Grant Readiness Architect™
Your Institution May Not Have a Grant-Writing Problem.
Most institutions do not lose grants at the writing stage. They lose them earlier — in governance, infrastructure, alignment, and culture. Dr. Allen Lewis helps institutional leaders find out where, before the next award, the next hire, or the next budget cycle depends on guessing right.
The problem, named for the reader
The pressure is already on.
If your institution has recently brought in a new dean, president, provost, or research leader — or made a strategic commitment to grow external funding — the pressure is already on. A round of major rejections, a submission volume that has stalled, or a research portfolio that depends on one or two productive investigators are not writing problems. They are readiness problems, and they tend to surface right before an accreditation cycle, a budget cycle, or a strategic-planning process forces the question.
Before hiring another grant writer or expanding the research office, it is worth knowing whether that is the actual constraint — because funding the wrong intervention costs money, time, and credibility that a hiring or budget cycle rarely gives back.
Authority
Nearly three decades inside the institutions that win — and the ones that don't.
Dr. Allen Lewis brings more than four decades of professional experience in academic, research, and institutional leadership — including nearly three decades in academic leadership across five universities, with service as a dean at an academic medical center and department chair roles earlier in his career. He has been involved in more than $18 million in federal grant funding across research, training, and capacity-building initiatives, authored more than 80 publications and book chapters, and delivered more than 150 invited and peer-reviewed presentations. He has advised research capacity-building efforts at institutions across the country, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority-Serving Institutions, and is a nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. That experience helps Dr. Lewis distinguish a proposal-level problem from an institutional readiness constraint before leadership invests in the wrong remedy.
More than four decades of professional experience in academic, research, and institutional leadership, including nearly three decades in academic leadership across five universities; $18M+ in federal grant involvement; 80+ publications and book chapters; 150+ invited and peer-reviewed presentations; nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.
The misdiagnosis
The industry keeps diagnosing a writing problem. It isn't one.
When funding falls short, most institutions respond the same way — a workshop, an editor, a new template, a consultant to "fix the proposal." None of it addresses the actual question executive leadership should be asking.
Grant writing is a skill. Institutional readiness is a system. You can improve the first without ever touching the second, and the results will still depend on which individual happens to be in the room.
The 90% Rule, explained
Grant writing is the last 10%. Organizational readiness is the first 90%.
The proposal is the visible part — the document a program officer reads. Everything that determines whether that document has a real chance, and whether the next one does too, sits underneath it.
The visible 10% — the proposal
- Proposal narrative
- Budget justification
- Literature review
- Formatting
- Compliance
The hidden 90% — institutional readiness
- Governance
- Infrastructure
- Alignment
- Networks
- Culture
- Data / Evaluation systems
Executive White Paper
The 90% Before the Proposal
Why institutions often win or lose grants before a single word is written.
Watch
Dr. Lewis introduces the 90% Rule.
A short introduction to the framework behind the Lewis Readiness Index™ — and why institutional readiness, not proposal writing, determines sustainable funding.
Lewis Readiness Index™
How ready is your institution, really?
An executive assessment across the six GRANTS Architecture™ dimensions, designed to be completed in one sitting. You will receive a readiness profile and an invitation to schedule a debrief.
No cost. Confidential. No obligation. Designed to be completed in one sitting.
What happens next
The Index is where the conversation starts — not where it ends.
You complete a confidential executive assessment, designed to be finished in one sitting. We calculate a composite readiness score and a score for each of the six GRANTS Architecture™ dimensions. Then you're invited to a debrief conversation to walk through what your profile means for your institution.
If the debrief surfaces a broader institutional concern, Dr. Lewis will outline the appropriate next step privately with your leadership team.
Your score is the starting point. It does not end the conversation.
About Dr. Lewis
Built by someone who has sat on both sides of the table.
Dean, department chair, principal investigator, program officer relationships, national committee work — Dr. Lewis has spent his career inside the systems he now helps other institutions build. The Lewis Readiness Index™ is the diagnostic he wishes had existed when he was leading them.
Lewis Readiness Index™
Find out where your institution actually stands.
Start the Lewis Readiness Index™. Complete a confidential executive assessment, designed to be completed in one sitting. Receive a confidential readiness profile. Schedule a debrief to interpret it.
No cost. Confidential. No obligation. Designed to be completed in one sitting.
The Lewis Readiness Index™ is a directional executive readiness baseline. It does not evaluate individual grant proposals, guarantee funding outcomes, serve as a compliance or accreditation instrument, or function as a public ranking. Results are confidential to your institution and are not a substitute for the Grant Readiness Diagnostic™.
Grant writing is the last 10%. Organizational readiness is the first 90%.
How ready is your institution?