Suzette-

This will not work for everyone, especially those responsible for an entire
Arts and Sciences faculty. BUT, I have found, in experiences at 2 large
biomedical research institutions, that faculty respond quite favorably to
receiving email notifications of opportunities PROVIDED that some targeting
has been attempted.

This whole business of funding notification services is based on
researchers not wanting/being able/having time to do the searches
themselves.  Telling them to look at your web page or use SPIN or IRIS
doesn't seem to work.  And many don't appreciate the automatic notification
by email via FEDIX, SPIN-SMARTS, etc.  But, to my surprise, most liked
getting OCCASIONAL emails from my office about stuff at least tangentially
related to their work.  Even if it was straight out of NIH Guide!  Of
course, the announcements that get the most praise are the oddball
foundations or unusual federal sources (i.e. non-NIH/NSF) of biomed
research/training grants like DOD, Justice, FDA, Agriculture, etc.

My conclusion has been that the personal touch, or the perception of it, is
important.  And of course, it takes time and someone with a knowledge of
scientific/academic discipline structure (or luck) to target the stuff.  I
do it myself using a combination of our institution's research interest
search engine, SPIN-GENIUS, CRISP, and any info I get from the different
departments on what they are doing.  Occasionally I will just send to an
entire department.

Now, does it do any good?  I think so, but it will depend on how you
measure success.

Charlie Hathaway

At 01:34 PM 10/1/98 -0400, you wrote:
>We are a small sponsored programs office of 2 3/4
>people. I have a question regarding the dissemination of
>funding opportunities. The previous listings have prompted
>me to inquire for more information.
>Currently, anything I receive in the way of
>funding opportunities that I believe would be of interest
>to our faculty I send via inter-campus mail. We have a
>graduate assistant that does the copying, memo, and
>mailing.  My question is: What other ways do research
>offices disseminate funding opps to faculty? We have things
>on line for faculty to access, but I haven't a clue as to
>how often they are used. We have thought about using our
>web page as a bulletin board for listings. We all know that
>there is a vast amount of information for faculty, and I am
>looking for a time conscious way to disseminate it as
>needed. What do all of you do with the hundreds of
>announcements you receive???
>Thanks for any input!
>Suzette
>----------------------
>Suzette S. Mauney
>Appalachian State University
>Assistant Director, Sponsored Programs
>(704)262-2694*fax(704)262-2709
>xxxxxx@appstate.edu
>
>
**************************************
Charles B. Hathaway, Ph.D., Director
Office of Grant Support
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461
Phone: 718 430-3642     Fax: 718 430-8822
email: xxxxxx@aecom.yu.edu
http://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs