The following grant announcements and deadlines are being posted for your general information as possible grant opportunities for members of the Rider University Community.  A link with further information is provided for each announcement, since such details are helpful in determining whether the funding source is appropriate for a particular project.   If you are interested in pursuing an opportunity, after reviewing one or more announcement, , please contact Denise Pinney, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations, or her administrative specialist, Pamela Rivera, privera@rider.edu / x7030.

Organization:  National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Research Grant Program 

Deadline:  November 16, 2013 (cycle 3); March 16, 2014 (cycle 1)

Range of Support:  $50,000

Focus: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Investigator-Initiated Small Research Grant (R03) funding opportunity supports small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources. The R03 activity code supports different types of projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology. 

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Organization:  Shubert Foundation

Deadline:  December 3, 2013
Range of Support:  $5,000+

Focus: Shubert Foundation grants sustain the performing arts for K-12 live performing arts  with an emphasis on theater and a secondary focus on dance.  The Shubert Foundation awards unrestricted grants for general operating support rather than funding for specific projects.

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Organization:  Gladys Brooks Foundation

Deadline:  January 15-May 31, 2014
Range of Support:  $50,000-$100,000

Focus:  The Foundation makes grants to colleges and universities for the following purposes:  a) educational endowments to fund scholarships based solely on educational achievements, leadership and academic ability of the student; b) endowments to support fellowships and teaching chairs for educators who confine their activities primarily to classroom instruction in the liberal arts, mathematics and sciences during the academic year; and c) erection or endowment of buildings, wings or additions of buildings, and equipment for educational purposes.   Salary support is not available.  

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Organization:    NJ Council for the Humanities

Deadline:  January 15, 2014 (mini-grants) or April 1, 2014 (major grants)
Range of Support:  $3,000 (mini-grants); $20,000 (major grants)

Focus: The New Jersey Council for the Humanities is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve the people of New Jersey by developing, supporting and promoting projects that explore and interpret the human experience, foster cross-cultural understanding, and engage citizens in dialogue about matters of individual choice and public responsibility. The New Jersey Council for the Humanities invites New Jersey-based nonprofit organizations and public entities to submit requests for funding in support of their public humanities projects. The Council regularly receives applications from public libraries, historical societies, museums, arts groups, service organizations, and institutions of higher education. 

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Organization:  Independent College Fund of New Jersey (ICFNJ)

Deadline:  New student scholarship opportunities are posted on an ongoing basis.
Range of Support:  Typically, student scholarships range from $1,500 to $6,000

Focus:  The ICFNJ partners with corporations to establish scholarship opportunities for its member institutions.  Scholarships are available on a competitive basis.  Select opportunities require faculty nominations; in other instances, students may apply on their own.  Please contact Denise Pinney (dpinney@rider.edu) if you wish to nominate students for select scholarships.  

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Organization:  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Deadline:  Calls for Proposals may be found on the RWJF website.
Range of Support:  Varies

Focus: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation works with a diverse organizations to address problems at their roots to help make a difference on the widest scale—particularly for the most vulnerable populations. For projects to be eligible for funding, they must address one of the following program areas:  childhood obesity, healthcare coverage, human capital, innovation, public health, quality/equality, vulnerable populations.

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Organization:  Open Society Foundations

Deadline:  Deadlines may be found on website.
Range of Support:  Varies

Focus: The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.  Featured grant opportunities include Fostering Open Society in West Africa, Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Freedom of Communication in the Digital Environment Initiative, Mental Health Initiative, SOROS Justice Fellowships, and Open Society Fellowships.  The Open Society Foundations do not make awards outside their specific funding priorities.

