1. LOCATING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Presenter:
Deborah Hernandez
March 30, 2018

2. Goals
To help you identify appropriate funding mechanisms and sources of external support for your research.
2. To explore specific search engines and other free tools available to you.

3. Quick Review of Funding Mechanisms
Grants
Contracts
Cooperative Agreements
Gifts/Sponsorships

4. Sources of Funds/Funder Motivation
Individual Donor
Corporate Contract/ Foundation
Private Foundation
State/Local Government
Federal Agency
Heartstrings-Personal Cause
Corporate Interest/Employee QOL
Community Benefit; Impact on focus area/cause
Pass through competitions, contractual obligations, or issues of local significance
Advance Broad Agenda of National Interest

5. Broad Types of Proposals
Program Development/Implementation
Most common in education; Focus is on behavioral change/outcomes
Include evaluation and assessment as ‘research’ components—may require rigorous design
Bench or applied research
Hypothesis driven, theoretical or experimental research
Clinical Interventions/treatment protocols/trials
Most common in medically related research; Requires rigorous sample selection and control
Focus is on disease-related outcomes or comparative effectiveness among a range of interventions

6. So……..ask yourself:
What funding mechanism makes the most sense for your research?
What sources of funds seem most applicable to my work?
What type of proposal will I be writing?
Who is, might be, or should be interested in my work?

7. Fund-Seeking Tools Comprehensive Search Engines Agency-Specific Sites
Google
Corporate, Foundation & Association Sources
Peers and Networking

8. Keys to finding a good fit
Broad understanding of the funding landscape—who is/should be interested in your work
Realistic assessment of where you are in your research career
Good search techniques—Keep list of keywords and sites searched to determine what works best
Practice

9. A Look at Specific Search Engines
Grants.gov (federal only)
Agency specific sites (e.g. NSF.gov)
Council on Foundations -
Corporate Giving Programs - Individual corporate websites; typically under ‘about our company’, then ‘community’
Especially for students in STEM:

10. Questions?