Share Your Story: FASEB Advocates Encouraging Narratives for Scientific Impact

• Introduce yourself (and meeting participants). Briefly provide your background information and mention that you are a constituent.
• Tell a personal story. Quickly summarize the topic of your research. If you receive federal funding, note the agency that supports your research and the specific disease or condition it is related to. Provide examples of new opportunities to expand your area of research and what impact it may have on science and individuals.
• Share what you (or members of your field) hope to accomplish with your research. Explain how your area of research improves health, produces new knowledge, creates jobs, or supports the local economy.
• Share the impact of federal funding on your state and district. Find information about your state and district (e.g., “State Summary for NIH, NSF, USDA, and DOE” or “NIH State Factsheet”)
• Acknowledge the legislator’s previous support of federal funding for research.
• Make the “ask.” Request a specific funding level—use FASEB’s recommendations.
• Close the meeting. Repeat your “ask” and thank the person for meeting with you. Leave your contact information (phone, email, mailing address) and encourage your legislator (and their aides) to visit your lab.

Talk About Your Research

Describe the broader implications or importance of your research and the federal agencies that fund it. For example, How does your research produce new knowledge, improve health, lead to new innovations, jobs, etc.?

Our “Asks”

NIH

• We recommend an NIH funding level of at least $50.9 billion in FY 2024.
• We are extremely grateful for the NIH budget increases over the last five years, which have accelerated progress across all areas of biological and biomedical research.
• Congress must continue to provide robust increases for NIH in order to address daunting public health issues, including emerging infectious diseases, the needs of an aging U.S. population, biodiversity loss, geohealth, and climate change.

NSF

• We recommend an NSF funding level of at least $15.7 billion in FY 2023.
• NSF has the unique capacity to support interdisciplinary research, organize and lead research partnerships, and train the next generation of scientists.
• NSF’s budget has been flat in constant dollars since the passage of the 2010 America COMPETES Act.
• Recent data demonstrates that NSF funded only 28 percent of the high-quality research proposals that were submitted, rather than the National Science Board recommendation of 30 percent.

Closing

• Thank the person for speaking with you.
• Invite the staff person/senator/representative to reach out to you if they would like any additional information about biological or biomedical research.

Follow Up

Send a short thank you note to the staffer with whom you spoke, and include your state factsheet.