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Research Grants on Education: Small

Sponsor/agency: Spencer Foundation

Program: Research Grants on Education: Small

Description 

The Small Research Grants on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets up to $50,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. We accept applications two times per year.

This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. Our goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.

Program Summary 

Deadlines:

  • December 1: ORS internal review + RGA (mandatory)
  • December 10: Deadline to submit application in portal (mandatory)

Your application must be signed by the institution before the Foundation reviews it. To allow enough time for this, please submit your application through the online portal by December 10. 

  • December 15: Foundation deadline  

Value: Up to $50,000

Indirect Costs: N/A

Duration: Up to 5 years

How to Apply:

  1. Notify Amber Zapletal of your intent to apply.
  2. Complete the online application.
  3. Send your completed application (exported PDF) + RGA signed by your Dean to Amber Zapletal by December 1 for internal review.
  4. Once you have a completed application in the portal, please touch base with Amber regarding institutional signature. 

Contact:

Program information:

Eligibility 

Proposals to the Small Research Grants on Education program must be for research projects that aim to study education. Proposals for activities other than research are not eligible (e.g., program evaluations with no significant research component, creation of professional development programs, curricula and/or assessment tools, with no significant research component, scholarships, capital projects, software development). Additionally, proposals for research studies focused on areas other than education are not eligible. 

Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Small Research Grant on Education must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field. While graduate students may be part of the research team, they may not be named the PI or Co-PI on the proposal. 

The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization or public/governmental institution that is willing to serve as the administering organization if the grant is awarded. Examples include non-profit or public colleges, universities, school districts and research facilities, as well as other non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS (or equivalent non-profit status if the organization is outside of the United States). The Spencer Foundation does not award grants directly to individuals. 

Proposals are accepted from the U.S. and internationally, however, all proposals must be submitted in English and budgets must be proposed in U.S. dollars.

Restrictions

Restrictions Proposed budgets for this program are limited to $50,000 total and may not include indirect cost charges per Spencer’s policy. Eligible investigators may also request additional supplemental funds for a course release. See the Optional Supplemental Course Release section for details.

Projects proposed may not be longer than 5 years in duration. 

PIs and Co-PIs may only hold one active research grant from the Spencer Foundation at a time. (This restriction does not apply to the administering organization; organizations may submit as many proposals as they like as long as they are for different projects and have different research teams.) 

PIs and Co-PIs may not submit more than one research proposal to the Spencer Foundation at a time. This restriction applies to the Small Grants Program, Large Grants Program, Racial Equity Research Grants Program and ResearchPractice Partnership Program. If the PI or any of the Co-PIs currently have a research proposal under consideration in any of these programs, they are required to wait until a final decision has been made on the pending proposal before they can submit a new proposal. 

Note that an exception to both of these restrictions is the Spencer Vision Grants program. PIs and Co-PIs may apply for a Vision Grant if they have another active research grant from the Spencer Foundation or if they have another Spencer grant proposal in review. However, the projects proposed in a Vision Grant proposal and in another Spencer grant program proposal must be distinct.