Pivot-RP Funding Opportunities

Quick Start Guide for using Pivot-RP

1) Signing in with Pivot-RP

• If this is your first time or you are a returning user of Pivot, click ‘Use login from my institution’ and find California State University, Fullerton.

 

2) Pivot-RP Home Page

• Once you register or sign in, you will see a home page with tabs for ‘my funding opportunities, my profile and groups, and tips and resources’.
• To begin, click on the profiles tab in the upper left hand corner of the page.

• Once you click on the profiles tab, a page will appear with every college at California State University, Fullerton.
• You can search for your individual college and click on the ’view profiles’ tab.

• Once you click on the profile tab for your individual college, a page will appear with faculty in that college. Each of the profiles will have the name of the faculty, their position, and their college. Search for your name and ensure the information is accurate.

• Once you click on your individual profile, a page with an overview will appear. This overview will provide your current affiliation, any past affiliations, and most importantly, the Pivot system will present you with funding opportunities that are a match to your profile and for your department.
  Click on the funding opportunities tab on the right hand side of the screen.

3) Searching in Pivot-RP

• Once you click on the funding opportunities tab, a page will appear with a list of recommended funding opportunities that have been selected based on your profile. Specifically, the Pivot system will use your education, past research aims, and other pertinent aspects of your career trajectory.

• The most important aspect to consider when reviewing your recommended opportunities is the deadline. The deadline is shown to the right hand side of the funding opportunity. A general rule of thumb is the deadline should be at least two months in advance for a federal funding opportunity. This will allow time for concept development, proposal writing, and internal routing.

• Another component that must be taken into account when navigating through the funding opportunities is the funding amount available. This can be found directly to the right of the deadline. The funding amount will dictate the scope of the project you can propose and will also give you an idea of the magnitude that the funder is expecting. Once you find an opportunity that you think is aligned with your goals, click on it.

• Once you click on an opportunity, you will be presented with a page specific to that funding opportunity. This page will include a link for the funding opportunity on the funders website.

• Additionally, this page will provide information about the sponsor. It is important to know the sponsor and learn about what they typically fund, their research aims, and other aspects of their organization. This information is critical to developing a strong proposal.
• Alongside the link and the sponsor description will be the CFDA numbers. This is specific to federal grants only. This number is critical to receiving your application package. Please ensure that the office of Grants and Contracts has this number as soon as possible.
• As was mentioned earlier, the amount of funding is important to understanding what the scope of your project should be. The page specific to the funding opportunity will detail specifics regarding the amount, the time period of the grant, and often times the upper and lower limits.
• One commonly overlooked aspect of a funding opportunity is the contact person. The contact person is available to answer questions regarding your proposal, the organization, or other aspects of the funding opportunity. Call or email the contact person if you have any questions.
• Scrolling down further on the sponsored project page will present you with the abstract. The abstract is important to understanding the funding opportunity, and ensuring your proposal is in line with the funding description. Moreover, the abstract delves into the purpose behind the opportunity and allows you to examine more closely if this particular funding opportunity is a good fit for you.
• Finally, of the upmost importance is the eligibility component of the grant. Far too often, faculty begin their proposal without considering whether or not they are eligible. If there are any questions regarding your eligibility, contact the Office of Grants and Contracts, a Research Grants Specialist, or the program officer from the organization.
• When navigating an opportunity, it is important to think about possible collaborators, Co-investigators, or even just advisors. Luckily, Pivot automatically filters possible collaborators within your institution and these are available on the right side of the funding opportunity.

4) Conferences Feature

• In addition to searching for funding opportunities, Pivot also allows for the option of searching for conference or other professional events that are accepting applications and/or abstracts. To access this feature, click on ‘conferences’ in the toolbar.

• Once on the ‘conferences and papers invited’ tab, you will see that they are divided up by subject matter. Scroll through and select the subject matter that you are most familiar with or the subject you intend to submit under.

• Once you select a subject matter, a full display of all the opportunities will appear. Similar to finding funding opportunities, the conferences and/or papers will provide a deadline, the name of the sponsor or organization, and a brief abstract about the conference.

• In order to pursue a conference or paper submission opportunity, click on a submission link.
• Once you have selected a conference and/or paper submission opportunity, a page will appear with the full details of the submission. Among these full details are the conference name. Check the conference organizer/sponsor, eligibility criteria, conference location, and timeline on important dates or deadlines.