Recently, two PIs expressed concern about being ‘banned’ by funders as a consequence of ‘too many’ follow-up emails. Communications with funders are a frequent topic of this newsletter and our videos, and I often encourage PIs not to just ‘reach out’ -- but actually to ‘follow up’. Here’s a case in point.

The implication of that encouragement is that you will not annoy, anger, or alienate funder points of contact (POCs) by sending repeated emails, or contacting them in other ways. However, given the concern about being put on an unofficial do-not-fund list, let’s address this issue directly.

The answer: No, you cannot be banned by federal funders for this or any similar reason. The funding process is impersonal, even if at times it feels like it isn’t.

However, if worry about this potential problem is preventing you from taking action, I suggest you consider one of these strategies:

• Put it into perspective. You might be able to name anywhere from, say, 3 to 20 funder POCs. If you’re targeting a few of these as ‘best fits’, only those few are really on your mind. In contrast, that POC may receive thousands of emails a year. You’re thinking about them a lot more than they’re thinking about you. Chances that you stand out as irritating enough to justify an extreme action on their part are actually quite low.

• Try again from scratch. The original target may not remember your name or email. Send a ‘reply’ to the first or second email you sent so they can see that you’ve been trying to reach them. Also, after doing that a couple times, redo the original email if you are more comfortable doing so. There’s a good chance your POC will have no memory of your previous attempts. It’s like getting a second try.

• Select an alternate POC. Sometimes, it’s best to contact an alternate POC, but try to avoid making that POC someone of known higher stature than your original target. Instead, choose someone at the same approximate level. Use soft and polite language with the request. It’s not necessary (or wise) to accuse the original POC of neglect in your explanation which is simply one part of your good-faith outreach effort. For example, you can state that you have been ‘unable to reach Dr. Grantsman’ rather than ‘Dr. Grantsman has not replied to any of the five emails I’ve sent since 2022.’

Would you like to know how many incidents of PIs behaving badly I have experienced in my 10 years at a major funding organization? It’s very low.

Once, I declined a proposal that hadn’t adequately addressed concerns after I had given the PI a chance to revise it. The PI sent a lengthy and angry email saying the program was poorly run, among other things I don’t recall. I forwarded the email to my supervisor and our security officer and that was the end of it. If that PI had contacted me in the future about another submission, I would have spoken with my supervisor about how to handle it -- but that never happened.

Another time, when I was at a conference hotel, after a meeting in the hotel lobby with a PI, that person got into the elevator with me and followed me to my room, eagerly pitching their research the entire time. They were so engrossed with that pitch that I don’t think they realized how unsettling it was to be followed to my room.

That’s it. I don’t think that’s too bad for 10 years of work. If you are not planning to send angry, abusive emails, show up at someone’s home with your whitepaper in hand, or contact a POC’s spouse or children in hopes of reaching them, you’re fine.

While POCs may be overwhelmed and not always keep up with emails, they do their work as professionals and have become desensitized to activities that may feel very personal to you. If they are actively avoiding you because they must deliver bad news, that’s a problem on their part. Having difficult conversations is part of the job, just like it is for a physician who delivers both good and bad news to patients. Bottom line, just keep trying.

Lessons for your career relearned from a meditation retreat

This week, I’m sharing something a bit on the personal side. I had a wonderful experience at a meditation retreat earlier this month. In this video, I share five takeaways from this experience applied to careers. If you would like to get straight to those takeaways, skip the first 5 minutes of the video, which is about my arrival to the retreat center. Let me know what you think.

When you are ready, here’s how we can help

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