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Organization:  Fulbright Specialist Program

Deadline:  Throughout the calendar year

Range of Support:  varies

Focus: The Fulbright Specialist Program (FSP) promotes linkages between U.S. scholars and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions overseas.  The program awards grants to qualified U.S. faculty and professionals, in select disciplines, to engage in short-term collaborative two- to six-week projects at eligible institutions in over 140 countries worldwide.  Shorter grant lengths give Specialists greater flexibility to pursue projects that work best with their current academic or professional commitments.  International travel costs and a per day grant payment are funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. U.S. faculty and professionals apply to join a Roster of Specialists for a five-year term. Roster candidates are reviewed by peers in their discipline and by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB).

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Organization:  National Science Foundation, Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12)

Deadline:  Full Proposal due December 6, 2013

Range of Support:  $100,000 to $3 million

Focus: The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. Teachers and students who participate in DRK-12 studies are expected to enhance their understanding and use of STEM content, practices and skills. DRK-12 invites proposals that address immediate challenges that are facing preK-12 STEM education as well as those that anticipate radically different structures and functions of pre-K 12 teaching and learning. The DRK-12 program has four major research and development strands: (1) Assessment; (2) Learning; (3) Teaching; and (4) Implementation Research.

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Organization: National Science Foundation, Research on Education and Learning (REAL)

Deadline: Letter of Intent Due Date (optional): October 25, 2013; Full Proposal Deadline(s) : January 10, 2014

Range of Support: $500,000 to $2 million

Focus: The Research on Education and Learning (REAL) program represents the substantive foci of three previous EHR programs: Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE), Research in Disabilities Education (RDE), and Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE). What is distinctive about the new REAL program is the emphasis placed on the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to (a) understand, (b) build theory to explain, and (c) suggest interventions (and innovations) to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning, and participation. The program supports advances in research on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning and education by fostering efforts to explore all aspects of education research from foundational knowledge to improvements in STEM learning and learning contexts, both formal and informal, from childhood through adulthood, for all groups, and from the earliest developmental stages of life through participation in the workforce, resulting in increased public understanding of science and engineering. The REAL program will fund research on, human learning in STEM; learning in STEM learning environments, and broadening participation research.

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Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities, Collaborative Research Grants

Deadline: December 5, 2013

Range of Support: $25,000 to $100,000 per year

Focus: Collaborative Research Grants support interpretive humanities research undertaken by a team of two or more scholars, for full-time or part-time activities for periods of a minimum of one year up to a maximum of three years. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; field work; applications of information technology; and technical support and services. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to the appropriate scholarly and public audiences.

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Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities, America's Historical and Cultural Organizations: Planning Grants

Deadline: January 8, 2014

Range of Support: $40,000 to $75,000

Focus: America’s Historical and Cultural Organizations (AHCO) grants provide support for museums, libraries, historic places, and other organizations that produce public programs in the humanities. Grants support the following formats: exhibitions at museums, libraries, and other venues; interpretations of historic places, sites, or regions; book/film discussion programs; living history presentations; other face-to-face programs at libraries, community centers, and other public venues; and interpretive websites and other digital formats. Planning grants support the early stages of project development, including consultation with scholars, refinement of humanities themes, preliminary design, testing, and audience evaluation.

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Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities, Preservation Assistance Grants

Deadline: May 1, 2014

Range of Support: $6,000

Focus: Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions—such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities—improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials.

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Organization: Arcus Foundation

Deadline:  Grants are awarded four times a year, but letters of inquiry may be submitted at any time.

Range of Support:  $25,000+

Focus:   Discrimination, social exclusion, violence and persecution adversely affect millions of individuals whose sexual orientation and gender identity are seen as nonconforming around the world. The Arcus Foundation seeks to help overcome cultural and policy obstacles that are barriers to the full acceptance, respect and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  Working on national, regional, and international levels, Arcus is helping to build a global movement integrating sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) into shared conceptions of human rights.

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Organization: W. K. Kellogg Foundation

Deadline:  Rolling

Range of Support:  $40,000+

Focus:  The W. K. Kellogg Foundation website provides information regarding the Foundation’s programming framework for educated kids, healthy kids, secure families, racial equity, and civic engagement.  Faculty and administration are encouraged to visit the website for information about these priority areas as well as grants that have been funded in the past.

