John, I understand your point of view, but I still see value in consulting
successful proposals.  Case in point: I learned how to write Title III
proposals by dissecting a couple of extremely successful proposals written by a
friend at another institution.  But note that I didn't just copy them, I
dissected them to figure out why they worked, their logic.  My final product
was very different from those models, but it borrowed their deep structure.
(Got funded, too.)

I regularly share successful proposals with faculty, when I have them on hand.
But I admonish proposal writers not to simply copy them, or even to use them as
models.  Read them, I say, make sure you understand how they're put together,
the level of detail which is included, the voice and tone.  But if you copy, or
even use them as models, you are unlikely to get funded.  They're old news to
the funding agency, after all.

I've found that bringing together successful proposal writers with novices
works even better.  Every month we offer focused workshops on specific funding
opportunities which might interest some of our faculty.  I make sure to invite
folks who have written successfully for those funding opportunities to share
their strategies.  Works very well; what peers say is far more persuasive than
what I say.

Regards, Bill Campbell
Director, Grants & Research
University of Wisconsin-River Falls