Academic careers and institutional reputations are closely linked with the ability to secure funding and publish work. In today's competitive environment, it is essential for research to be clearly communicated. In our experience, many researchers need assistance with communication skills, and institutions that offer professional services in grant, manuscript and project management have an advantage in the development of their faculty and trainees. A review of the literature shows that some institutions offer centralized proposal development resources and personnel to assist with grant writing, some institutions offer workshops and lectures designed to improve researchers' writing skills for grants and/or manuscripts, and fewer institutions offer departments focused specifically on editing manuscripts. In the fall of 2009, the University of Kentucky's (UK) Markey Cancer Center (MCC) developed an infrastructure, the Research Communications Office (RCO), to enhance faculty productivity. The RCO exists to provide: expertise in scientific editing of manuscripts for academic publishing; editing and management of research, training, and career development grants; project management for multi-component and institutionally complex grants; facilitation and tracking of all MCC pilot funding mechanisms; tracking all research outcomes; preparation of graphics for presentations, posters, publications and grants; marketing and design expertise for outreach endeavors; the planning and execution of internal and external communications; and MCC web content creation and maintenance. A successful and valued service for MCC, the RCO has totaled more than 1,400 projects over six years, growing from 189 projects when tracking began in 2010 to 294 in 2015. This article will discuss why and how the RCO was created at the MCC, and in doing so, provide a framework for how the RCO model can be successfully implemented at other institutions interested in offering professional editing and management of grants and manuscripts.