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Organization:  Compton Foundation

Deadline:  Not posted, potentially rolling

Range of Support:  $20,000-$50,000

Focus:   The Compton Foundation seeks to ignite change.  It supports transformative leadership and courageous storytelling, inspiring action toward a peaceful, just, sustainable future.  The Foundation strives to support projects that highlight a sense of urgency and a willingness to take risks in order to transform the way we live.   According to the Compton foundation, “Bringing forth a positive future requires innovative ways of understanding and naming the problems we face, as well as new methods for collaborating to solve them. Implicit in the mission is support for progressive and democratic social change.  Consequently, the Compton Foundation will support organizations building the long-term capacity to ignite change as well as provide rapid response and emerging opportunity funding.  In particular, the Foundation values projects that explore the connections between its areas of focus which include:  Transformative Leadership, which is no limited to strategizing, organizing, and campaigning, but also on personal relationships.   As the Foundation indicates, “Success in creating a more just and sustainable world will require emotional authenticity in addition to intellectual analysis, and the courage to lead morally, as well as politically.  The leaders (and the institutions that support them) with whom we will engage are driven by a strong sense of social purpose and have a searing passion for making a difference.  As leaders, they are able to craft and communicate a compelling vision of the future, translate that vision into clear strategies and achievable goals, build community, and adapt flexibly to shifting contexts for their work. They take risks. Not only do they respect and embrace diverse voices, they are also able to work across boundaries to find agreement around shared goals.”  Courageous Storytelling includes efforts to “Disrupt our understanding of the status quo, to give voice to previously unheard narratives.”  Projects may involve visual art, music, drama, film, writing, and creative social media to amplify critical issues and to blend personal with political, emotional with intellectual.

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Organization: TD Charitable Foundation

Deadline:  The fourth Friday of February, May, August or November

Range of Support:  $5,000-$50,000

Focus:  The TD Charitable Foundation focuses on the following areas of giving: 1)  Affordable Housing,  including community revitalization and the preservation and development of affordable housing;  2)  Education/Financial Literacy,  including reading, writing, math and financial literacy for all ages, pre- and after-school programs that reinforce basic learning skills, English as a second language, tutoring and mentorship, and education-focused youth development programs and initiatives; and 3) the   Environment,  including programs and initiatives that help improve the environment through energy-saving and sustainable measures, promoting environmental awareness and education, and engaging our communities in the active preservation of our natural surroundings.

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Organization: SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund

Deadline:  December 1, 2013

Range of Support:  $5,000-$25,000

Focus:  The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund works with hundreds of organizations, both big and small, around the world. All of these groups share a common goal - protecting animals, people and places.  Aiming to achieve long-term conservation success, the Fund supports projects that are science-based, solution-driven and community-oriented.   The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund believes in the power of partnership and supports projects in 4 key categories:  1) Species Research, 2) Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, 3) Habitat Protection and 4) Conservation Education.

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Organization: State Street Foundation

Deadline:   Rolling

Range of Support:   $10,000-$25,000

Focus:  The Foundation’s primary focus is on initiatives that ultimately help disadvantaged populations obtain the skills required to compete in the 21st-century, knowledge-based global economy.  To be included in our funding portfolio, organizations must have a direct and proven connection to the outcomes in the following impact framework:  a) Contribute to the overall health and well-being of our communities around the world by promoting economic self-sufficiency among disadvantaged populations via projects focused on education, employment, and credentials and employability; and  b) Workforce development sector improvement (workforce sector and education sector) to enable success in basic education, increase access to industry-recognized credential programs, enable attainment of industry-recognized credentials, build basic job-readiness skills, increase employment experience, increase job placement.  Grant support is focused on supporting disadvantaged populations, with emphasis on teens through adults, that may include: low-income, undereducated, unemployed and underemployed, secondary school dropouts, at-risk/high-risk youth, disabled seeking employment or advancement, immigrants entering or advancing within the workforce.  Note:  the State Street Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations in the communities in which its offices are located.  A State Street office (Princeton Financial Systems, LLC) has led to funding of numerous Mercer County and Trenton-specific projects.

