IDENTIFYING SPONSORS

Sponsors of research are those organizations that provide the funds to carry out your research. Although organizations vary in their specific funding capacities, application review procedures and other procedures, one of the first steps you need to take is to assure that you are actually eligible to receive the award. Be sure to read materials carefully! Do not be afraid to call agencies and talk about your research ideas with project officers to see if your interests and their priorities match.

Federal Sponsors

Federal sponsors are those agencies that support research with funds from the U.S. government. Applying for federal grants is being centralized more and more. One of the most important sites is "Grants.gov".

• From their home page: “There are over 1,000 grant programs offered by all Federal grant making agencies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is proud to be the managing partner for Grants.gov, an initiative that is having an unparalleled impact on the grant community. Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for more than $400 billion in Federal grants.” Go to http://www.grants.gov/ to learn more.
• For a list of federal sponsors, here are a few websites from various universities that are helpful in linking you with sponsor web pages.
  • http://research.downstate.edu/development/fed_links.htm
  • http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/osr/funding/fund_sponsors.shtml
  • http://www.research.temple.edu/funding/extfedag.html

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The NIH is one of the largest sponsors of federal research in the U.S. Their web pages contain a wealth of information not only about funding opportunities, but in the preparation of applications and other research issues.

• The best place to start is http://www.nih.gov.
• To learn about weekly notices released from the NIH http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/WeeklyIndex.cfm

The National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)

In the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, NIDRR is also one of the largest federal sponsors of research dedicated to disability and rehabilitation.

• To learn more about NIDRR and funding opportunities http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/index.html

Foundation Sponsors

Non-federal or foundation sponsors are characterized by foundations that primarily focus on a single disease or outcome of interest. Foundation grants are typically smaller – but not always – than federal grants and though are not as prestigious as a grant from NIH or NIDRR, foundations are often the best place to start for new clinical researchers and for projects that need a smaller amount of funds than a large clinical trial, for example. Just like federal sponsors, it is critical that you are eligible for the award and that your proposal falls within their scope of interest. Just like federal sponsors, do not hesitate to contact foundations directly to see if your project might be of interest.

• One of the most important sites to learn more about foundational opportunities is the Foundation Center at http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/.
• There are a wide variety of foundation sponsors – probably as many as there are conditions! Here are a few web links to get you started in addition to the Foundation Center http://www.vanderbilt.edu/dsr/nonfederal.php and http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/osr/funding/fund_nsponsors.shtml
• Another useful site is the Community of Science which will search federal and non-federal sources of support. Check out http://fundingopps.cos.com/