Getting Money: AI-Powered Broader Impacts and Dissemination Plans for Grants

Generate Broader Impacts sections that hit every scoring criterion. Create dissemination plans with specific, measurable deliverables. Build your track record documentation.

Getting Money: AI-Powered Broader Impacts and Dissemination Plans for Grants

The research is brilliant. The methodology is sound. The preliminary data is compelling.

And the proposal gets triaged because the Broader Impacts section is generic and unconvincing.

This happens more than researchers admit. Broader Impacts and dissemination plans are evaluated seriously—and they're exactly the sections most researchers struggle to write.

This chapter shows you how to generate competitive content for these critical sections.

Why Broader Impacts Matter

The Evaluation Reality

For NSF:

For NIH:

The Training Gap

Graduate education emphasizes research methodology. It rarely teaches:

AI bridges this gap.

Broader Impacts Generation

The NSF Broader Impacts Criteria

NSF defines Broader Impacts as potential to:

  1. Advance discovery while promoting teaching, training, and learning
  2. Broaden participation of underrepresented groups
  3. Enhance infrastructure for research and education
  4. Broadly disseminate to enhance scientific and technological understanding
  5. Provide benefits to society

Strong proposals address multiple criteria with specific, achievable plans.

The Broader Impacts Prompt

"Generate a Broader Impacts section for my NSF proposal:

Research: [Brief description of proposed research] Field: [Discipline] Institution: [Your institution and any relevant partnerships] PI background: [Relevant experience for BI activities]

Generate content addressing these criteria:

  1. Teaching, Training, Learning:
    • Student involvement opportunities
    • Curriculum integration plans
    • Mentoring structures
  2. Broadening Participation:
    • Specific underrepresented groups to engage
    • Recruitment and retention strategies
    • Partnerships with MSIs, HBCUs, or community organizations
  3. Infrastructure Enhancement:
    • Resources to be developed and shared
    • Collaborations enabled
    • Capacity building
  4. Dissemination:
    • Academic channels (publications, conferences)
    • Practitioner/policy channels
    • Public engagement activities
  5. Societal Benefits:
    • Real-world problems addressed
    • Communities that will benefit
    • Timeline for impact

For each element, provide:

  • Specific activities (not vague intentions)
  • Measurable outcomes
  • Timeline for implementation
  • How this connects to the research itself

Length: 2-3 pages"

Making It Specific

Generic Broader Impacts are obvious to reviewers. Strengthen specificity:

"Review this Broader Impacts section and make it more specific:

[Paste draft]

For each activity:

  • Name specific partner organizations if possible
  • Quantify participation targets
  • Specify deliverables and timelines
  • Connect to PI's demonstrated capabilities
  • Address how success will be measured"

Authenticity Check

"Review this Broader Impacts section for authenticity:

[Paste draft]

Identify:

  • Claims that seem generic or boilerplate
  • Activities that aren't clearly connected to the research
  • Promises that seem overambitious for the timeline/budget
  • Missing evidence of PI capability to execute

Suggest how to make each element more credible."

Dissemination Plan Development

The Dissemination Plan Structure

Strong dissemination plans include:

  1. Audiences: Who needs this research?
  2. Channels: How will you reach each audience?
  3. Products: What specifically will you produce?
  4. Timeline: When will dissemination occur?
  5. Metrics: How will you measure success?
  6. Resources: What support is needed?

The Dissemination Plan Prompt

"Generate a dissemination plan for this research proposal:

Research: [Summary of proposed research] Primary findings expected: [What you anticipate discovering] Key audiences: [Academic, practitioner, policy, public]

For each audience, specify:

Academic Community:

  • Target journals (name specific journals)
  • Target conferences (name specific conferences)
  • Timeline for submissions
  • Open access strategy

Practitioners/Professionals:

  • Specific professional organizations
  • Trade publications
  • Continuing education opportunities
  • Practice guidelines connections

Policy Makers:

  • Relevant agencies/committees
  • Policy brief production
  • Testimony opportunities
  • Advocacy partnerships

General Public:

  • Media engagement strategy
  • Public talks/events
  • Social media presence
  • Community partnerships

For each activity, include:

  • Specific deliverable
  • Timeline relative to project milestones
  • Responsible party
  • Success metric"

Aligning with Project Timeline

"Align this dissemination plan with the project timeline:

Project duration: [X years] Key milestones: [List milestones]

[Paste dissemination activities]

Create a timeline showing:

  • When each dissemination activity occurs
  • How it connects to research progress
  • Cumulative output expectations by project end
  • Any dependencies between activities"

Track Record Documentation

Building Your Impact Portfolio

Grant reviewers look for evidence you can execute proposed Broader Impacts. Document:

"Help me document my research dissemination track record:

Past activities: [List presentations, workshops, media, community engagement, etc.]

Generate:

  1. Summary statistics (publications, presentations, trainees, etc.)
  2. Narrative describing dissemination philosophy and approach
  3. Specific examples of impact achieved
  4. Testimonials or evidence of uptake

Format for inclusion in proposal biosketches and BI sections."

Quantifying Impact

"Help me quantify the impact of my past dissemination:

Activities: [List past activities]

Suggest metrics to gather for:

  • Reach (how many people?)
  • Engagement (how actively?)
  • Outcomes (what changed?)
  • Attribution (evidence it was your work?)

Create a tracking system for future documentation."

Agency-Specific Customization

NSF Format

"Format this Broader Impacts section for NSF:

[Paste content]

Requirements:

  • Connect to NSF's five BI criteria explicitly
  • Integrate with Intellectual Merit where appropriate
  • Include assessment plan
  • Match NSF's preferred language and framing"

NIH Format

"Adapt this dissemination plan for NIH:

[Paste content]

Customize for:

  • NIH's emphasis on health outcomes
  • Significance and innovation criteria
  • Research dissemination and implementation focus
  • Community engagement expectations for relevant institutes"

Foundation Format

"Adapt this Broader Impacts section for [Foundation Name]:

[Paste content]

Consider:

  • Foundation's stated priorities
  • Typical language and framing in successful proposals
  • Specific populations or issues they care about
  • Matching their theory of change"

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Generic Language

Weak: "We will broadly disseminate findings through publications and presentations."

Strong: "We will publish findings in [Journal Name], present at [Conference], and develop a practitioner toolkit for distribution through [Organization]'s network of 5,000 members."

Disconnected Activities

Broader Impacts should connect to the research. An unrelated outreach program bolted onto a proposal looks exactly like that.

Overcommitment

Promising more than you can deliver damages credibility. Be ambitious but realistic.

Missing Assessment

How will you know if BI activities succeeded? Include specific metrics and evaluation plans.

Lack of Evidence

If you claim capability for BI activities, point to past examples. New investigators should leverage mentors' track records.

Quality Checklist

Before submitting, verify:

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