Martha, an incentive I've used to good effect a few times is a stipend to write
a proposal, ranging from a few hundred dollars during the summer to a one course
release.  I've given two one course releases, both resulted in sizable grants,
one from NEH, one from NSF.  The ground rules are that the proposed proposals
has to have a reasonable chance to be funded (in my judgement, backed up by dean
and VC) and that the deliverable is a submitted proposal.  If they don't
deliver, they never get another incentive grant.

Unfortunately, budget restraints eliminated the possibility of incentive grants
a year ago; I'm working hard on reinstating them.

Bill Campbell
University of Wisconsin-River Falls