 So hello and welcome to this short presentation focused on shifting from applicant to influencer recommendations for increasing extramural funding success from the federal relations research development interface My name is Nathan Meyer, and I serve as assistant vice chancellor for research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln And I'm Jesse Herman director of federal relations at Nebraska We want to spend the next few minutes exploring opportunities for professionals from our two camps federal relations and research development to partner and help faculty and organizations shift their approaches towards external funding Specifically we want to outline what it looks like to move from applicant to influencer and why this reorientation is important We also want to recommend some ways for federal relations and research development To partner in this work and consider the different contexts in which the potential for influencer work exists And so the key takeaways from our discussion will be some big picture recommendations You may use to help better position your faculty and organizational funding portfolios on an upward trend So let's get started first as you all know External funding is an action-oriented team-based business and we want to begin by defining two important types of contributors First an applicant is someone who makes a formal application for something like a job or a scholarly project And an influencer is someone who inspires or guides the action of others Our hypothesis is that a robust healthy external funding portfolio is supported by applicants and influencers So what defines success as an influencer in the external funding space? Well, we suggest the following examples First establishing individual faculty or organizational capacity To help shape agency decisions during the budget formulation or request request for proposal preparation stage Second having congressional committee staff become familiar with distinctive organizational capabilities And call on individual researchers for their expertise Next securing trusted advisor status with legislators and policymakers And finally suggesting new novel opportunities to help advance a member's agenda Why is influencer work important? Well in our experience taking the influencer approach can yield a number of positive outcomes including growing knowledge and capacity at an organization or leveraging its distinctive expertise and experience advancing cross-sector university government collaboration and partnerships Exercising public sector leadership to proactively address emerging challenges and opportunities And finally creating opportunities and collaborations within an organization And so influencer work also is important because our organizations have a trusted brand with significant national and often global market reach Federal agencies and private funders are key customers. So it is important to keep our value propositions top of mind We cannot assume that government partners or policymakers understand our organizations And this is especially the case for those of us working at universities Nor do they fully appreciate our research and scholarly capabilities or get how our work aligns with and can support theirs And it's super important not to leave other organizations to have the run of defining federal policy and funding priorities that materially impact our missions If we do it is at our peril And very likely that others will influence congress and the agencies to shape policy and funding issues to their advantage So now that we have established that context here are our five here are five of our top recommendations from moving from applicant to influencer So first set trends by following them Federal priorities happen to change from year to year administration to administration and congress to congress So it's always important to develop broad forward-looking program initiatives That are supported by clearly defined objectives that sync up with congressional priorities and federal budget realities This is a key to capitalize on the federal appropriations process Second we hope you don't sweat the small stuff Not all trends stick and some influencers end up getting trolled Maintaining focus and message will strengthen the appeal of your organization's programs and initiatives over time Especially if they can be generalizable across or extend to other similar organizations or regions Third don't go it alone Collaborate and cross promote So in the long run it will be beneficial to enlist and bring along other significant partners Public and private to help shape your organization's priorities And programs and to testify about how they will benefit from them fourth build trust Organizations looking to move the needle on federal legislative priorities Must be realistic about what of their projects are shovel ready And they must be able to articulate why it is worth spending valuable political capital and investing taxpayer funds Congressional members will want to know what they might be buying And we'd suggest three questions to help you identify projects that are going to pass muster First does the faculty member or team have a track record? And are they committed to a long-term federally aligned program of work? Second is there an existing agency relationship? And does your organization have a way to catch the money? Third would the project be sustainable and yield measurable economic impact or create a distinctive organizational capability? You should be prepared to communicate the answers to these three questions simply clearly and often And this is especially the case when you're dealing with young busy congressional staffers And five influencers are at the table So you want to be strategic and open to faculty appointments to federal service or working group opportunities? Help organizational leaders and faculty be nominated to or apply for membership on major national commissions and advisory boards But don't allow advisory board service to be the only step Appointees should work with other board members to identify emerging research and policy priorities As well as meaningful opportunities for faculty or organizational leaders To provide comments in response to an agency-based request or information or congressional testimony And so we hope this set of recommendations has given you some ideas about how your organization can shift or enhance its approach Toward the pursuit of external funding Having opportunities to move the ball rather than just to defend the goal Are exciting and an excellent place for our professional community to contribute From where jesse and iSIT research development professionals can be key partners in this work And they are essential collaborators to the federal relations colleagues at our organizations Yeah, for example, you know, we'd encourage research development and federal relations folks to meet regularly Discuss things like agency or program officer outreach Up-and-coming researchers or breakthrough projects on your campus that may be of federal interest Emerging agency priorities and how they align with organizational capabilities And opportunities to nominate faculty or leadership to federal advisory groups So we hope you found the information and ideas we shared helpful If you would like to learn more or ask questions, we're happy to have a conversation with you You can find contact information for jesse and me by going online And visiting the staff directory available at research.unl.edu. Thanks so much