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Washington Center for Equitable Growth: Promoting Competition and Supporting Workers in an Era of AI Innovation
Deadline: February 10, 2025
Category: Artificial Intelligence, Workforce Development,
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth seeks to support research that will generate actionable insights for policymakers and inform policies that lead to strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth.
How can we encourage use of artificial intelligence technologies that is more beneficial for U.S. workers and society? We are currently requesting proposals for research that will inform policies that would harness the potential of generative AI and other emerging technologies to boost growth, innovation, and productivity while ensuring robust competition and making sure that productivity gains are broad-based and lead to improved job quality. We are open to research on a range of technologies, such as generative AI and large language models, but also algorithms, electronic surveillance, and various forms of automation. For the sake of concision, we use AI throughout this Request for Proposals to refer to all of the various forms of technologies.
Preference will be given to scholars who are willing to engage with policymakers on their research. Social scientists and research can play a powerful role in shaping policy. Grantees will have the opportunity to participate in trainings and receive assistance in translating research findings for nonacademic audiences.
This Request for Proposals is open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. college or university and graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. college or university in the dissertation stage of their career. The affiliated university must administer the grant.
Vilcek Foundation: Grants to Support Immigrants in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities
Deadline: June 30, 2025
Category: Humanities,
The Vilcek Foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia, with the mission to celebrate and raise awareness of immigrant contributions to the arts, sciences, and society in the United States.
The foundation invites applications for its grants program, which will award grants in support of nonprofit organizations based in the United States and U.S. territories that work with immigrant artists and communities and that promote diversity in the arts, sciences, education, and humanities.
In 2025, the foundation will award a total of $200,000 to nonprofit organizations, with individual grants ranging from between $5,000 and $20,000 each.
To be eligible, applicants must be nonprofit organizations operating as tax-exempt as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and be based in the United States or within the U.S. territories.
RRF Foundation for Aging: Quality of Life Grants for Older Adults
Deadline: Letter of Inquiry due February 1, 2025
Category:
RRF Foundation for Aging has supported projects that enhance and improve the quality of life for older people. While nearly half of RRF grants support programs in the Midwest, the foundation also supports innovative solutions that assist older Americans nationwide.
The foundation invites applications for its grantmaking program, which aims to improve the quality of life for older people. To strengthen the foundation’s impact, it has established the following priority areas:
Caregiving: Ensuring care partners are informed, well-trained, and supported while providing care to older people in community settings.
Economic Security in Later Life: Valuing the dignity of older people through efforts that ensure and protect their economic security and well-being.
Housing: Promoting efforts to make housing more affordable and provide coordinated services that enable older people to live safely in community settings.
Social and Intergenerational Connectedness: Strengthening social bonds through efforts that promote meaningful connections, including those that span generations.
Within the priority areas, RRF will award grants involving advocacy, direct service, professional education and training, research, and organizational capacity building. While the priority areas reflect RRF’s primary funding interests, the foundation remains open to supporting compelling applications on other topics.
Letters of inquiry are due February 1, 2025, and selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals by May 5, 2025.
Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as well as public charities or nonprofit organizations that are not required to have a 501(c)(3) designation, such as state-funded universities and area agencies on aging.
Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Foundation: Advancing Understanding of Neurodegenerative Disorders
Deadline: February 1, 2025
Category: Neurodegenerative Disease,
The Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Foundation, Inc. is a support corporation of Duke University, that believes that effective treatment(s) for Alzheimer’s disease is attainable, and the hope that a cure will be found. In addition to its grant-making within Duke University, the foundation operates an extramural program that supports high-priority, high-potential, basic, or translational research toward the prevention or treatment of neurodegenerative diseases outside of Duke University.
The Foundation will award a two-year grant, effective July 1, 2025, for $125,000 each year for non-Duke Faculty. Applications will be evaluated on their potential for advancing the understanding of neurodegenerative disorders, with particular interest in the potential relationship to Alzheimer’s disease.
The research proposed should be an innovative direction of study for the applicant’s lab with the potential for high impact on the field.
Applicants should be faculty at an accredited medical school in the United States or at a research institution affiliated with an accredited medical school in the United States.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Health Equity, Racial Equity,
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a call for proposals for Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity.
Evidence for Action (E4A), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funds research that expands the evidence needed to build a Culture of Health, with an explicit emphasis on advancing racial equity. The foundation recognizes that achieving racial equity is not possible without a focus on the foundational and structural drivers of health, often referred to as the social determinants of health (e.g., housing, education, built environment, economic opportunity, law enforcement, and others). Therefore, partners with researchers, practitioners, community leaders, advocates, and policy makers across the many sectors and domains that impact health and well-being to develop evidence about what works to dismantle or remedy unjust systems and practices and produce more equitable outcomes for people and communities of color.
E4A prioritizes research to evaluate specific interventions (e.g., policies, programs, practices) that have the potential to counteract the harms of structural and systemic racism and improve health, well-being, and equity outcomes. The foundation is concerned both with the direct impacts of structural racism on the health and well-being of people and communities of color (e.g., Black, Latina/o/x, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander people, and other races and ethnicities)—as well as how racism intersects with other forms of marginalization, such as having low income, being an immigrant, having a disability, or identifying as LGBTQ+ or a gender minority.
This funding is focused on studies about upstream causes of health inequities, such as the systems, structures, laws, policies, norms, and practices that determine the distribution of resources and opportunities, which in turn influence individuals’ options and behaviors. Research should center on the needs and experiences of communities exhibiting the greatest health burdens and be motivated by real-world priorities. It should be able to inform a specific course of action and/or establish beneficial practices, not stop characterizing or documenting a problem’s extent.
