Is it okay to reuse the structure of an old grant proposal for a new proposal?

Question

I am currently working on a grant proposal. I have previously successfully applied for a grant from the same grant provider and thus I am now planning to use the same structure for some parts of the new proposal. However, it feels a bit strange to do this at times because I end up writing pretty similar things. That is not only because certain sections like impact and methodology are not that specific to my research topic for this grant, but also because the current proposal builds on the previous successful one, so topically there are also similarities.

Just to be clear, I am not copying anything verbatim etc, but I am using the structure of the old proposal for some sections (i.e. I look at what I covered and in what order). Is this generally seen as okay? I would think so given that grant proposal templates are also often published in books on the topic etc, but I wanted to double check.

Answer 1

Having some experience reviewing grant proposals when I worked at a U.S. Government research organization, I’d say I would have no problem with the kind of structural similarities you describe.

Would it be appropriate in your circumstances to explicitly mention the grant you did receive? Being transparent about that would probably provide a means to eliminate any impression that you were now being deceptive, double dipping, or anything like that.