Funding for Engagement

External Funding Opportunities

Check recent issues of the Outreach and Engagement Newsletter for information on more external grants.

Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation is interested in making grants to organizations that share the foundation’s interest in bioethics and medical research. The foundation’s strategy is to make fewer, larger grants that will launch important new initiatives in its fields of interest. Selection criteria for all program areas include evidence of strong and visionary leadership; development of new initiatives that are replicable (good models) and sustainable (long-term impact); creation of new ways to address existing critical issues; interest in building connections and creative partnerships; desire to improve and enrich lives of individuals (not institutions); and original, unusual, dynamic, and focused proposals. Deadlines: July 15, 2008, November 15, 2008.http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/kornfeld/guide.html

The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation accepts proposals from nonprofit organizations for projects that meet one of the foundation’s two basic purposes: to contribute to the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and to contribute to the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society. Grants must have the potential of helping American children in a large geographic area (more than one state). Deadline: July 15, 2008. http://www.cwf-inc.org/docs/?section=grantseekers

The ADA Foundation invites applications for the Samuel Harris Fund for Children’s Dental Health for competitive grants of up to $5,000 each to oral health promotion programs designed to improve and maintain children’s oral health through community education and outreach programs. The grant program’s main objective is to help children whose socioeconomic status affects their access to professional oral care and adversely affects their oral health habits at home. Proposals from community-based, nonprofit, oral health promotion programs in the United States and its territories that comply with the program’s submission guidelines will be considered. Deadline: July 17, 2008. http://www.ada.org/ada/adaf/grants/harris.asp

Cooperative Development Foundation Mutual Services Cooperative Fund focuses exclusively on cooperative developments that enhance the quality of life for seniors living in rural America. The MSC Fund will focus its attention on co-op development grants that do the following: (1) contribute to the development of systemic approaches to replicate successful cooperative models that already serve seniors in rural areas; (2) provide technical assistance to aid in the development of co-op ventures that will serve seniors living in rural areas; and (3) provide a better understanding of lessons learned from co-ops that have served or are currently serving seniors living in rural areas. Deadline: July 25, 2008. http://www.cdf.coop/msc_fund/index.htm

The mission of the Waitt Family Foundation is to support organizations doing pioneering work with the potential for large-scale impact. The foundation believes in groundbreaking discovery, exploration, and ingenuity that drive lasting and widespread benefits to communities. They are looking for bold new ideas that can make a deep, lasting difference in the lives of many people. They want to support programs that will make a difference that can be scalable and replicated throughout the world. Currently accepting applications for Community Building Projects that will make a positive, long-term difference in at-risk populations today. Ideal projects will benefit the most people to the greatest degree. Preliminary grant requests are accepted year-round. Invited full proposals must be submitted by August 1, October 1, February 1, or May 1. http://www.waittfoundation.org/grants/guidelines.html

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation Student-Resident and Faculty-Initiated Project Grants support inventive ideas to promote more compassionate medical care and caregivers. The foundation receives and supports a number of unsolicited proposals from students, residents, and faculty to develop and support projects related to humanism in medicine. Projects have included curriculum development, community outreach, research, lectures, cultural competency, and publication of literary writings related to the practice of humanistic medicine. The Gold Foundation generally provides one-time funding for projects and looks favorably upon those projects that can be self-sustaining and replicable. Deadlines: August 12, 2008, November 4, 2008. http://humanism-in-medicine.org/

National Science Foundation Strategic Technologies for Cyberinfrastructure. This program will accept proposals for cyberinfrastructure development, demonstration, education, outreach, and training activities that are not aligned with the specific goals of other existing cyberinfrastructure funding opportunities and which have the potential to transform multiple areas of research or education. Projects appropriate for this program should be activities that include a demonstration of the potential impact on science or engineering research or education; generate outcomes not currently under development elsewhere; meet a clearly described cyberinfrastructure need not met elsewhere; and generate outcomes that will be of interest to a range of science and engineering communities. Deadlines: August 14, 2008, February 12, 2009. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=500066

