I just found out I didn’t receive a federal grant I applied for this year. Should I resubmit my application next year?

It is so disappointing to find out you didn’t win a grant award, especially if you worked really hard on your application. Below are a few tips for next steps. 

1. Go back and review how many awards were anticipated. If the answer is fewer than 10 awards were anticipated, you were applying for a very competitive grant program where they may have received over 100 applications. It may be a good idea to consider if your project could fit into a less competitive grant program next funding season.
2. In the next two months you will receive written feedback from the peer reviewers.  It’s important to carve out the time to review your application against the original solicitation questions and the peer review feedback.  It’s normal not to agree with all the peer review feedback but it’s important to use the feedback to identify ways you can strengthen your application.  
3. Make the time to revise your application if you are applying for a grant program that is a good fit for your project. The most common issue you will identify when you review your application and the peer review feedback is that you skipped a question or provided an incomplete answer.  Many applicants are successful winning a grant award with their second submission if they use the peer review feedback to fully revise their application.