Impact Statements
Impact statements describe the institutional context for your research and explain the likely positive effects of grant funding.
Some sponsors require you to include this information in a specific section of the proposal. Others don’t, but including this information in a proposal will generally strengthen it, so consider mining these documents when writing any proposal. For NSF and NIH, they should be used as templates on which to base your own individualized statement. They aren’t intended to be copied verbatim.
Middlebury’s impact statements are updated annually, usually at the end of the spring semester. If your deadline falls around that time, check with the Grants and Sponsored Programs Office to be sure you have the most current version.
Impact statements are required in all proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation’s Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) funding mechanism. This template is organized to meet NSF’s requirements and includes the institutional information you need to construct a compelling statement.
Impact statements are also required in all applications to Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) from the National Institutes of Health. This template is organized according to the AREA guidelines and includes a specific statement about graduation rates in the health-related sciences that is required by this program.
Please contact our office for a copy of the current template designed to meet NSF’s requirements.