The Sociological Initiatives Foundation supports research that focuses on the following: clear social policy objectives, institutional and educational practices, legislative and regulatory changes, organizing previously unorganized groups, building collective community capacity and/or power (such as expanding membership base), and linguistic issues, such as literacy, language maintenance and expansion, multilingualism and its implications, and their possible intersection with social and policy issues. The foundation supports projects that address institutional rather than individual or behavioral change and research and initiatives that provide insight into sociological and linguistic issues that may be useful to specific groups and communities. The research should ideally build an organization or constituency’s potential to expand public knowledge, affect policy, and create social change. Deadlines: online concept application, August 15, 2008; proposals, November 15, 2008. http://comm-org.wisc.edu/sif/

National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities (RAPD) supports research that will lead to the development of new technologies, devices, or software for persons with disabilities. Proposals should advance discovery or innovation beyond the frontiers of current knowledge in disability-related research. Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects are also supported, especially those that provide prototype custom-designed devices or software for persons with disabilities. Deadline: full proposal window August 15-September 15, 2008. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501021

National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering Environmental Sustainability program supports engineering research with the goal of promoting sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and that are also compatible with sustaining natural (environmental) systems, which provide ecological services vital for human survival. The long-term viability of natural capital is critical for many areas of human endeavor. Research in Environmental Sustainability considers long time horizons and incorporates contributions from the social sciences and ethics. This program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. The Environmental Sustainability program supports four general research areas: Industrial Ecology, Green Engineering, Ecological Engineering, and Earth Systems Engineering. Deadline: full proposal window August 15-September 15, 2008. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027

National Institutes of Health NCMHD Comprehensive Centers of Excellence (COE). There are clear and pressing needs for continued research, research training/education, and community engagement/outreach activities with a high likelihood for improving minority health and eliminating health disparities. This NCMHD COE program will support research, research training/education, and community engagement or outreach activities exploring the multiple and complex factors contributing to minority health and health disparities. Awards under this program may only be made to institutions of higher learning having a history of enrolling and graduating racial and ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students from their degree programs. The recruitment, retention, and promotion of racial and ethnic minority faculty and staff is also a priority at such institutions. Deadlines: Nonrequired letter of intent: July 30, 2008; Proposals: August 29, 2008. http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-MD-08-005.html

Cardinal Health is committed to supporting the communities where its employees live and work. Funding priorities are in the areas of health, children and families, and education. The foundation will begin accepting grant applications in July 2008 for community support. Deadline for electronic applications: August 29, 2008; next funding cycle February 27, 2009. website

The George Gund Foundation Environment Grants are awarded to organizations that work to address environmental issues in Northeast Ohio. In addition, we have an interest in the environment of the state of Ohio as a whole and in the Lake Erie and Ohio River ecosystems. Deadline: September 15, 2008. http://www.gundfdn.org/HOW/program_guidelines.asp

The Calvin K. Kazanjian Foundation maintains a vital interest in the overall efforts to increase economic literacy. Special attention is given to proposals and projects with national impact that address the following issues: (1) elevating the nation's understanding of the need for economic education (programs that raise various public's participation in economic education or create a demand for greater economic literacy); (2) application of new strategies for teaching economics including online and web-based instruction; (3) projects, policy studies, or programs that encourage measurement of economic understanding more often or more effectively are of specific interest; and (4) programs that help otherwise disenfranchised youth or young adults with children learn to participate in the economic system. Deadlines: September 15, 2008; February 15, 2009. http://www.kazanjian.org/Guidelines.htm

Procter & Gamble’s Live, Learn, and Thrive program supports initiatives in communities around the world reaching children in need, prenatal to 13 years of age. P&G wants to help children live by ensuring a healthy start; to provide them with places, tools, and programs that enhance their ability to learn; and to help them develop skills for life so they can thrive. Each request is carefully evaluated according to the Live, Learn, and Thrive focus and the priorities in the communities in which P&G operates around the world. Deadlines: September 30, 2008, February 28, 2009. http://www.pg.com/company/our_commitment/grant_application_guidelines.jhtml

