SEARCHING FOR EXTERNAL FUNDING SOURCES
There are tens of thousands of public and private sector funding opportunities out “there” for every imaginable purpose. The advent of the internet and the world wide web has made information about those opportunities more accessible, but searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack is still not easy, even with incredible search engines like Google.
Grants.gov. The federal government is maximizing efforts to make information about its funding programs available online, and provide for electronic submission of applications. Grants.gov is an ongoing effort to combine funding announcements for all federal programs in one place. By funding announcements we mean open competitions. Grants.gov lists only open competitions. OGSP posts on its Grant Opportunity Notices web page the most recent funding announcements from Grants.gov. To find out about other funding opportunities that will be coming open in the future, you can go to the departmental source. Each federal agency has its own web site. Links to the major ones are found on the Links to Funding Websites page.
OGSP also has a Grant Deadlines web page that lists deadlines for certain public and private funding sources coming up in the next 3-4 months.
Given the wide variety of faculty and staff interests, and the multitude of funding opportunities, OGSP has neither the time nor the space to identify and catalog the universe of funding opportunities in a meaningful or useful way. Faculty and staff are encouraged to do their own homework in identifying possible funding sources by consulting with peers, professional associations, etc., searching the internet, and utilizing various other web resources. OGSP provides links to many public and private web resources on the Links to Funding Websites page. Each of these web sites provides many helpful resources besides funding information, and enables you to drill down or bridge out by linking you to other resources.
University Advancement has a subscription to the Foundation Center Directory Online. Consult with Curtis Greenfield to do custom searches.
Grants Resource Center (GRC). The AASCU’s GRC is a resource for EOU faculty and staff. GRC provides a number of high quality resources and training opportunities for the development of grantsmanship skills and assistance in finding and submitting successful proposals. The GRC website (http://www.aascu.org/grc/) provides services that EOU faculty and staff can access directly, such as grant bulletins, a grant search engine, proposal library, etc. See the OGSP web site for more detail and access information.
Why Search? Pursuing individual scholarly goals or research, or institutional program development often requires funds that are not available internally, so one is forced to seek grants externally. Grant seekers can wait passively for serendipity to bring a request for proposals (RFP) across the desk, or actively seek funding sources. Chance may never bring the right RFP, or if one does, you will probably have to modify what you want to do to make it fit what they want to do. Search for funding sources that fit what you want to do, not vice versa. Don’t wait for, or look for RFP’s that might be close to your area of interest. Know what you want to do.
Consult with potential funding sources. Call the program officer that oversees the grant program. Program officers will vary in their ability and/or willingness to help you, but use them to the greatest extent they will allow. Tell them what your grant proposal idea is, and why you think it is important. They may tell you whether they think it is a good idea, and, if not, may suggest how to refocus your idea.
Once a number of potential funding sources are identified, or a specific one targeted, OGSP or University Advancement will provide assistance in evaluating the sources and preparing the application.
Don’t wait for the RFP to begin your work on the application. If you wait for the program announcement to begin your planning and program development, you will not have adequate time to prepare a competitive proposal. Most ongoing, cyclical funding programs do not change much from year to year. Get last year’s guidelines, and work from those. Work six months or more out.
Faculty and staff are reminded that program and proposal development should be approved by the appropriate division chairs and deans, or Vice-Presidents, and grant applications must be approved prior to submission, and cleared through OGSP or University Advancement. See the OGSP home page for grant writing guides and forms..
FEDERAL AGENCY WEB SITES FOR GRANTS
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Recent Funding Opportunities:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=NSF&ord=rcnt
NSF Fastlane
https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/fastlane.jsp
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Funding Opportunities and Notices:
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Grant Programs and Deadlines
http://www.neh.gov/grants/grants.html
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Grant Opportunities
http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/index.html
U.S. Department of Education
List of Currently Open Grant Competitions:
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html
Electronic Grants Online
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Grant Opportunities: Overseas Missions
http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/AID/OM/activity_1.html
Grant Opportunities: Washington D.C.
http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/AID/OP/activity_1.html
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fosearch.cfm
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
Grant Opportunities
http://www.commerce.gov/grants.html
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Office of Science: Grants and Contracts
http://www.sc.doe.gov/grants/grants.html#Grant%20Solicitation%20Notices
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Funds Available
http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/fundsavail.cfm#grants
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Grants and Funding
http://www.hhs.gov/grants/index.shtml#grant
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Health Resources and Services Administration (HSRA)
Current Funding Opportunities
http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/preview/
Corporation for National and Community Service
AmeriCorps
Notice of Funds Availability and Funding Opportunities
http://www.americorps.org/for_organizations/funding/nofa.asp
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
Programs and Deadlines
http://www.imls.gov/applicants/after.shtm
NASA grants page
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
http://www.defenselink.mil/sites/
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/fundopps.htm
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Open Announcements
http://exchanges.state.gov/education/rfgps/menu.htm
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
FirstGov
U.S. Government’s Official Web Portal
Grants.gov
Access Point for 900 Programs of 26 Federal Agencies
GrantsNet
HHS Portal
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
Grant Search Engine
http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.FIND_GRANT_RPT1.show
Federal Register (search engine)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
Commerce Business Daily
FedWorld.gov
OTHER WEB PORTALS TO
Grants and Related Resources
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/federal.htm
Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP)
Database of Biomedical Research
Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International
Grants Web Resources
http://www.srainternational.org/newweb/grantsweb/index.cfm
PK-12 School Grants
http://www.schoolgrants.org/index.htm
PRIVATE SECTOR
Chronicle of Higher Education
Fellowship Deadlines
http://chronicle.com/cgi2-bin/texis/events/searchdeadlines?t=Fellowships&s=type
Grant Deadlines
http://chronicle.com/cgi2-bin/texis/events/searchdeadlines?t=Grants&s=type
Chronicle of Philanthropy
Private Sector Grants
http://philanthropy.com/deadlines/
The Foundation Center
Search Zone
http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/
RFP Bulletin
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/rfp/index.jhtml
Grant Makers of Oregon and Southwest Washington
http://www.gosw.org/grant/makers/info/grants_management
On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/obas/
Council of Research Administrators (CRA) – links to references on research administration
http://www.cra-cert.org/BodyOfKnowledge.htm