E4A seeks grantees who are deeply committed to conducting rigorous and equitable research and ensuring that their findings are actionable in the real world. In addition to research funding, RWJF also supports grantees with stakeholder engagement, dissemination of findings, and other activities that can enhance their projects’ potential to “move the needle” on health and racial equity.
To be eligible, organizations must be based in the United States or its territories. Submissions from teams that include both U.S. and international members are eligible, but the lead applicant must be based in the United States. Preference will be given to applicant organizations that are either institutes of higher education, public entities, or nonprofits that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. Other types of nonprofit and for-profit organizations are also eligible to apply.
Foundation Fighting Blindness: Career Development Program
Deadline: January 30, 2025
Category: Retinal degeneration,
The Foundation Fighting Blindness was established in 1971 by a passionate group of individuals determined to help find treatments and cures for blinding diseases affecting themselves or loved ones. Today, the foundation aims to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments, and cures for blinding diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease, Leber congenital amaurosis, and more.
The foundation invites applications for its Career Development Program, which seeks to help advance junior clinical research scientists in their professional endeavors to cure retinal degenerative disease by: facilitating advances in laboratory and clinical research; elucidating the mechanism for the cause and pathogenesis of retinal degenerative diseases; and developing innovative strategies to prevent, treat, and cure these diseases.
This program supports up to five junior-level faculty for five years at $75,000 per year.
Eligible applicants include clinician-scientists possessing an MD, DO, OD, or recognized equivalent foreign degree and who are in their first, second, or third year of a junior faculty appointment.
Craig H. Neilsen Foundation: Creating Opportunity & Independence Community Support Grants Program
Deadline: Letter of Intent due January 27, 2025
Category: Spinal Cord Injury,
Sharing the vision of its founder, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation is committed to a world where individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI), and those who care for them, live full and productive lives as active participants in their communities.
The foundation invites LOIs for its Creating Opportunity & Independence Community Support Grants program, which supports nonprofit partners that provide programs and services to empower people with SCI to achieve independent, fulfilling lives.
Community Support Grants are intended to help organizations improve the lives of people with SCI in the following areas:
Community Activities: Initiatives that provide group or individual activities that enhance physical, emotional, or social wellbeing, where people with SCI are actively engaged and interact with peers.
Life Transitions: Organizations supporting individuals with SCI in finding practical solutions after injury, helping them navigate through transitions, and promoting successful integration into homes, workplaces, and communities.
Accessibility For All: Projects that remove barriers—physical, technological, or systemic—that prevent people with SCI from fully participating in society.
Funding can be requested for one or two years and the budget for any year cannot exceed $125,000. Only total budgets between $25,000 and $200,000 will be considered.
Letters of intent are due January 27, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full grant application, due April 21, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. ET.
To be eligible, applicants must be a nonprofit organization located in the United States or Canada.
Bob Woodruff Foundation: Military and Veterans Well-Being Program Grants
Deadline: January 22, 2025
Category: veterans,
The Bob Woodruff Foundation invests in programs that help service members, veterans, their families, and caregivers thrive.
The foundation invites applications for programs and services that serve the military and veteran community. The foundation is focused on programs that improve the health and well-being of service members, veterans, their families, and caregivers, and those that improve social determinants of health, decrease barriers to accessing physical and mental health care, increase accessibility to programming that fosters a healthy lifestyle, and enhance opportunities for veterans to thrive after service.
To be eligible, projects must be administered through a nonprofit organization. In addition, applicants must provide direct services to the military/veteran population, demonstrate financial responsibility and sustainability, and have filed a 990EZ or 990 for the last two fiscal years, provide an audited financial statement or a certified financial statement, and have two years of gross receipts greater than $50,000.
To be considered in the first wave of review for the calendar year, applications must be submitted by January 6, 2025.
American Institute for Conservation, Foundation for Advancement in Conservation: Kress Conservation Fellowship program
Deadline: January 22, 2025
Category: Art History; Art Conservation,
The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC) collaborate to promote the preservation and protection of cultural heritage.
On behalf of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, FAIC will be administering the Kress Conservation Fellowship program, which will provide competitive grants to cultural institutions and conservation facilities to sponsor supervised post-graduate fellowship opportunities that help develop the skills of emerging conservators.
Through the program, five $44,000 fellowships are expected to be awarded each year for one-year post-graduate internships in advanced conservation at a cultural heritage institution or conservation facility. The full $44,000 must be allocated as a fellowship stipend. FAIC recommends that the awarded institutions contribute at least $6,000 to the fellowship stipend, for a total of $50,000.
The program aims to support a set of fellowships that offer a variety of specialty areas (paintings, paper, objects, etc.), opportunities for graduates from a variety of graduate programs in the United States and Canada, and opportunities to work in a variety of institutions, from large municipal museums to university museums and other conservation facilities, as well as sites outside the U.S. Preference may be given to institutions that have not recently hosted Kress Fellows.
Cultural heritage institutions or conservation facilities can apply to host a fellowship. Fellows must complete a masters-level degree in conservation prior to beginning the fellowship. Fellows must be either a resident or citizen of the U.S. or Canada, or a recent graduate from a conservation graduate program in the U.S. or Canada. The fellowship candidate may be identified in advance of application by the host institution or recruited subsequently.
Alzheimer’s Association: Sleep Contributions to Neurodegeneration Grant Program
Deadline: Letter of Intent due January 29, 2025
Category: Alzheimer's Disease,
The Alzheimer’s Association, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and CurePSP are partnering together on this unique funding program to advance an understanding of the role sleep plays in neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body diseases and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. This funding call will focus on projects aimed to advance our understanding of the impact that sleep and related biology (including circadian rhythms) have as both a contributor to and a consequence of neurodegeneration. Projects funded through this program will aim to tackle the proposed question with a multidisciplinary team and projects that engage in team science approaches will be given preference.
