--- title: "How to Get Your Sim Purchase Approved: A Grant & Proposal Playbook" description: Learn how to effectively secure funding for your nursing program with strategic proposals that address real needs and measurable outcomes. image: https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Faculty%20Member%20in%20Professional%20Office%20Setting%20with%20Grant%20Proposal%20Notes.png --- [Skip to content...](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/how-to-get-your-sim-purchase-approved-a-grant-proposal-playbook#main-content) CHECK OUT OUR LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES \> × ### News and Updates ### Join Sim2Grow at 2026 SCNESA, July 24! #### Come visit our booth to explore innovative solutions that simplify simulation program management and support simulation excellence. Don't forget to pick up some free resources and subscribe to our Youtube Channel for the chance to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card! [![horizontal-logo-full-color-blue](https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/horizontal-logo-full-color-blue.png)](https://www.sim2grow.com) [ABOUT](https://www.sim2grow.com/about) [PRICING](https://www.sim2grow.com/pricing) [CONTACT](https://www.sim2grow.com/contact) [SUPPORT](https://www.sim2grow.com/support) [RESOURCES](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog) [Blogs](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog) [FAQs](https://www.sim2grow.com/faq) [Free Resources](https://www.sim2grow.com/pod_resources) [SCHEDULE YOUR FREE DEMO](https://www.sim2grow.com/schedule-your-free-demo) [ABOUT](https://www.sim2grow.com/about) [PRICING](https://www.sim2grow.com/pricing) [CONTACT](https://www.sim2grow.com/contact) [SUPPORT](https://www.sim2grow.com/support) [RESOURCES](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog) [Blogs](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog) [FAQs](https://www.sim2grow.com/faq) [Free Resources](https://www.sim2grow.com/pod_resources) Search [\< All Posts](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/) # How to Get Your Sim Purchase Approved: A Grant & Proposal Playbook October 19, 2026 By Roxanne Holthaus, MS, RN, FNP I've written the budget memo. I've also sat across from a dean explaining why a program needed a piece of equipment it hadn't budgeted for. Those are two very different documents, and I watched a lot of good faculty champions lose a purchase because they only ever wrote the first one. Spending money your program already has is a budgeting exercise. Getting a dean, a provost, or a grant reviewer to give you money you don't yet have is a persuasion exercise - and it runs on a completely different kind of evidence. ## **The Case Your Dean Actually Wants to See** A dean isn't approving a cart. They're approving an outcome they can defend to their own leadership, and it’s usually one of three: NCLEX pass rates, accreditation compliance, or enrollment and retention. If your proposal describes the equipment before it describes which of those three problems it solves, you've made your reviewer do the translation work themselves. Do it for them. ## **Where the Money Actually Comes From** Internal capital budgets aren't the only door, and often aren't the best one. In my experience, these are the sources worth knowing by name: 1. **HRSA NEPQR-SET (Simulation Education Training).** A federal Bureau of Health Workforce program under Title VIII, built specifically to fund simulation-based technology and equipment to improve readiness to practice - the most direct federal fit for a med-pass simulator purchase. 2. **HRSA NEPQR-TPP (Transition to Practice).** Focused on workforce readiness and transition support, often a fit if you're framing the purchase around new-grad outcomes rather than curriculum alone. 3. **State workforce development and nursing investment funds.** Many states run their own nursing education grant programs — often smaller, less competitive, and faster-turnaround than federal cycles. 4. **Regional and private foundations.** Community foundations and healthcare system foundations in your area fund simulation equipment more often than most faculty realize — it's worth a direct call to ask. 5. **A grant you didn't write yourself.** Some of the strongest cases I've seen came from a program partnering with a hospital or workforce board that was already pursuing funding and needed a nursing education partner to include.   ## **Building the Proposal, Step by Step** Whether you're writing to a dean or a federal reviewer, the structure barely changes: Start with a needs assessment that uses your own program's data — your current NCLEX pass rate trend, a specific accreditation finding, or a documented gap in clinical placement capacity. Then frame the ask around workforce need, not curriculum preference: reviewers, internal or external, respond to “our region needs more ready nurses” far more than “our lab needs an upgrade.” Attach a budget that ties every line item to a measurable outcome you're committing to report back — pass rate movement, faculty hours saved, students served. Bring letters of support from clinical partners or workforce boards if you can get them; they cost you a phone call and they materially strengthen a proposal. And build in a realistic timeline — reviewers notice when the implementation plan is as thought-through as the ask. ## **What Reviewers Are Actually Looking For** Across both internal and federal review, the pattern is consistent: the proposals that get funded document a real gap, connect the ask to a workforce or accreditation outcome the funder already cares about, and commit to specific, measurable results. The proposals that get declined usually describe a want instead of a documented need. ## **If You're Building This Case Right Now** I've sat with faculty while they built this exact case around the [Sim2Grow Medication Administration Simulator](https://www.sim2grow.com/) — happy to think through what a needs assessment and outcome framing could look like for your program specifically. If it would help to talk it through before you write anything, [grab time here](https://www.sim2grow.com/schedule-your-free-demo) — I'm glad to be a sounding board. X views ## Recent Posts [See All](https://21193294.hs-sites.com/en-us/blog) [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/New%20Graduate%20Nurse%20at%20Hospital%20Nursing%20Station.png?width=352&name=New%20Graduate%20Nurse%20at%20Hospital%20Nursing%20Station.png)](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/why-new-grads-freeze-at-the-med-cart-and-what-programs-can-do) ### [Why New Grads Freeze at the Med Cart and What Programs Can Do](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/why-new-grads-freeze-at-the-med-cart-and-what-programs-can-do) [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/s%20(7).jpg?width=352&name=s%20(7).jpg)](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-simulations-in-nursing-2) ### [The Pros and Cons of Different Simulation Modalities in Nursing Education...](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-simulations-in-nursing-2) [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/s%20(6).jpg?width=352&name=s%20(6).jpg)](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-simulations-in-nursing) ### [The Pros and Cons of Different Simulation Modalities in Nursing Education...](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-simulations-in-nursing) ![Round submark-full-color-rgb blue](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Round%20submark-full-color-rgb%20blue.png?width=200&height=225&name=Round%20submark-full-color-rgb%20blue.png "Round submark-full-color-rgb blue") **How to Reach Us** +1 937-358-6936 [info@sim2grow.com](mailto:info@sim2grow.com) [![facebook-logo-108\_32](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/facebook-logo-108_32.png?width=25&height=25&name=facebook-logo-108_32.png)](https://www.facebook.com/SIM2GROW)  [![instagram-111\_32](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/instagram-111_32.png?width=25&height=25&name=instagram-111_32.png)](https://www.instagram.com/sim2grow)   [![linkedin-112\_32](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/linkedin-112_32.png?width=26&height=26&name=linkedin-112_32.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sim2grow)   [![youtube-123\_32](https://www.sim2grow.com/hs-fs/hubfs/youtube-123_32.png?width=22&height=22&name=youtube-123_32.png)](https://www.youtube.com/@sim2grow)   Join Our Newsletter Get tips and tricks in your inbox to enhance your simulation program. - [About](https://www.sim2grow.com/about) - [Pricing](https://www.sim2grow.com/pricing) - [Blog](https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog) - [FAQ](https://www.sim2grow.com/faq) - [Terms of Use](https://www.sim2grow.com/terms-of-use) - [EULA: MAS](https://www.sim2grow.com/end-user-license-agreement) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.sim2grow.com/privacy-policy) Join Our Newsletter Get tips and tricks in your inbox to enhance your simulation program. [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/basil_facebook-outline.png)](https://www.facebook.com/SIM2GROW) [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/mdi_instagram.png)](https://www.instagram.com/sim2grow) [![](https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/mingcute_linkedin-line.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sim2grow/) × ## Sign Up For Our Monthly Newsletter ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Roxanne Holthaus, MS, RN, FNP", "url" : "https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/author/roxanne-holthaus-ms-rn-fnp" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-19T14:00:00.256Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-19T14:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "How to Get Your Sim Purchase Approved: A Grant & Proposal Playbook", "image" : [ "https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Faculty%20Member%20in%20Professional%20Office%20Setting%20with%20Grant%20Proposal%20Notes.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/how-to-get-your-sim-purchase-approved-a-grant-proposal-playbook", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.sim2grow.com/hubfs/sim2grow-final-files-horizontal-logo-full-color-rgb%20med%20admin.png" }, "name" : "Sim2Grow®" } } ```