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation’s aim is to invest in projects that further its free enterprise mission. The foundation is interested in supporting projects that nurture creativity, invention, entrepreneurship, and innovation. To that end, it will invest in projects that fall into three life phases (starting with childhood, continuing through college, and then into business activity): (1) education on the primary and secondary levels that instills an appreciation for free enterprise and cultivates creativity and inventionl (2) entrepreneurial education on the collegiate and adult levels that deepens free enterprise values and develops critical skills and competencies; and (3) entrepreneurial support for organizations that provides the incubation, business planning, or capitalization assistance critical to success. The foundation principally makes grants that benefit Ohio’s northeast quadrant. Deadline: September 1, 2008. http://www.bdmorganfdn.org/

Samuel Rubin Foundation’s general purpose is to carry on the vision of its founder, Samuel Rubin, whose life was dedicated to the pursuit of peace and justice and the search for an equitable reallocation of the world’s resources. The foundation believes that these objectives can be achieved only through the fullest implementation of social, economic, political, civil, and cultural rights for all the world's people. Deadline: September 5, 2008. http://www.samuelrubinfoundation.org/guidelines.html

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health Behavioral and Social Science Research on Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities (R01). The purpose of this funding opportunity is to encourage behavioral and social science research on the causes and solutions to health and disabilities disparities in the U.S. population. Health disparities between, on the one hand, racial/ethnic populations, lower socioeconomic classes, and rural residents and, on the other hand, the overall U.S. population are major public health concerns. Emphasis is placed on research in and among three broad areas of action: public policy, health care, and disease/disability prevention. Particular attention is given to reducing health gaps among groups. Proposals that use an interdisciplinary approach, investigate multiple levels of analysis, incorporate a life-course perspective, and/or employ innovative methods such as system science or community-based participatory research are particularly encouraged. Deadline: September 19, 2008. http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-07-379.html

National Endowment for the Humanities Picturing America School Collaboration Grants are for projects that foster collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities scholars to encourage engagement with the rich resources of American art to tell America’s story. This grant opportunity is designed to help teachers and librarians whose schools display the Picturing America images form connections with courses in the core curriculum. These projects will be grounded in the great works of art included in Picturing America, which is part of the Endowment’s We the People program. Deadline: October 01, 2008. http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/PASCP.html

The Fund for Wild Nature provides money for campaigns to save and restore native species and wild ecosystems, including actions to defend wilderness and biological diversity. The fund supports advocacy, litigation, public policy work, development of citizen science, and similar endeavors. The fund supports biocentric goals that are premised on effective and intelligible strategies. Special attention is given to ecological issues not currently receiving sufficient public attention and funding. Proposals with visionary and yet realistic goals to create tangible change are sought. Deadline: November 1, 2008. http://www.fundwildnature.org/

Organic Farming Research Foundation Research and Education and Outreach Grants. OFRF particularly encourages farmers, ranchers, researchers, and extension personnel to consider applying for funding. Research Grants provide support for research on organic farming and food systems and the dissemination of these research results to the greater agricultural community. Proposals must involve farmers or ranchers in project design and implementation and take place on working organic farms or ranches whenever possible. In addition, proposals should articulate how the proposed research project will foster the improvement or adoption of organic farming systems. Education and Outreach Grants fund the development of educational opportunities and materials that are pertinent to organic agricultural production or marketing and are aimed at organic producers and/or those considering making the transition to organic certification. OFRF will also accept proposals to fund activities that promote information sharing among organic agricultural researchers and organic farmers and ranchers. OFRF usually does not fund development of educational materials targeted primarily at consumers or the general public or programs for children. Deadline: November 17, 2008. http://ofrf.org/grants/apply_education&outreach.html

The National Endowment for Financial Education is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping Americans acquire the information and gain the skills necessary to take control of their financial lives. The grants program seeks innovative research and research-based development projects that can make a profound contribution to the field of financial literacy. Inquiries from disciplines in fields as diverse as behavior, economics, neuroscience, sociology, psychology, marketing, finance, education, change theory, decision sciences, and others are encouraged. Project outcomes should be actionable in the field of financial literacy, directly relevant to the financial well-being of the public, and have the ability to be applied broadly. Deadline: December 2, 2008. http://www.nefe.org/tabid/127/Default.aspx

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