Proposed projects must incorporate:
Systems or wholistic approach of the impact of sleep on neurodegenerative diseases from onset to progression, bringing together the threads of research that touch on sleep related issues.
Incorporate considerations of co-pathologies and/or comorbidities in the context of sleep related impairment and/or contributions to progression.
Incorporation of tools for deeper measures of sleep-related impact with passive tools of data collection; this can include “adjacent” physiology (heart rate, body temperature, etc.).
Incorporation of sleep related biology measures in the context of other ongoing studies; studies that aim to add sleep related measures would be applicable and/or studies that aim to data mine existing data across data sets are of interest.
Successful proposals will take into consideration multidisciplinary and multi-organizational
approaches to address these challenging questions. Investigators that have received funding from either the Alzheimer’s Association, MJFF or Cure PSP and are currently delinquent in submitting required reports to the funding organization are not eligible to apply.
Teiger Foundation: Curator-led Initiatives in Contemporary Visual Art
Deadline: January 28, 2025
Category:
The Teiger Foundation supports contemporary visual art with a primary focus on curators. It honors the vision of founder David Teiger, who, in his lifetime, championed professionals who pursued their paths in making exhibitions, leading organizations, conducting research, and pursuing other aspects of curatorial practice.
The foundation has issued a call for proposals. The foundation supports group exhibitions, single-artist surveys, participatory and community-engaged art projects, digital exhibitions, live and virtual performance in the context of the visual arts, and as-yet-unknown curatorial forms involving contemporary visual art and artists.
The foundation offers grants of up to $150,000 for single projects led by curators at organizations of all sizes; grants of up to $150,000 for three years of programming at organizations with an annual budget of less than $3.5 million; grants of up to $75,000 for hosting exhibitions that originated elsewhere; and grants of up to $50,000 for curatorial research and development, the earliest stages of a project.
Responses to urgent conditions and new approaches to working with artists, institutions, and communities are encouraged. The foundation will support the development and realization of new projects as well as the deepening and extending of the value of existing ones. It does not prioritize particular themes or project types.
To be eligible, projects must be affiliated with an established 501(c)(3) art or cultural institution. Only 501(c)(3) institutions in the Unit
Stranahan Foundation: Early Education Workforce Development
Deadline: January 21, 2025
Category:
The Stranahan Foundation has issued its spring 2025 early childhood education funding cycle. The grantmaking program focuses on increasing access to high-quality early care and education for young children (birth to 5)—especially those from low-income families—by investing in developing and retaining a high-quality, thriving early educator workforce.
The spring 2025 funding cycle will support nonprofit organizations and projects focused on advancing the foundation’s innovation and proven professional development strategies outlined below:
Innovation: This strategy focuses on developing, piloting, and refining new approaches to improve the knowledge, skills, or practices of aspiring and existing early childhood professionals.
Proven Professional Development: This strategy focuses on expanding or modifying a clearly defined, proven professional development model to enable future expansion or implementation in a new childhood setting.
Based on the highest needs surfaced through the foundation’s recent engagement and discussions with ECE leaders and educators in the 2024 provider cycle, the foundation is exclusively interested in models and approaches designed to do one of the following: build the capacity of early childhood leaders, coaches, or mentor teachers to deliver or support instructional coaching; support early childhood professionals in building the skills necessary to support children’s social-emotional health and effectively address challenging behaviors; and grow the pipeline of high-quality, well-trained early childhood leaders and teachers.
Applicants may request funding up to $500,000 to be paid over three years. However, only proposals that include multiple collaborators or take a systems-based approach are anticipated to receive funding at the highest level. The foundation anticipates awarding up to five grants, averaging approximately $300,000, as part of this funding cycle.
This call is open to local, state, and national U.S.-based nonprofit organizations, fiscally sponsored organizations, public school districts, and higher education institutions. Organizations must have a commitment to serving early childhood providers and professionals whose student populations comprise at least 60 percent of children from low-income families (the foundation defines “low-income” as income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level or 50 percent of the area’s median household income); and a demonstrated track record of collaborating with families, communities, and early childhood professionals on developing and refining its programs and any proposed projects.
New Earth Foundation: Grants for Environmental Initiatives
Deadline: Letter of Inquiry due February 1, 2025
Category:
The New Earth Foundation aims to fund innovative projects that enhance life on our planet and brighten the future, furthering peace.
The grants from NEF support a wide variety of projects in many fields of endeavor, including but not limited to environmental initiatives that are working to help eliminate pollution and save the planet’s ecosystems, community efforts that create models of social sustainability, educational innovations that prepare youth to become the socially responsible leaders of the future, and strategies that offer economic improvement and opportunities. NEF particularly appreciates projects that are replicable so excellent ideas and work can multiply and benefit many.
The foundation prioritizes smaller, newer 501(c)(3) organizations, so the gift can make a more significant contribution to the work of the recipient organization.
Candidates must be tax-exempt as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service.
Letters of inquiry are due February 1, 2025, and selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by March 2025.
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation: Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity
Deadline: January 31, 2025
Category:
An international foundation based in Portugal, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation aims to promote the development of individuals and organizations, through art, science, education, and charity, for a more equitable and sustainable society.
The foundation invites nominations for the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, a €1 million ($1.05 million) prize that recognizes outstanding contributions to climate action and climate solutions that inspire hope.
The prize puts people at the center and celebrates human ingenuity in developing solutions to climate change. This is not a prize that solely rewards technical innovation—it also rewards action by individuals, networks and organizations for the benefit of both humanity and nature.
In selecting a winner, the jury seeks transformative solutions with the potential for long-term impact and scalable benefits for both the environment and society that demonstrate inspiring leadership and forward-thinking approaches.
