Bibliography and Sources

The authoritative, verifiable sources behind this book — the places to go for current, official information. In keeping with the book's standard on citation honesty (Chapter 24), this bibliography lists primary, verifiable sources — official government sites, regulations, and established professional organizations — rather than fabricated or unverifiable citations. Because programs, figures, and rules change, always confirm current details at the official source.

How this list is organized. Sources are grouped by use: the official funder and submission systems (most important — go here for current truth), the governing regulations, the professional and capacity organizations, and a note on the general literature. Every named entity is real and verifiable at its official site; specific programs and figures should be re-verified there, since they change.

Official Funder and Submission Systems (verify current details here)

These are the authoritative, current sources — the ones to trust over any secondary summary, including this book.

  • Grants.gov — the central U.S. federal grant portal (find and submit federal opportunities). (Chapters 15, 19.)
  • SAM.gov — System for Award Management; federal registration and the UEI. (Chapters 15, 19.)
  • USAspending.gov — the public record of federal spending, including grant awards. (Chapter 19.)
  • NIH — grants.nih.gov — NIH's grants and funding site: the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, mechanisms, review information, forms, and policy; RePORTER (funded-grant search); eRA Commons and ASSIST (submission/management). (Chapters 16, 27.)
  • NSF — nsf.gov and research.gov — NSF's funding site and the PAPPG (Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide); Research.gov for submission. (Chapter 17.)
  • SBA / SBIR.gov — the government-wide SBIR/STTR hub and the participating agencies' solicitations. (Chapter 20.)
  • Agency sites — Department of Education (ed.gov; IES), USDA (nifa.usda.gov), HHS operating divisions (CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA, ACF), DOE, HUD, NEA (arts.gov), NEH (neh.gov), IMLS, DOJ/OJP, EPA, DOL, and others — each agency's own site for its current programs. (Chapters 19, 29, 30, 31.)
  • International funders — USAID, the World Bank, UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, UN Women), the Global Fund, Gavi, the European Commission, and major global foundations (Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Open Society Foundations) — at each organization's official site. (Chapter 21.)

Foundation Research

  • Candid (candid.org) — Foundation Directory and GuideStar (foundation and nonprofit research; the IRS Form 990 / 990-PF); training and the Funding Information Network. (Chapter 18.)
  • The IRS Form 990 / 990-PF — public foundation and nonprofit filings (also via ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer and funders' own sites). (Chapters 3, 18.)
  • Foundations' own websites and annual reports — the authoritative source for each foundation's current priorities, guidelines, and process. (Chapter 18.)

Governing Regulations and Policy

  • 2 CFR 200 — the Uniform Guidance — the federal regulations on allowable costs, procurement, audit, and reporting for federal awards. (Chapters 12, 19, 26.)
  • Agency-specific policy guides — the NIH Grants Policy Statement, the NSF PAPPG, and each agency's terms and conditions — the binding rules for that funder's awards. (Chapters 16, 17, 26.)
  • Each funder's Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO/FOA/RFP/RFA) — the binding, opportunity-specific rules; read it twice (Chapters 3, 19). The single most important "source" for any given proposal.

Professional and Capacity Organizations

  • Grant Professionals Association — GPA (grantprofessionals.org) — professional body, training, the code of ethics, and the GPC credential. (Chapters 32, 35.)
  • NCURA (ncura.edu) and SRA International (srainternational.org) — research-administration professional associations. (Chapters 26, 35.)
  • Association of Fundraising Professionals — AFP (afpglobal.org) — the development/fundraising profession. (Chapters 28, 35.)
  • Candid's training and the Funding Information Network — free and low-cost grant-seeking and proposal-writing training; free database access at partner libraries. (Chapter 18.)
  • Your institution's sponsored-programs / grants office — the authoritative internal source on registration, routing, indirect-cost rates, compliance, and submission. (Chapters 26, 27.)

On the General Literature

A large practical and scholarly literature exists on grant writing, fundraising, program evaluation, research administration, and nonprofit management — practitioner guides, professional-association publications, evaluation texts (for example, on logic models and theory of change), and peer-reviewed work on funding and review. Rather than cite specific secondary works that may date or that the reader cannot easily verify, this book directs you to:

  1. The primary sources above — always current, always authoritative.
  2. The professional associations (GPA, NCURA, AFP) — for vetted training, current practice, and further reading in the field.
  3. Your own funders' guidance and program officers — the most relevant "literature" for any specific proposal is the funder's own current materials and the program officer's advice (Chapters 2, 3).

When you do draw on secondary sources — books, articles, blogs, or AI tools — apply the book's standard (Chapter 24): verify every fact, figure, and citation against a primary source before you rely on it. Funding figures (such as success rates), program details, deadlines, and rules change; the official source governs.

A Note on Figures Cited in This Book

Where this book cites funder facts — NIH review criteria and mechanisms (R01, R21, F-series, K-series), approximate success rates (for example, NIH R01 success rates often roughly one in five), NSF's Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria, SBIR/STTR structure, the role of SAM.gov/UEI and Grants.gov, and 2 CFR 200 — these reflect real, verifiable features of the U.S. funding system at the time of writing. They are included to teach the structure and logic of funding, which is durable, not to serve as current operational data, which is not. Verify every specific figure, mechanism, deadline, and rule at the funder's official site before acting on it. The composite examples and personas throughout the book (RYCC, Lighthouse, Sam, the Hernandez study, AquaSense, and others) are illustrative teaching constructs, labeled as such, and are not real applicants or grants.

The most important source is the funder. No book — including this one — is a substitute for the funder's own current guidance. Use this bibliography to find the authoritative sources, go to them, read them carefully, and, when in doubt, ask the program officer. That habit, more than any reference list, is what keeps a grant writer accurate.