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Organization:  The Charles LaFitte Foundation

Deadline:  Applications will be accepted after September 30

Range of Support:  $1,000-$40,000

Focus:  The Charles Lafitte Foundation (CLF) supports innovative and effective ways of helping people help themselves and others around them to achieve healthy, satisfying and enriched lives.  The Foundation supports organizations working in four main areas: education, children’s advocacy, medical research & issues, and the arts.  The Foundation underwrites programs that can become self-sustaining with long-term commitment and measurable impact.  In determining grants, CLF looks for solutions that lead to independence and self-empowerment for individuals, and to the establishment of effective, long-standing programs and organizations.  More than 50% of CLF’s awards are given to the arts.  According to CLF, “Exposure to the arts is vital to fostering and sustaining healthy communities.  With diminished civic support and declining patronage, most arts organizations are increasingly challenged. Innovation, creativity, initiative, and risk taking are intrinsic to artistic expression, inspiring audiences to dig deeper into their personal potential and freeing minds to contemplate dreams.”  CLF goals for arts funding include: cultivating new talent,  supporting established artists,  providing educational programs that encourage children’s creativity, furthering equal access to the arts, establishing therapeutic arts programs

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Organization:  American Federation for Aging Research

Deadline:  December 16, 2013

Range of Support:  Multiple awards up to $100,000 each

Focus:  The major goal of the American Federation for Aging Research program is to assist in the development of the careers of junior investigators committed to pursuing careers in the field of aging research.  AFAR supports research projects concerned with understanding the basic mechanisms of aging.  Projects investigating age-related diseases are also supported, especially 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 are also encouraged, as long as these include connections to fundamental problems in the biology of aging. Projects that deal strictly with clinical problems such as the diagnosis and treatment of disease, health outcomes, or the social context of aging are not eligible.  Examples of potentially fundable areas of research include, but are not limited to: Aging and immune function, Stem Cell Aging, Inflammation, Genetic Control of longevity, Neurobiology and neuropathology of aging, Mechanisms of dementia,  Invertebrate or vertebrate animal models, Cardiovascular aging, Aging and cellular stress response, Metabolic and endocrine changes, Age-related changes in cell proliferation, Caloric restriction and aging, DNA repair and control of gene expression, Biology of menopause, Aging and apoptosis, Biodemographic analysis of aging, Comparative gerontology, and Evolutionary biological aspects of the biology of aging.

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Organization:  The Ray Charles Foundation

Deadline:  September 30, 2013 

Range of Support:  Applicants should request a grant amount that is consistent with a thoughtful and sustainable fund raising strategy. 

Focus:   Proposals must advance the mission of the Foundation in the following program categories:  a) Education, including Grants to qualifying institutions whose mission is to provide educational services to disadvantaged and underprivileged youths. Such services may include, but are not limited to, after school programs, academic activities aimed at college preparation for the underprivileged and academic/therapy services for youth who are blind and/or deaf; b) Hearing Disorders, including Grants toward the research and the treatment in the area of hearing disorders and educational programs and resources for youth with hearing disorders, c) Culture and the Arts, including Grants to qualifying institutions and museums whose mission it is to provide musical, cultural education and access to the arts to underprivileged and disadvantaged youth.

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Organization:  Walmart Foundation

Deadline:  The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program has two application cycles per year. The first cycle runs January to March. The second funding cycle begins in June and ends in August.

Range of Support:  State grants start at $25,000 and cap at $250,000.  They  are available only to programs with partners/affiliates and a goal to reach the entire state.

Focus:  The proposed use of the grant must fit within one of the Walmart Foundation's core giving areas: Hunger Relief & Healthy Eating, Sustainability, Women's Economic Empowerment or Career Opportunity.  Eligible nonprofit organizations must operate on a regional/state level or be affiliates/chapters of larger organizations that operate on the regional/state level.

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