Any individual, organization, or group of people and organizations making a significant contribution to tackling climate change is eligible. Nominations must come from a third party. Self-nominations are not permitted.
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College: Retirement and Disability Research and Policy
Deadline: January 31, 2025
Category:
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College aims to produce first-class research and educational tools and forge a strong link between the academic community and decision makers in the public and private sectors around an issue of critical importance to the nation’s future.
The center invites applications for the Sandell Grant Program for scholars in the field of retirement or disability research and policy. The program is funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide opportunities for junior or non-tenured scholars (within seven years of receiving their PhD) from all academic disciplines to pursue cutting-edge projects on retirement or disability issues. Individuals from historically underserved or underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply. The center welcomes applications from all academic disciplines.
Applicants must demonstrate that their proposal focuses on at least one of SSA’s research focal areas, which include: understanding service needs and improving service delivery; studying causes and inequities of overpayment and underpayment; addressing barriers to disability and SSI programs participation and processes; understanding and improving communication; identifying disparities by race, ethnicity, and sex; examining economic security of program applicants and beneficiaries; and addressing employment barriers for people with disabilities.
Two grants of $50,000 will be awarded. Successful applicants are required to complete the research project outlined in their proposal within a year of the award.
To be eligible, the principal investigator (PI) and co-principal investigator (co-PI), if applicable, are required to have a PhD or comparable professional certification. Grants are not intended to fund dissertation research.
Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood: Parenting Education / Early Childhood Welfare, Education and Play Grants
Deadline: Letter of Intent due January 31, 2025
Category:
The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood supports development projects and promising research that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children in the United States, from infancy through age 7. Welfare is broadly defined to support, acculturation, societal integration, and childcare.
The foundation invites letters of intent in the following categories:
Parenting Education: To help parents create nurturing environments for their children, the foundation supports programs that teach parents about developmental psychology, cultural child rearing differences, pedagogy, issues of health, prenatal care and diet, as well as programs that provide both cognitive and emotional support to parents.
Early Childhood Welfare: According to the foundation, providing a safe and nurturing environment is essential, as is imparting the skills of social living in a culturally diverse world. Therefore, the foundation supports projects that seek to perfect child-rearing practices and identify models that can provide creative, caring environments in which all young children thrive.
Early Childhood Education and Play: The foundation seeks to improve the quality of both early childhood teaching and learning, through the development of innovative curricula and research based pedagogical standards, as well as the design of imaginative play materials and learning environments.
Grants are only made if a successful project outcome will likely be of significant interest to other professionals within the grantee’s field of endeavor, and would have a direct benefit and potential national application.
Letters of intent must be received no later than January 31, 2025, and selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants
Deadline: January 23, 2025
Category:
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund serves and strengthens society by nurturing a diverse group of leaders in biomedical sciences to improve human health through education and powering discovery in frontiers of greatest need.
The fund invites applications for its Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants program, which aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between scholars working in largely disconnected fields who could together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. Through the program, small, early-stage grants of between $2,500 and $50,000 will be awarded.
BWF is mainly but not exclusively interested in activities that build connections between basic/early biomedical scientific approaches and ecological, environmental, geological, geographic, and planetary-scale thinking, as well as population-focused fields, including epidemiology, public health, demography, economics, and urban planning. Also of interest is work piloting new approaches or interactions toward reducing the impact of health-centered activities, such as developing more sustainable systems for health care, care delivery, and biomedical research systems Another area of interest is preparation for the impacts of extreme weather and other crises that can drive large-scale disruptions that immediately impact human health and healthcare delivery. Public outreach, climate communication, and education efforts focused on the intersection of climate and health are also appropriate for this call.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Innovations for Exceptionally Low-Cost Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Manufacturing
Deadline: January 31, 2025
Category:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and LifeArc have launched a joint Grand Challenges request for proposals for Innovations for Exceptionally Low-Cost Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Manufacturing
According to the foundation, monoclonal antibodies are among the most powerful tools in modern medicine. They are highly specific, safe, and effective medicines for a range of conditions, such as treating non-communicable diseases and preventing and treating infectious diseases. But high production costs continue to limit access to mAbs, especially for patients in low- and middle-income settings. While there are indication-specific dosage requirements for mAbs, it is broadly understood that to close the equity gap in mAb global access, we need to reach a target cost of $10 per gram of purified, released mAb.
To that end, this Grand Challenge seeks proposals that offer radical, innovative, and technically feasible pathways to achieving the $10/gram target. The goal is to catalyze and accelerate multiple, diverse, innovative bioprocessing approaches that hold the promise of low cost-of-goods mAbs. Additionally, the Gates Foundation is interested in hearing from organizations that have already completed proof-of-concept work that could result in cost-of-goods of $10 per gram and may be interested in additional support. Applicants can apply with solutions that meet the criteria for either Option A or Option B but should not submit entries to both options.
Option A: Proof-of-Concept: The primary outputs of this challenge will be (1) development of a conceptual facility design, and (2) generation of bench or lab-scale process data with sufficient analytical data to demonstrate the ability to produce an antibody at a final drug substance cost-of-goods of $10 per gram that could meet requirements for human applications and would support a rigorous cost-of-goods assessment by a third-party organization (chosen by the foundation). A full physical demonstration that the manufacturing platform meets specific manufacturing cost targets is not required at this stage. If the success criteria from this process are met and if additional funding is available, Option A applicants may be eligible for further support in a follow-on phase of work. Proposals of up to $750,000 for each project, with a grant term of up to 18 months will be awarded.
