- Research and Sponsored Programs
- Finding Funding
Finding Funding
Before you begin searching for a grant to support your project, you must come up with a unique, fundable concept. As you work on researching and developing your concept, RSP can walk you through next steps as well as related policies and procedures.
Once your concept has been fleshed out, you can begin to survey the wide range of funding opportunities available from sources such as the U.S. federal government, foundations, international organizations, nonprofit institutions, and corporations. Finding a sponsor to support a specific research project or scholarly activity can be a challenging process, however, and RSP is happy to help by performing individualized funding searches. Please contact us if your would like to discuss your project with a member of our staff.
External Opportunities
Researchers typically find funding via one of four main search databases. Grants listed on these sites are open to students, faculty, and staff.
Each researcher will find a specific set of opportunities that fits their individual needs, so deadlines and requirements will vary significantly from project to project.
For more information, you can also consult the Mina Rees Library’s research guide to grants and funding.
Grant Forward is a funding opportunity database that draws from more than 9,000 U.S. sponsors.
To register, click on “Sign Up” in the upper right corner. You will be asked to provide basic profile information, and you will be able to create a username and password for yourself. This username and password can be used to access Grant Forward from any computer.
You must list the CUNY Graduate Center as your institution.
How to Search
Use the simple search interface to search the database by entering key words pertaining to your search.
The advanced search interface allows you to construct a targeted, field-specific search using search boxes, browsing windows, and picklists. There are no required fields for conducting an advanced search. Enter information only in those fields you wish to search.
Grant Forward offers free webinars that discuss how to use its services in more detail.
Pivot is a database of grants, prizes, awards, and other funding opportunities for researchers and scholars.
How to Search
Select “COS Funding Opportunities,” then “Search COS Funding Opportunities.”
You can use the simple search interface to search the database by key words using the Boolean operators AND or OR.
The advanced search interface allows you to construct a targeted, field-specific search using search boxes, browsing windows, and picklists. There are no required fields for conducting an advanced search. Enter information only in those fields you wish to search.
You can also use the search wizard (follow the link below “advanced search”) to quickly locate results. This feature identifies the most applicable opportunities for you based on a five-question survey.
For detailed instructions on conducting searches in Pivot and setting up email alerts for new funding opportunities, review the instructions page and/or the user’s guide. The user’s guide provides a variety of sample funding searches to help you conceptualize your own.
Pivot also offers free videos of product demons and training sessions.
Developed by the Foundation Center, a nonprofit organization with 50 years of experience connecting grant seekers and grantmakers, Foundation Directory Online is the nation’s leading online resource for funding research.
How to Search
- Click the “Search Grantmakers” tab.
- Fields of Interest: look for a category that covers your interests.
- Geographic Focus: enter “NY” and “national.”
- Enter words on the keyword search field.
- You can check the box to exclude grantmakers not accepting applications, or you can include those grantmakers to see if there are any that you may approach because you have a connection to them (through faculty, professional society, board members, etc.).
- Run a search a few ways and see what yields the most interesting list. When you see a grantmaker listed, click on the foundation name to bring up a report. Does your project fall within their areas of interest? Look at the projects that the grantmaker has previously funded. Is yours similar? You may already know some of the major funders for research like yours.
The Foundation Center operates a library/learning center in Manhattan, where visitors are welcome to use their reference materials and may request guidance in conducting a search. The center, at 79 Fifth Avenue (at 16th Street), is open six days a week.
Grants.gov lists all available grant opportunities from federal grant-making agencies, centralizing more than 1,000 different grant programs.
The website has a robust search feature that allows you to filter by opportunity status, funding instrument type, eligibility, field, and agency.
In addition, grants.gov houses the Grants Learning Center, where you can learn more about the federal grants lifecycle, policies on grant management, and individual grantmaking agencies.
Grants.gov lists all available grant opportunities from federal grant-making agencies, centralizing more than 1,000 different grant programs.
The website has a robust search feature that allows you to filter by opportunity status, funding instrument type, eligibility, field, and agency.
In addition, grants.gov houses the Grants Learning Center, where you can learn more about the federal grants lifecycle, policies on grant management, and individual grantmaking agencies.
Internal Opportunities
RSP administers two CUNY-specific sources of funding.
The Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program was established as a major vehicle for the University's encouragement and support of faculty research as well as a way to leverage external funding. It seeks to enhance the University's role as a research institution, further the professional growth and development of its faculty, and provide support for scholars of all levels.
Only full time central line faculty whose appointment is at The Graduate Center may apply through the GC. All others must apply though the Grants Office at their home institution. GC staff in the HEO series titles are also eligible.
There are three categories of awards:
- “Traditional A” Awards: up to $3,500
- “Traditional B” Awards: between $3,500 and $6,000
- Enhanced Awards: between $6,000 and $12,000
The deadline for applications is in December each year. Specific timeline announcements occur in the fall.
Through the Doctoral Student Research Grant (DSRG) program, Graduate Center doctoral students in years 2 through 6 are eligible for individual awards of up to $1,500, which can be spent on expenses such as conference and research travel, compensation for human subjects, and more. This program is excellent preparation for any major grant opportunities you may apply for later in your career.
The DSRG program aims to foster a research-oriented academic culture among doctoral students at the CUNY Graduate Center by providing:
- Incentives for early-career students to model and meet the requirements for succeeding in the competition for funds by clearly defining a problem, a project, and a realistic budget
- An occasion for faculty-student mentoring relationships oriented around the concrete problems of proposing, planning for, and executing research
- Opportunities for student professional development through funds for pre-doctoral research publications, presentations, and professional networking
Awarding decisions made by an applicant’s academic program. Awardees are not guaranteed to receive the full amount they request.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is January 31 of every year.
Awardees will be able to spend their funds from June 1 of the year they're awarded to May 31 of the following year. (For example, if you are awarded in the spring of 2020, you can spend your funds from June 2020 to May 2021.)
