Who will I engage?
When choosing a journal in which to publish your research, you strive for one with the most reach (scale) and impact (scope) in your discipline.
When crafting a BI plan, a similar approach should be applied. Strive to build partnerships that can help you achieve your desired reach and impact with a target audience — not just for the duration covered by this proposal, but partnerships that could thrive and grow over the course of your career.
Partnerships: Who will help you engage the target audience in your work?
Everyone on your team should have clearly defined roles and tasks that reflect their motivations to contribute to the project and produce measurable Broader Impact results.
By being thoughtful about identifying the right partners and target audience in the proposal writing phase, you will assure a positive experience for all involved when you are funded.
Identifying your BI partners is an important step in crafting a BI statement. Partners can help you accomplish your goals and result in a positive impact with your target audience.
Read more about Partnerships
Target Audiences: Who do you want to engage and work with on your broader impacts project?
There are many options for you to consider when constructing a BI plan. When deciding who to select as a target audience for your work, you should contemplate how it will benefit from the proposed BI activity.
When considering the potential target audiences below, keep in mind NSF's commitment to Broadening Participation in STEM. Focus your efforts on:
- Engaging with institutions in your local area or from other geographical regions
- Supporting the preparation of a diverse, globally engaged science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce
- Integrating your research with education
- Building infrastructure and capacity
- And most importantly, think about working with your target audience and partners instead of doing something for them.
There are many options for you to consider when constructing a BI project. When deciding who to select as a target audience for your work, you should contemplate the benefits of the proposed BI activity.
Read more about Target Audiences
An Update on Broadening Participation
In April 2025, NSF clarified their guidance on broadening participation activities. Specifically, investigators interested in "expanding participation in STEM for women and underrepresented groups — must ensure that all outreach, recruitment, or participatory activities in NSF projects are open and available to all Americans. Investigators may conduct these types of engagement activities to individuals, institutions, groups, or communities based on protected characteristics only as part of broad engagement activities. Investigators may also expand participation in STEM based on non-protected characteristics, including but not limited to institutional type, geography, socioeconomic status, and career stage. However, engagement activities aimed at these characteristics cannot indirectly preference or exclude individuals or groups based on protected characteristics."
See this page for more.