Option B: Operationalization and Economic Viability: Independent of the Proof-of-Concept (Option A), the foundation recognizes that some organizations may already have proof-of-concept data that could support a final drug substance cost-of-goods of $10 per gram and would like to partner for further development funding. If you have existing data meeting Technical Readiness Level 3-5 (POC Defined, Lab Scale Demonstrated, or Pilot Scale Demonstrated), please share a solution. Potential funding and grant terms will be evaluated on a per-project basis. The funding and timeline are intentionally open given that the work is exploratory at this time. Application budgets should be commensurate with the scope of work being proposed.
This initiative is open to nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions. Applications involving projects led by women / in collaboration with women-led organizations, and/or applications from / in collaboration with institutions based in low- and middle-income countries are particularly encouraged. Only individuals who are applying through a legally recognized corporate entity are eligible.
AFAR, Glenn Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research
Deadline: Letter of Intent due January 27, 2025
Category:
The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, in partnership with the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), created the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research to encourage and further the careers of postdoctoral fellows, who are conducting research in the basic biology of aging, as well as translating advances in basic research from the laboratory to the clinic.
Through the fellowship program, up to 12 researchers will receive $75,000 for research projects aimed at understanding the basic mechanisms of aging as well as projects that will have direct relevance to human aging if they lead to clinically relevant strategies that address human aging and healthspan. Projects investigating age-related diseases will be considered, but only if approached from the point of view of how basic aging processes may lead to these outcomes. Projects concerning mechanisms underlying common geriatric functional disorders such as frailty will also be considered.
Projects that are strictly clinical in nature such as the diagnosis and treatment of disease, health outcomes, or the social context of aging are not eligible.
To be eligible, applicants must be a postdoctoral fellow (MD and/or PhD degree or equivalent) at the start date of the award (July 1, 2025) and the proposed research must be conducted at a qualified not-for-profit setting in the United States.
Letters of intent are due January 27, 2025, and upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application, due in late May 2025.
Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation: AI in Medical Education: A Grants Program to Advance Innovation in Medical Education
Deadline: Letter of Intent due February 3, 2025
Category:
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation is the only national foundation dedicated solely to improving the education of health professionals. Their guiding principle is that health professional education has at its core a strong social mission: to serve the public’s needs and improve the health of the public.
AI in Medical Education: A Grants Program to Advance Innovation in Medical Education will provide support for three demonstration projects, each supported at up to $100K/year for two years, inclusive of indirect costs capped at 10%. Proposals selected for support through this initiative will describe, implement, and evaluate innovative strategies to integrate AI into medical education and prepare current and future physicians on the ethical utilization of AI to improve patient care.
Examples of demonstration projects supported via this initiative could include but are in no way limited to:
Curriculum to build data literacy and critical thinking about AI algorithms and their outputs, including the recognition of and mitigation of AI biases in patient care
Developing an oversight structure to ensure inclusion, equity, and ethical use of AI in medical education
Efforts to better understand the competencies associated with being an effective clinician with AI serving as a “co-pilot”
Role of AI in competency-based assessment and learning outcomes
Utilization of AI in selection into medical school and GME training programs
Utilization of AI for coaching and feedback of learners
Development of AI systems to improve patient communication and shared decision-making skills.
Initiatives to support faculty development in their role teaching learners to use AI in clinical care
International Brain Research Organization: Rising Star Awards
Deadline: April 15, 2025
Category:
The IBRO Rising Stars Awards support the research needs of early career neuroscientists who either come from diverse and/or underrepresented backgrounds (racial/ethnic minorities, sexual orientation, special needs, etc) or lack substantial start-up funds or grant support from other agencies. Additionally, they significantly impact their professional trajectories, by providing critical recognition for their research endeavors, supporting targeted capacity building and enabling the integration of cutting-edge methodologies and tools into their work. As a result, this program also enhances awardees’ chances of securing additional funding.
This program is open to early career neuroscientists who are within the first five years from their initial faculty appointment and starting their first independent laboratory anytime in 2025.
Funding priority will be given to those who have not previously received, nor expect to receive, substantial support from other sources. Applicants who can use this award to leverage matching funds from other sources will also be viewed favorably.
Glenn W. Bailey Foundation: Grants for STEM initiatives
Deadline: Rolling
Category:
The Glenn W. Bailey Foundation (GWB) aims to foster pathways to success in globally competitive STEM careers for students in the United States.
GWB invites applications for seed and continuation funding for organizations seeking programmatic funding pertaining to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education at all levels. Applications are invited for the following programs:
STEM Sprouts: An early education STEM) program designed to introduce young children, typically between the ages of three and 10, to the foundational concepts and skills within these four fields. Such programs should aim to foster curiosity, critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and a love for STEM learning from an early age. Grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded.
STEM Stars: Grants will be made to organizations supporting middle and high school students participating or interested in advanced STEM programs and who ultimately want to pursue a college degree in a STEM-related field. Programming can take place before, during, or after school. The foundation encourages programs that are successfully preparing interested students who wish to be fully prepared for their intended college STEM major by exposing them to advanced topics in science, engineering, computer science, and more. Grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded.
STEM Scholars: A post-secondary STEM program aimed at providing colleges and universities with more funding and flexibility for their internal STEM programs. The program seeks to offer opportunities to expand current programs or seed money to create new programs. Funding can support a multitude of activities and initiatives such as club activities, career management counselors, showcases, research projects, camps, tech talks, student clubs and organizations, lecture series, and professor continuing-education programs. Grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded.
Teen Tech Competition: The foundation is interested in supporting large STEM-related organizations that are interested in creating or continuing a tech competition for local youth. Organizations would be required to operate under certain (but flexible) parameters and are encouraged to let the participating students lead the way in building out the actual competition’s layout. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded.
American Psychological Association: Direct Visionary Grants
Deadline: Letters of Intent due January 31, 2025
Category:
The American Psychological Association (APA) The APF Direct Action Visionary Grants seek to fund innovative interventions, based on psychological knowledge, that directly address pressing needs of communities.
