1. Start early, ideally a month or more before your proposal is due.
   
   
2. Inform yourself about what constitutes a high-quality EPO project.
   
   
3. Prepare a brief lay-language synopsis of the proposed research that describes the broader scientific context of your particular research.
   A few sentences may be sufficient. This passage will facilitate your dialog with potential EPO collaborators. You may wish to draw on text from your proposal summary, particularly if your proposal is a resubmission.
   
   
4. Plan to include in the proposal budget funds to support the EPO project, in addition to funds to support the research.
   Some principal investigators scale their EPO projects so that the EPO costs to the grant will be roughly 5–10% of the research budget.
   
   
5. Determine if you want or need to enlist the support of an EPO collaborator.
   If you lack sufficient experience, skills, time, or contacts to accomplish the EPO you aspire to do, partnering with an EPO professional is highly recommended. Identify and contact potential EPO collaborators to discuss your EPO ideas and/or solicit theirs. It’s highly advisable to ask how your research may relate to and support existing or planned EPO efforts by their organization. Remember that EPO professionals can often help identify opportunities for supplemental funds and cost-sharing.
   
   
6. Determine your EPO goals and then the appropriate audience(s)*.
   Describe activities and objectives that reflect the needs of your specific audience(s).
   
   
7. Determine what expertise and resources will be needed to accomplish your goals*.
   For example, you might need help with writing, web-page design, event organization, curriculum development, marketing, and evaluation. Budget accordingly (e.g., salary support, facilities, supplies, travel funds), just as you would for the research-related elements of your project.
   
   
8. Make plans to measure and document the success of your EPO efforts*.
   If resources allow, the EPO team may also engage an independent professional evaluator to help design the EPO project, get feedback from the audience while the project is underway, and assess the impact of the project.
   
   
9. Write a clear, detailed description of the EPO project for inclusion in the proposal*.
   Specify goals and objectives, and state with whom you will work. Describe what you, personally, will contribute to the project. Explain who will benefit, how, and over what time period. Say why your project is likely to succeed (e.g., you’ve engaged the appropriate collaborators, are leveraging resources, creating something of lasting value) and how you will measure progress/success.
   
   
10. Obtain, cite, and append to the proposal support letters from your EPO collaborators.
    Support letters may contain details about the EPO effort that cannot fit into page-limited body of the proposal. Remember that you may also use the budget justification and the section of the proposal where you are asked to describe institutional resources and facilities.
    
    
    

More Helpful Tips

• Determine if what you’re considering doing has already been done, in part or in whole, by others. This may require some effort—an endeavor similar to a literature search one would conduct before embarking on a particular line of scientific work. If appropriate, cite others’ work in your proposal. Describe how your proposed project will augment existing EPO programs or resources.

• Depending on how business is done where you work, if you plan to include funds for EPO in your budget, it may be advisable to notify the appropriate staff in your institution’s business office early in the proposal-development process. Doing so may ensure that funds designated for EPO will be readily transferable to your EPO collaborators once the proposal is funded.

• Conducting even an informal needs assessment can help you determine if the proposed program, product, or service will be considered worthwhile.  Consider asking representative members of the audience you intend to address how valuable what you propose would be to them. Read more on needs assessment and project evaluation.

• During proposal preparation and after submission, keep your EPO collaborators apprised of major developments regarding the proposal. Updates are especially important if your budget requires changes. Provide your EPO collaborators with copies of any proposal reviews, which can provide important feedback, regardless of whether or not the proposal is funded.