Some grant programs award extra points if you have a research partner. There are additional benefits to adding an evaluator to your next grant proposal, as well. Below are some of the most common benefits:
- Research partners can bring an independent and objective voice to your work, which can be helpful if you have a lot of project partners.
- Researchers may have worked with other grantees within the grant program before and can offer advice, based on experience, on how to be successful in your project.
- Research partners are experienced in working with multiple data sets and often have a great deal of experience addressing privacy and confidentiality issues that may arise.
- Research partners are trained evaluators who can help you think about how to measure the impact of your program, which can be a key component of sustaining your project.