Funding opportunities

VCU subscription only:

• Pivot: Pivot combines the most comprehensive, editorially maintained database of funding opportunities worth an estimated $74 billion. Its algorithm compiles pre-populated researcher profiles unique to VCU, and others, and matches them to current funding opportunities in the database. This allows users to search for a funding opportunity and instantly view matching faculty from inside or outside VCU. Conversely, a search for a scholar will link to matching funding opportunities.

  • A VCU eID and password is required for off-campus access to Pivot.

• Pivot curated lists: Curated lists include hand-selected funding opportunities in a category of likely interest to VCU investigators. Each list is centrally managed and updated as new information becomes available. VCU departments are welcome to post and disseminate the links to these lists as appropriate. A VCU-affiliated PIVOT account is required (see Pivot Account Set up instructions) to access the Curated Lists. To register for a PIVOT account you will need to use your vcu.edu email address. Please note that to access the curated lists below you must log in to PIVOT.

  • Community Engagement: Grants for research and programming in collaboration with community-based organizations.
  • Humanities Funding: Funding opportunities for Humanities scholarship and research. Includes grants from large federal agencies, like NIH and NSF, that you may not have previously considered.
  • Institutional Training Grants: Grants that support proposals for departmental or institutional training programs for graduate students and postdocs.
  • International Research: Opportunities to conduct research and programming with international collaborators, at international sites, or with international funding.
  • New Investigator Opportunities: Funding opportunities that target researchers who are early in their careers and/or do not have significant extramural funding. Of interest to new investigators, early career researchers, postdocs, and mentors seeking support for postdocs. Also includes some career development and mentored career development awards. This list includes all disciplines.
  • Pre-doctoral funding: Grants, scholarships, fellowships and awards of interest to graduate students to support doctoral research.
  • Prizes and Awards: Selected prizes and awards of interest to new and early-stage investigators.
  • Seed Funding: Grants that fund proposals for research with the expectation that they will lead to future funding from other sources. Included are initiation grants, seed funding, grants for pilot studies, grants for exploratory studies and start-up funding. All disciplines are represented.
• Foundation Directory Online: This unique database includes information on more than 98,000 foundations, corporate donors, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S., as well as 1.7 million of their recent grants. To access Foundation Directory Online, contact Melissa Throckmorton.

Federal grants databases:

Funding opportunities are usually published on federal agencies' websites. See “Federal Funding Sources” below.

• Grants.gov: Free searchable database and email notification service for all federal funding opportunities.
• Department of Education Grants Forecast: Forecast of funding opportunities under the discretionary grant programs for upcoming fiscal years.

Foundation grants databases:

• The Grantsmanship Center: Search for private foundations by state. Provides general funding information, contact information, and links to organization websites.
• Philanthropy News Digest (PND): A free service of the Foundation Center, PND publishes a weekly roundup of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from private grantmaking organizations. You can also search for RFPs by subject or keyword.
• Chronicle of Philanthropy New Grants: A searchable database of more than 38,000 new funding opportunities in a variety of areas offered by foundations and corporations. If you do not have a subscription to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, you can search the database but will only have limited access to its features and search results.

Topic- and discipline-specific grants databases:

• H-Net: Tracks and lists Humanities and Social Sciences funding announcements.
• NYFA Source: A national directory of awards, services, and publications for artists.
• WomenArts: Provides information about grants and other opportunities for women artists and allies.

Graduate students:

Graduate students can search for funding to support their masters’ or doctoral level research in a number of ways.

• For grant search assistance, contact the associate dean of the Graduate School.
• See the Grants and Funding for Graduate Students Research Guide, where you'll find a variety of resources to find funding for research.
• See the Pivot curated list on Pre-doctoral funding. This list includes grants, scholarships, fellowships and awards of interest to graduate students to support doctoral research. All disciplines. This list is available to all VCU students using their vcu.edu email address.
• For grant writing assistance, contact the National Scholarship Office.

Many funding agencies place limits on the number of proposals or applications that an organization may submit in response to a particular announcement. To prevent any potential disqualification of submissions, Virginia Commonwealth University requires that investigators or researchers notify the Division of Sponsored Programs if a limited submission is planned or there is an intention to apply for a limited program.

• VCU Limited Submission Compliance Notice

Commercialization Fund
Funds innovative pilot initiatives at VCU that help advance the Quest for Distinction strategic plan. Faculty, staff, students and community partners with co-sponsors from within the university are eligible to apply. Requests of $50,000 or less will be given priority.

