NSF Broader Impacts: what funded proposals include

NSF reviews every proposal on two criteria: Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. They carry equal weight, and a proposal that treats Broader Impacts as an afterthought usually shows it. This guide draws on our analysis of 250 funded NSF award abstracts, openly shared funded NSF proposals and NSF's own guidance.

What NSF means by Broader Impacts

Broader Impacts are the potential of the project to benefit society and contribute to specific, desired outcomes. NSF allows those benefits to come from three places:

• the research itself (for example, a tool others will use),
• activities directly related to the project (training students on it), or
• complementary activities (outreach supported by the project).

For both criteria, reviewers also weigh the quality of the plan, the team's qualifications and resources, and how you will know whether you succeeded.

Funded abstracts name who benefits

In the funded NSF abstracts we analyzed:

• 80% mention students or training.
• 55% name communities, partners, industry or outreach.
• 94% are written in project voice ("This project will…") rather than "we".

The second half of a funded abstract usually carries the Broader Impacts content, after the science.

What makes the section convincing

Generic promises are the main weakness reviewers point out: "We will publish in journals and present at conferences" is expected of everyone and earns nothing. Strong Broader Impacts sections are specific in four ways:

1. Named partners. "Two rural school districts in eastern Kentucky", not "local schools". A letter of collaboration helps.
2. Numbers. How many students, teachers or users, per year.
3. A budget. If it costs nothing, reviewers assume it will not happen.
4. An evaluation plan. How you will know it worked, and who measures it.

Where Broader Impacts appear

• Project Summary. NSF requires three parts: an overview, a statement on Intellectual Merit and a statement on Broader Impacts. Summaries missing a part can be returned without review. The limit is 4,600 characters.
• Project Description. Funded proposals include a section headed "Broader Impacts". It is required, and reviewers look for it.
• Results from Prior NSF Support. If anyone on the team has had NSF funding in the past five years, report its Broader Impacts as well as its research results.

Common problems

• Broader Impacts copied from a previous proposal and unrelated to this project.
• Outreach with no partner, numbers or budget.
• Activities the team has no experience delivering, with no collaborator who has.
• Broader Impacts mentioned in the summary but not developed in the proposal.

A note on this evidence

These patterns describe funded proposals, not guarantees. Program solicitations often add their own requirements, so read yours closely.

GrantMatch's NSF template includes separate Project Summary and Broader Impacts sections, and Pro and Lab users can turn their notes on partners and activities into a structured draft in their own words.