Much like Uber* does for passengers and drivers, AwardIT brings together Grant Writers and Grant Revewers to create a win-win for both. In fact we think it’s a “win win win”: a) a win for Grant Writers, who get the quality and timely feedback they need to optimize their grant applications, and b) a win for Reviewers, who get to help deserving companies/innovations get the funding they need to thrive while also being compensated for a lifetime of experience in academic or private industry R+D. Finally lets not forget it’s a win for the funding agencies, who get better product delivered to them.
This only works if the standards for Reviewing are kept as high as possible. One way we do this is to compensate our Reviewers for their work at a higher rate than would be the case if they were participating in an actual government agency review session. We do this for good reason – we greatly value the skill set of being able to understand and clearly communicate highly complex ideas. In return, we expect the highest standards of professionalism, and we reserve the right to remove any Reviewer that in our judgement is not meeting our standards.
Another important aspect of keeping standards high: timeliness. The information in a review is only useful to an Applicant if it arrives in time for them to course correct their applications. For this reason Reviewers should be sure they are comfortable that they can meet the stated deadline for their response, provided by the Applicant, before they engage. Note this will NOT be the same as the due date of the actual grant. Exact deadlines will vary from project to project but a good rule of thumb is to expect that Applicants will want their reviews within a week or so after they submit it to you.
Above all, the confidentiality of the review process is critical. We recognize that grant applications can/will contain sensitive information about a company, its personnel, and its technology. To assure our clients that their documents will be kept confidential: every AwardIT Reviewer is required to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that obligates them to keep the information in the grants docs they recieve strictly confidential. Anyone can view that agreement here. Note that our NDA is a higher standard of confidentiality than reviewers are required to maintain when they participate in government review panels, and that AwardIT clients are authorized to enforce the confidentiality obligations against Reviewers in the unlikely event this becomes necessary. Also, any public info we ask our clients to provide (such as keywords, non confidential abstract, etc) is no different than the information that the government would make public for an awarded grant.
Our goal is to make AwardIT as useful as possible to the grant writing community. We welcome your feedback as to how best to do this, and you can send us comments, criticisms, and compliments (!) here. We are always looking to get better.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at the above link, and happy grant hunting!
*Note AwardIT is not affiliated with Uber