Research is critical to advancing the field of psychology, but communities also need care right now. APF is uniquely positioned to accomplish both. Through APF Direct Action Visionary Grants, we are particularly interested in supporting communities and populations dealing with prejudice, bias, intolerance, and all forms of bigotry including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and misogyny. Projects should support APF’s four Visionary Priorities:
Serve Marginalized Communities
End Prejudice & Stigma
Prevent Violence
Explore Mind-Body Health Connections
APF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds with respect to age, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, ability, sexual orientation, gender, and geography.
To be eligible, projects must be clearly supported by evidence-based psychological principle have demonstrated competence and capacity to execute the proposed work. Project applicants may be individuals or organizations and are not required to be psychologists or mental health professionals. However, an expert in the relevant evidence-based foundation used for the project must be centrally involved throughout the funding timeline. Projects are not limited to clinical or academic settings.
APF encourages innovative projects that utilize evidence-based psychological principles in new and impactful ways to reach those in need.
APF will accept Letters of Intent on a rolling basis throughout the year. Submitted LOIs will be evaluated quarterly after the deadlines of January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31, 2025.
Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute: New Horizons / Elizabeth Nash Fellowship Award
Deadline: Letters of Intent Due November 4, 2024
Category: Cystic Fibrosis,
Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute (CFRI) is a 501(C)(3) organization founded in 1975, that funds innovative cystic fibrosis (CF) research and offers education, advocacy and psychosocial support programs and services to those with CF, as well as their families and caregivers.
The foundation is accepting proposals for the following programs:
New Horizons Research Campaign
The nationwide New Horizons Research Campaign funds promising new cystic fibrosis (CF) research projects in academic and hospital institutions. Supporting research of the highest scientific quality, the NH program also endeavors to fund those applications with the greatest relevance to finding improved treatments or a cure for CF.
Awards are up to $140,000.
Elizabeth Nash Memorial Fellowship
The Elizabeth Nash Memorial Fellowship (ENMF) was inaugurated in 1999 to provide annual funding to Post-Doctoral Fellows engaged in CF-related research at academic and hospital institutions nationwide and encourage collaborative research and communication between the institutions and PI’s. The fellowship is named in memory of geneticist Elizabeth Nash, who had CF and served as CFRI’s RAC Chairperson.
Awards are up to $130,000.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Matter-to-Life Grant Program
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Science,
The Sloan Foundation is accepting application for the Matther-to-Life program. The program aims to sharpen our scientific understanding of the physical principles and mechanisms that distinguish living systems from inanimate matter, and to explore the conditions under which physical principles and mechanisms guide the complexification of matter towards life.
Research grants in Sloan’s Matter-to-Life program seek to advance theoretical and experimental efforts aimed at unraveling the physical principles and mechanisms that distinguish living systems from inanimate matter, and that explore whether and how physical principles guide the complexification of matter towards life.
The program will prioritize those projects making the most compelling case for how the proposed research will advance our scientific understanding of life’s distinctiveness, and that pursue research directions not already well supported by federal funders. The program will not support biomedical or disease-related research. Sloan seeks to support well-conceived biology/physics/chemistry/engineering projects that explore the matter-life boundary in comparatively simple systems, rather than animal-based or social-science experiments that study complex higher-level organism behaviors. They recognize that both multi-disciplinary and exploratory work is needed to advance matter-to-life science, and the program is open to projects with these features when they are important to advancing the proposed science.
Grantmaking proceeds along three interrelated focus areas: Building Life, Principles of Life, and Signs of Life.
Grant-seekers with a relevant research project or meeting idea should submit a Letter of Inquiry of no more than two pages to Program Director Ernie Glover at mattertolife@sloan.org. For more about what to include in a Letter of Inquiry, please refer to our Letter of Inquiry Guidelines.
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI): Supplement to Enhance Equity and Diversity Award
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Autism, EDI,
The mission of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
With the understanding that diversity in the scientific workforce is an important element for the goal of advancing autism science, SFARI announces a new program that will provide supplements to existing grants for the recruitment of new lab members from American underrepresented minority groups at the postdoctoral level. For the purposes of this supplement, eligible groups include the following: African American/Black; Latin American/Hispanic; Native American/Alaskan Native; Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander (including Filipino).
The goal of this award is to increase diversity and fight inequity. SFARI Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to recruit candidates for this supplement not only at their home institution, but also at historically Black colleges and universities and other institutions with high minority enrollment. SFARI will not award supplements to fund current lab members, even if they are not funded by the original SFARI award.
To facilitate the academic success and independence of selected postdoctoral research associates, SFARI will organize networking opportunities with peer awardees, other SFARI grantees (including both early career and senior investigators) and SFARI staff.
As a condition for accepting the grant, the mentor and candidate must agree to work together to submit one or more applications for federal and/or non-federal postdoctoral fellowship awards before the end of the second year. Continuation of the award for a third year of funding is not contingent on success in these applications, but writing such proposals is an important part of training for future in science.
Current PIs may request up to $100,000 per year for up to three years. This is intended to cover the full salary and fringe benefits of the selected postdoctoral research associate, travel and other professional development opportunities for the postdoctoral research associate, and the associated indirect costs. Funds may also be used to purchase additional lab supplies needed to accommodate the research plan but are limited to $10,000 per year.
PIs will be required to provide annual updates to SFARI on the new lab member’s productivity as part of their required project progress reports.
Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying to this opportunity.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Evidence For Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Health Policy, Racial Equity, Research,
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a call for proposals for Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity.
