Access the ARIS Broader Impacts Toolkit

Select a peer-reviewed tool below to write and evaluate your Broader Impacts plan for your NSF (or other funding) proposal.

Write your NSF Broader Impacts plan with confidence.

What are Broader Impacts (BI)?

Broader Impacts (BI) represent the societal impact of your research. It’s how your work benefits the public addition to contributing to greater scientific knowledge.

U.S. NSF Definition: Broader Impacts are one of two merit review criteria that the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) requires. BI are the societal impact of the proposal and “may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to the project.” 
NSF grant reviewers evaluate Broader Impacts statement on five criteria:

• What is the potential for the proposed activity to benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes?
• To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original or potentially transformative concepts?
• Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized and based on sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success?
• How well qualified is the individual, team or institution to conduct the proposed activities?
• Are there adequate resources available to the principal investigator (either at the home institution or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities?
  

NSF has made updates to the Broader Impacts criterion, see its website for more information.
Learn more by visiting NSF’s Broader Impacts page.