Instructions for Submitting Proposals to the American Family Funding Initiative

In general, the WISPER record will be completed in the same way that grant and contracts are typically completed. However, there are some differences and special instructions listed below. 

1. 1. Special Instructions 
      1. General Tab
         1. Administering Department – Use your home department
         2. Document Type – Select FixPricCon
         3. Proposal Type –
            • Select New if this is first time submission.
            • Select Resubmission if this is a revised proposal from a previous round. Be sure to include the related reward record from the previous submission.
            • Select Continuation if this is the renewal of an ongoing project. Be sure to include the related reward record from the originally funded project.
         4. Sponsor – Select American Family Mutual Insurance
         5. Primary Sponsor –  Leave blank
         6. Submission Method – Select Contact PI to Submit
         7. Submission Instructions – Type “Please review and provide RSP cover letter. Proposals will be submitted via Apply by the PI. Please provide a signature page that we can include as verification of SO approval for the final submission.” 
         8. The rest of this tab should be completed like any other grant or contract submission.
      2. Approvals Tab
         1. Initiate all required budget approvals for a grant/contract submission. This varies based on department and division, but often include:
            1. Home Department
            2. Other Involved Departments
            3. All relevant Division Approvals

Complete applications will include the following components:

• A Statement of Work, limited to 2 pages, saved as a PDF and uploaded to Apply. All figures and graphs must be included within the page limit. Because we are using a blind review process, the statement of work must not include any identifying information (e.g., do not include the PI’s first or last name, contact info, department, or names of collaborators or personnel in the file name, title, header, footer, or the body of your Statement of Work). References to relevant work can be uploaded as a separate document (see below), but this document will not be shared with reviewers. Before starting your application, we strongly recommend that you review the topics of interest to American Family.The statement of work should include the following:
  • Project description
    • What are the problem(s) you are trying to solve?
    •  What specific topic(s) of interest to American Family does your proposal address? How are the problem(s) you are trying to solve relevant to these topic(s)?
    • What are the innovative features, the potential impact and the significance of the research?
    • How will the project be transformative for the field? Why is this research important?
  • List of deliverables: These should be tangible deliverables.
    • Examples include: code, reports (multiple or final), models, etc.
    • Each deliverable should be noted as standard or proprietary, based on the definitions found here.
• A detailed Budget, created using our standard budget form, saved as an Excel file or PDF and uploaded to Apply. The form shows allowable expenditures and will calculate UW negotiated fringe and indirect cost rates, which must be included within the maximum award limit of $100,000. We are using a MTDC budget model.
• A Budget Justification, limited to 2 pages and saved/uploaded as a PDF. This document should describe the role that all personnel will play in the project. Salary may be requested for faculty, academic staff, postdocs and graduate students. Other allowable expenses included on the budget form should be described in the budget justification.
• Optional Document
  • References to relevant work, limited to 2 pages and saved/uploaded as a PDF. These references will be used to aid team building if your proposal is selected, but will not be used as part of the proposal review.

All documents created in Step 2 should be uploaded to WISPER and routed for signatures from signing officials. You will need to upload the RSP cover page (signature page) to Apply.

Completed proposals should be submitted following the directions in Apply. When submitting your proposal, you must complete a Cover Sheet within Apply. You can save and return to this cover sheet before submitting your application. The cover sheet includes:

• Project title
• PI name, title, department, email address, and NetID
• Project collaborators
• WISPER record number (MSN#)
• Project continuation status
• Alignment with American Family topics of interest
• Project summary: One or two sentences explaining your project in plain, non-technical language, followed by a brief explanation of the value proposition of your work for the data science community. If possible, also describe the value proposition of your work for American Family and/or the insurance industry. The project summary is limited to 250 words. If proposals are awarded funding, the project summary may be shared in press releases, on the DSI website, and with AmFam business partners.