Evidence for Action (E4A), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funds research that expands the evidence needed to build a Culture of Health, emphasizing advancing racial equity. According to RWJF, achieving racial equity is impossible without focusing on the foundational and structural drivers of health, often referred to as the social determinants of health (e.g., housing, education, built environment, economic opportunity, law enforcement, and others). Therefore, the fund partners with researchers, practitioners, community leaders, advocates, and policy makers to develop evidence about what works to dismantle or remedy unjust systems and practices and produce more equitable outcomes for people and communities of color.
Evidence for Action prioritizes research to evaluate specific interventions (e.g., policies, programs, practices) that have the potential to counteract the harms of structural and systemic racism and improve health, well-being, and equity outcomes. The foundation is concerned both with the direct impacts of structural racism on the health and well-being of people and communities of color (e.g., Black, Latina/o/x, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander people, and other races and ethnicities)—as well as how racism intersects with other forms of marginalization, such as having low income, being an immigrant, having a disability, or identifying as LGBTQ+ or a gender minority.
This funding is focused on studies about upstream causes of health inequities, such as the systems, structures, laws, policies, norms, and practices that determine the distribution of resources and opportunities, which in turn influence individuals’ options and behaviors. Research should center on the needs and experiences of communities exhibiting the greatest health burdens and be motivated by real-world priorities. It should be able to inform a specific course of action and/or establish beneficial practices, not stop characterizing or documenting a problem’s extent.
Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying for this opportunity.
Transformational Partnerships Fund: Institutions of Higher Education Exploration Grants
Deadline: Rolling
Category:
Institutions of higher education (IHEs) face a complex set of financial, technological, political, social and demographic challenges that have intensified significantly over the last decade.
Traditional focus on revenue generation has failed to address the fundamental need many institutions of higher education have to transform their educational and business models in ways that can help drive student success and social mobility, especially for students of color, students from low-income families, and other underserved populations.
The Transformational Partnerships Fund helps institutions explore partnerships in a thoughtful, timely way by offering:
- A safe, confidential space for IHEs to discuss and explore strategic partnerships;
- Information about the continuum of partnership options and support in identifying the strategies best suited to each institution’s unique circumstances;
- Referrals to appropriate experts who are well-versed in academic partnerships;
- Catalytic grants (up to $100,000 per exploration) to engage third-party technical assistance providers knowledgeable in law, finance, governance, fundraising, human resources, and other related fields;
- A visible advocate to share knowledge about the value of transformational partnerships and work in conjunction with other stakeholders interested in the success of IHEs.
TPF provides institutions with relevant resources collected from its advisors, its network, and other third parties. University and college leaders can approach TPF with the assurance that all discussions will remain confidential until an appropriate and mutually agreed time.
Each institution must determine how best to proceed; partnerships are not always the answer. Nevertheless, TPF seeks to build awareness of and advocate for the role partnerships can play as a proactive strategy to be considered by mission-driven, student-centered institutions.
Please contact Daniel Hadley if you are interested in applying to this opportunity.
Rising Tide Foundation: Freedom in Practice Grants To Improve Quality of Life
Deadline: Letters of Inquiry accepted on a rolling basis
Category: Societal Change; Quality of Life,
The Rising Tide Foundation, which aims to promote freedom to improve the quality of life everywhere, was created with the belief that those who are most vulnerable to critical issues and who are willing and ready to take on responsibility are the most effective agents of change and should contribute as members of society with a spirit of freedom to solve their own problems.
To that end, the foundation invites applications for its Freedom in Practice program, which will award grants in support of projects that articulate and promote the core beliefs of the foundation, have the potential to eliminate obstacles that impede creative individuals, and give a “hand-up” rather than just a “hand-out.” Specifically, the foundation seeks projects aimed at developing private-sector solutions to societal problems; offering solutions to the problems created by government and “crony capitalist” interventions; offering strategies for making such interventions unnecessary and unattractive going forward; enhancing individuals’ capacities for self-determination, individual choice, and peaceful, voluntary cooperation in society; and discovering methods to teach freedom in more effective ways or to new audiences.
Letters of Intent are accepted on a rolling basis, and selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.
Please contact Daniel Hadley if you are interested in applying to this opportunity.
Global Innovation Fund: Innovative Impact Grants
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Global; Innovation; Development,
The Global Innovation Fund invests in the development, rigorous testing, and scaling up of new products, services, business process, or policy reforms that are more cost-effective than current practice and targeted at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.
GIF defines ‘innovation’ broadly to include new business models, policy practices, technologies, behavioural insights, or ways of delivering products and services that benefit the poor in developing countries — any solution that has potential to address an important development problem more effectively than existing approaches.
We accept applications working in any sector in any developing country.
Any type of organisation may apply. It is recommended that individual innovators, entrepreneurs, or researchers apply through an affiliated organisation.
We seek out innovations we believe have the greatest potential to improve the lives of millions of people living in poverty and only select those innovations which:
1. Are focussed on the poor.
2. Are novel approaches which are not commonplace.
3. Can improve upon alternatives solutions.
4. Are backed by evidence of potential impact.
5. Can be widely applied in many different settings.
6. Have the potential to scale to reach millions of people.
7. Are led by strong and dynamic teams.
8. Are ready for investment.
9. Will generate new knowledge on what works.
10. Have a clear role for GIF.
Please contact Daniel Hadley if you are interested in applying to this opportunity.
The Commonwealth Fund: Grants to Improve Health Care Practice and Policy
Deadline: Letters of Inquiry accepted on a rolling basis
Category: Health Equity; Health Policy; Medicare; Medicaid,
The mission of the Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color.
Funding program areas include:
Health Care Delivery System Reform
Health Care Coverage and Access
Advancing Health Equity
Controlling Health Care Costs
Federal and State Health Policy
International Health Policy and Practice Innovations
Advancing Medicare
Tracking Health System Performance
Medicaid
Within these programs, preference is given to proposals that seek to: clarify the scope of serious and neglected problems; develop, test, and evaluate the impact of practical, innovative models for addressing such problems; disseminate tools and models of care that have been proven to be effective; or analyze the impact of particular policies or trends. To review descriptions of funding priorities and lists of recently approved grants, please click on the programs above.