VCU Accelerate Fund
Supports high-profile, launch-ready initiatives designed to yield measurable results in research, scholarship, and creative practice. Funded projects should be designed to reach a very specific outcome or establish capability to submit a competitive application for external funding within a short term (e.g., 6–12-months after project completion). Examples of appropriate Accelerate projects include smaller contained projects with tangible outcomes, small project expansion or mid-scale planning proposals. All projects must align with at least one SRPP initiative, are required to be multi-PI, and advance trans- or multi-disciplinary research and inter-campus collaboration. The maximum total award is $100,000 for 12-18 months.

VCU Breakthroughs Fund
Supports transdisciplinary teams to design unique, creative, and innovative large-scale approaches to confront humanity’s grand challenges with projects designed to reach very specific outcomes or establish the capability to compete for external funding upon award completion. All projects must align with at least one SRPP initiative, are required to be multi-PI, and advance trans- or multi-disciplinary research and inter-campus collaboration. The maximum total award is $200,000 for 18-24 months.

VCU Quest Fund
Supports new, emerging or continuing research by all VCU faculty. All projects must align with at least one SRPP initiative and, where possible, should advance trans- or multi-disciplinary research and inter-campus collaboration. The maximum total award is $50,000 for 18-months and requires at least 25% cost share from the PI(s)’ school or college.

VCU Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fund
Through a partnership between the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, the VCU Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fund is designed to support, facilitate and enhance the creation, production and dissemination of arts, humanities and social sciences research and creative activity at any stage of development, including initial or mid-stage project development, presentation or performance, and final publication. 

Alzheimer's and related diseases research award fund
Provides seed money to researchers in Virginia to stimulate innovative research into biomedical and psychosocial aspects of dementia, including cell biology, caregiving and animal modeling. Awards are limited to $45,000.

American Cancer Society institutional research grants
Funds small research grants of up to $30,000 for junior faculty to conduct one year of basic, preclinical, clinical and cancer-control research studies. Applicants should not have received a nationally competitive research grant.

CCTR Endowment Fund
Supports meritorious pilot and feasibility clinical and translational research, up to $50,000. All VCU faculty are eligible, and applications that include investigators from multiple disciplines are encouraged. Proposals due Nov. 1, Feb. 1, May 1 and Aug. 1.

Geriatric training and education initiative
Funds workforce training and education initiatives that can be completed within the fiscal year. Applications for training projects, conferences, or similar educational programs are appropriate. Awards from $1,000 to $25,000.

Harris Manchester College Oxford Summer Research Institute
Each year the Global Education Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, solicits applications from VCU faculty for participation in Oxford’s Harris Manchester College Summer Research Institute to enhance a research project through a week of focused study.

Humanities research grants
Foster excellence in research and creative scholarship by supporting costs such as travel to archives, and expenses related to collection of data such as photocopying fees. $1,000 awards may be used during the summer months.

KL2 program
Provides salary support and $25,000 in startup funds for faculty-level clinical and translational scientists near the beginning of their investigative careers. KL2 scholars are initially appointed for two years as they work toward receiving their own independent mentored career development award.

Service learning and community engagement grants
Various mechanisms support efforts to promote service learning, community engagement and community engaged research. Awards range from $1,000 to $20,000.

Unit internal grants
Some schools and departments have their own internal funding to support the scholarly work of faculty.

A-Z index of U.S. government departments and agencies

• National Institutes of Health
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Science Foundation
• Administration for Children and Families
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Army Corp of Engineers
  • Army Medical Research
  • Army Research Office Funding opportunities
  • Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Funding opportunities
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Opportunities
  • Naval Research Laboratory Contracting Division (BAAs, RFPs)
  • Office of Naval Research Acquisition Department
  • Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program funding and opportunities
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of the Interior
  • Fish and Wildlife Service 
  • Geological Survey (grants and contracts)
  • Geological Survey (unsolicited proposals)
  • Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 
  • Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
• Department of Justice
• Department of State
  • Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
  • Middle East Partnership Initiative
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Health Resources and Services Administration
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Security Agency
• National Research Council
• Smithsonian Institution
• U.S. Agency for International Development

• American Cancer Society
• American Federation for AIDS Research
• American Federation for Aging Research
• American Lung Association
• Arthritis Foundation
• Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
• Prostate Cancer Foundation
• Burroughs Welcome Fund
• Cancer Research Foundation of America
• Christensen Fund
• Dermatology Foundation
• Hereditary Disease Foundation
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• International Union Against Cancer
• Jeffress Memorial Trust
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Leukemia Society of America
• March Of Dimes
• National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
• National Kidney Foundation
• National Organization of Rare Disorders
• National Osteoporosis Foundation
• Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation
• Paralyzed Veterans of America
• Pew Charitable Trusts
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation