Grant writing is a critical leadership competency for nursing educators and nurse leaders who seek to advance nursing education, fund research, implement evidence-based practice changes, and support professional development programs. Competitive grant funding enables nursing faculty to conduct the scholarship expected in academic roles, supports program innovation that institutions cannot fund from operating budgets, and positions nurse leaders as contributors to the national conversation about healthcare quality and nursing workforce development. ED8370 develops the organizational leadership and grant writing skills that enable this work.
Organizational needs assessment and grant alignment
From organizational priority to fundable project
- Identifying organizational needs for grant projects: ED8370 begins with the recognition that successful grant projects arise from genuine organizational needs, not from the availability of funding opportunities. The course develops the capacity to conduct systematic organizational needs assessments — examining data about nursing education quality (NCLEX pass rates, NCLEX-RN performance by content area, student retention and progression, employer satisfaction with graduates, faculty qualification gaps, simulation center capacity, clinical placement shortages), identifying the most pressing gaps, and analyzing the root causes that a funded intervention could address. This needs-first approach produces grant applications with compelling problem statements grounded in genuine organizational data rather than generic claims about nursing education challenges
- Program alignment and fit: Grant funding success depends on finding funders whose priorities align with the applicant organization's needs — not every nursing education challenge is fundable, and not every funder's priorities match every institution's needs. The course covers the landscape of nursing education funders: federal funders (HRSA's Division of Nursing, National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH study sections), foundation funders (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, Sigma International, specialty nursing organization foundations), and institutional funders (Title III and Title V programs for minority-serving institutions, state nursing workforce development programs). ED8370 develops the capacity to analyze funder priorities from solicitations, previous award patterns, and funder communications — and to assess the degree of fit between a project concept and a specific funding opportunity before investing significant effort in proposal development
- Logic model and project design: The course covers logic model development — the visual representation of a project's theory of change that specifies inputs (resources), activities (what the project will do), outputs (what it will produce), and outcomes (short-term, medium-term, and long-term changes it expects to produce). Logic models are standard requirements in most nursing education grant applications, and the capacity to construct a coherent, evidence-based logic model demonstrates to reviewers that the applicant has a clear theory of how the funded project will address the identified need
Grant proposal analysis and critique
ED8370 develops critical analysis of existing grant proposals — an essential skill for improving one's own grant writing and for serving on grant review panels, which is itself a leadership contribution that builds the field and develops grant writing expertise through exposure to funded and unfunded proposals across the full quality spectrum. The course covers grant review criteria: for federal grants, the standard NIH/HRSA review criteria (significance, investigators, innovation, approach, environment — the five NIH review criteria) or their application-specific equivalents; for foundation grants, the funder-specific criteria that vary but typically include significance of the problem, quality of the proposed approach, capability of the team, feasibility of the timeline and budget, and potential for sustainability and dissemination. The course examines what separates funded from unfunded proposals in competitive nursing education grant programs — analyzing proposals at different quality levels to develop the evaluative eye needed both to critique others' proposals and to apply the same standards to one's own. ED8370 also covers the institutional review and routing processes that proposals must go through before submission (sponsored programs office review, Authorized Organizational Representative sign-off, institutional human subjects review) and the leadership skills needed to manage these processes within institutional timelines.
Grant proposal writing: key sections
ED8370 develops practical grant writing skills by having learners draft and refine specific grant proposal sections. The specific statement of need (or problem statement): translating the needs assessment into a compelling argument that the identified problem is significant, affects the target population, and is not adequately addressed by existing efforts. The needs statement should establish urgency without hyperbole, use institutional and national data to ground the argument in evidence, and make clear why the proposed project (as opposed to other possible responses) is appropriate to the need. The project narrative or approach section: describing the project's design, implementation plan, and evaluation framework with sufficient specificity to demonstrate feasibility while maintaining the conciseness required by page and word limits. The evaluation plan: how the project will measure progress toward its outputs and outcomes, using appropriate methods for the types of outcomes being measured, with clear timelines for data collection and reporting. The budget and budget justification: constructing a realistic, allowable budget and writing justifications that explain each line item's necessity and cost basis in ways that are consistent with funder allowability rules and institutional indirect cost rates. The dissemination plan: how the project's findings will be shared with the broader nursing education community to advance the field beyond the specific institution.
Stakeholder engagement and organizational leadership
ED8370 addresses the organizational leadership dimensions of grant-funded projects — recognizing that obtaining funding is only the beginning of the leadership challenge. Building stakeholder support before submission is essential: grants that lack institutional commitment (from deans, department chairs, information technology, human resources, and other units whose cooperation the project requires) fail at the implementation stage even when funded at the proposal stage. The course examines how to build coalition and commitment for grant projects within academic and healthcare organizations, how to negotiate resource commitments from institutional units before they appear in a grant budget, and how to manage the politics of grant project implementation when organizational priorities shift, personnel change, or unforeseen implementation challenges arise. The course also addresses the community of stakeholders beyond the institution — students, clinical partners, professional associations, community organizations, and other beneficiaries whose engagement can strengthen both the project design and the grant application's competitiveness.
ED8370 assignments include needs assessments, logic models, grant proposal sections, proposal critiques, and budget justifications
Our nursing education specialists deliver expert support for ED8370.
Get Help With ED8370
Needs assessments, logic models, grant proposal sections, proposal critiques, budget justifications.
Place Your OrderView All ServicesRelated courses
Frequently asked questions
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is the primary federal funder of nursing education, and ED8370 provides orientation to HRSA's nursing education grant portfolio as part of developing grant opportunity identification skills. The Workforce Development Programs within HRSA's Bureau of Health Workforce administer several key nursing education programs under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act. The Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) program funds projects that increase nursing education access and completion by individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities — supporting scholarships, stipends, pre-entry preparation, advanced education preparation, and retention activities. The Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR) program supports innovation in nursing education and practice, with various priority areas announced each funding cycle — recent priorities have included behavioral health nursing competencies, nurse residency programs, and simulation as a clinical placement supplement. The Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) program specifically supports increasing the supply of advanced practice registered nurses in rural and underserved areas, often funding partnerships between academic programs and rural clinical sites. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program provides loans to graduate nursing students who agree to serve as full-time nursing faculty after graduation — with up to 85% loan cancellation after four years of qualifying faculty service — and nursing programs must be approved participants to recruit students to the program. Beyond HRSA, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) funds nursing research through the standard NIH mechanisms, the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare provides nursing education fellowships, and specialty nursing organizations (AACN, NLN, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Foundation, Oncology Nursing Society Foundation) provide smaller grants and scholarships that are more accessible to early-career nursing educators. ED8370 develops the grant opportunity identification skills to navigate this landscape systematically rather than stumbling across opportunities accidentally.