funding for their research projects.