Please let Gwen Allouch know if you are planning to apply for this opportunity.
Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr. Public Policy, Medical Education, or Scientific Advancement Prize
Deadline: Rolling
Category: Health Sciences; Reproductive Medicine, Public Policy; Medical Education,
The Jones Foundation supports vital research in reproductive medicine through annual and multi-year funding grants. At the direction of the Board of Directors, the Jones Foundation currently supports translational research projects, educational programs and ethical seminars.
This prize is designed to recognize those whose contributions to public policy and/or medical education have significantly advanced the specialty of reproductive medicine.
The Foundation strives to provide resources to the scientific community so that there may be intellectual, creative and well prepared scientific leaders in the global environment of the 21st century by:
- Fostering the development of innovative, high-quality research by new and established investigators in the field of reproductive medicine.
- Educating the general public, including physicians, administrators and legislators, about the issues of public policy topics that will assist the general public and others in making informed decisions regarding fertility treatment and reproductive medical issues.
- Serving as catalyst to scientific investigators by reviewing and selecting for an annual Award, one or more significant research projects that advanced the field of reproductive medicine.
The Medical Executive Committee of the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation will review the credentials of the nominees and the awardee will be notified.
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI): Supplement to Enhance Equity and Diversity Award
Deadline: Open/Rolling
Category: Diversity, Health Sciences; Autism; Equity,
The mission of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
Objectives
With the understanding that diversity in the scientific workforce is an important element for the goal of advancing autism science, SFARI announces a new program that will provide supplements to existing grants for the recruitment of new lab members from American underrepresented minority groups at the postdoctoral level. For the purposes of this supplement, eligible groups include the following: African American/Black; Latin American/Hispanic; Native American/Alaskan Native; Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander (including Filipino).
The goal of this award is to increase diversity and fight inequity. SFARI Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to recruit candidates for this supplement not only at their home institution, but also at historically Black colleges and universities and other institutions with high minority enrollment. SFARI will not award supplements to fund current lab members, even if they are not funded by the original SFARI award.
To facilitate the academic success and independence of selected postdoctoral research associates, SFARI will organize networking opportunities with peer awardees, other SFARI grantees (including both early career and senior investigators) and SFARI staff.
As a condition for accepting the grant, the mentor and candidate must agree to work together to submit one or more applications for federal and/or non-federal postdoctoral fellowship awards before the end of the second year. Continuation of the award for a third year of funding is not contingent on success in these applications, but writing such proposals is an important part of training for future in science.
Level and Duration of Funding
Current PIs may request up to $100,000 per year for up to three years. This is intended to cover the full salary and fringe benefits of the selected postdoctoral research associate, travel and other professional development opportunities for the postdoctoral research associate, and the associated indirect costs. Funds may also be used to purchase additional lab supplies needed to accommodate the research plan but are limited to $10,000 per year.
PIs will be required to provide annual updates to SFARI on the new lab member’s productivity as part of their required project progress reports.
The Laura and John Arnold Foundation: Demonstrating the Power of Evidence-Based Programs on Major U.S. Social Problems
Deadline: Continuous
Category: Social Science, Social Work,
A central goal of U.S. evidence-based policy reform is to focus government and philanthropic funding on social programs and practices (“interventions”) that have credible evidence of meaningful positive effects on people’s lives. The imperative for doing so is clear: Most social interventions are unfortunately found not to produce the hoped-for effects when rigorously evaluated – a pattern that occurs not just in social spending but in other fields, such as medicine and business. Thus, without a strong focus on evidence-based interventions, it is hard to see how social spending can successfully address poverty, educational failure, violence, drug abuse, and other critical U.S. problems.
The Laura and John Arnold Foundation’s (LJAF) Moving the Needle initiative seeks to spur expanded implementation of such interventions in order to make significant headway against U.S. social problems. Specifically, the initiative is designed to encourage state or local jurisdictions, or other entities, to:
1. Adopt social interventions shown in well-conducted randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to produce large, sustained effects on important life outcomes;
2. Implement these interventions on a sizable scale with close adherence to their key features; and
3. Determine, through a replication RCT, whether the large effects found in prior research are successfully reproduced so as to move the needle on important social problems.
Public Understanding of Science, Technology & Economics
Deadline: Continuous
Category: Science, Social Science,
The program’s primary aim is to build bridges between the two cultures of science and the humanities and to develop a common language so that they can better understand and speak to one another–and ultimately to grasp that they belong to a single common culture.
The Foundation has established a nationwide strategy that focuses on books, theater, film, television, radio, and new media to commission, develop, produce, and distribute new work mainstreaming science and technology for the lay public.
– Books
– Film
– New Media
– Radio
– Television
– Theater
Carnegie Corporation of New York: Education
Deadline: Continuous
Category: Education,
American public education prepares all students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be active participants in a robust democracy and to be successful in the global economy. Under this program, Carnegie has the following Focus Areas.
1. Leadership and Teaching to Advance Learning. Improving systems of preparing, recruiting, and developing teachers and education leaders to serve the needs of diverse learners;
2. New Designs to Advance Learning. Developing whole-school models that provide more effective learning environments for diverse learners;
3. Public Understanding. Supporting research on strategies that can drive parent and family engagement in education;
4. Pathways to Postsecondary Success. Improving alignment in student learning expectations between K-12 and postsecondary education; improving postsecondary education
5. Integration, Learning, and Innovation. Advancing integrated approaches across the Corporation’s portfolios and the field that enable greater collaboration, coherence, and dynamism;