A survey of 113 astronomers and 82 psychologists who applied for US federal funding between January 2009 and November 2012 found that applications took on average 116 hours to prepare for principal investigators and 55 hours for co-investigators. More submissions increased the chances of receiving funding, but time spent writing a proposal had little correlation with success. The authors of the survey (T. von Hippel and C. von Hippel. PLoS ONE 10, e0118494; 2015) recommend that investigators avoid programmes with low funding rates unless they are prepared to write two or more proposals a year or have an exceptional application.