How do I find funding for my research? (2024)

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Knowledge base

Because most private foundations make grants only to nonprofit organizations, individuals seeking grants must follow a different funding path than public charities. You need to be both creative and flexible in your approach to seeking funding.

If you are affiliated with a college or university, contact your department office. Some colleges and universities have an office for sponsored programs, which coordinates grant requests and helps researchers with finding grant opportunities.

Also ask your peers and colleagues about funding sources. Please note that many national organizations may have local chapters that may run their own funding programs. National chapters might not know what their local chapters are offering, so it is up to you to check at each level.

Another approach is to find a nonprofit with a similar interest that will act as your fiscal sponsor. In this arrangement, you might qualify for more funding opportunities. Click here to learn learn more about fiscal sponsorship.

Some grantmakers offer support for individual projects. Candid offers the following resources that can help researchers find grants:

Foundation Directory is our searchable database of grantmakers. Perform an advanced search by Transaction Type: Grants to Individuals, in addition to search terms for Subject Area and Geographic Focus. For more detailed search help, please see our article, Find your next scholarship, fellowship, or grant on Foundation Directory Professional.

Subscribeto search from your own location, or search for free at ourCandid partner locations.

If you are unfamiliar with the process of grantseeking, you may want to start with these:

  • Introduction to Finding Grants, our free tutorial
  • Our students and researchers resources

See more Knowledge Base articles related to this topic:

- How do I write a grant proposal for my individual project? Where can I find samples?
- Where can I find information about financial aid as a graduate student?

More articles for individual grantseekers

Topic(s)

Find corporate donors Find foundation donors Support for individual grantseekers Students and researchers

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Explore resources curated by our staff for this topic:

  • Staffpick Philanthropy News Digest

    RFPs

    Includes requests for research proposals. Records include funding organization(s), brief description of eligibility and application requirements, deadline, and link to original notice. Searchable by subject or keyword. Subscribe for a free weekly email digest or RSS feed.

  • Science journal

    Where to Search for Funding

    Sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this page includes links to free and fee-based grant funding resources.

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)

    Grants & Funding: NIH Central Resource

    The Office of Extramural Research offers grants in the form of fellowships and support for research projects in the field of biomedicine.

  • National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

    NEH Grants

    One of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars.

  • National Science Foundation

    Active Funding Opportunities--Recently Announced

    Promotes and advances scientific progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

  • U.S. General Services Administration

    sam.gov

    The official site for federal award recipients, it ties together all federal award information including federal assistance and contracting opportunities.

  • Staffpick

    Grants.gov

    The "electronic storefront for federal grants," organized by topic. Selecting a topic provides links to funding pages for the 26 federal grantmaking agencies, some of which support individual research projects. It offers users “full service electronic grant administration” with guidelines and grant applications available online.

  • Social Science Research Council [PDF]

    On the Art of Writing Proposals

    Eight pages of proposal writing advice for scholarly researchers.

  • Staffpick The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!)

    This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). Targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, but also helpful to undergraduates who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis). Includes sample budget and project timeline.

  • Institute of International Education

    Scholar Rescue Fund

    Provides fellowships for established scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. One-year fellowships support temporary academic positions at universities, colleges and other higher learning institutions in safe locations anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work. If safe return is not possible, the scholar may use the fellowship period to identify a longer-term opportunity.

  • Staffpick

    Social Science Research Council

    Supports fellowships and grant programs in the social sciences. The Fellowship and Prizes section of the web site provides access to information on current funding opportunities and online applications.

  • American Historical Association (AHA)

    Awards & Grants

    Describes more than 450 organizations that grant fellowships, awards, and prizes to historians. Some of this information is available online only to members of AHA.

  • How do I find funding for my research? (1)

    The Grant Writer's Handbook: How To Write A Research Proposal And Succeed

    Find: Amazon | Free eBook

  • How do I find funding for my research? (2)

    Grant Seeking in Higher Education: Strategies and Tools for College Faculty

    Find: Amazon | Free eBook

Find more titles in our catalog
How do I find funding for my research? (2024)

FAQs

How do you seek funding for research? ›

The details of the process may vary between countries and funding bodies, but the principal stages are likely to be very similar.
  1. Research project stakeholders.
  2. Developing a research proposal.
  3. Identifying research funding.
  4. Costing and pricing a research proposal.
  5. Internal approval for research proposals.

How to get funding for a research study? ›

If you are affiliated with a college or university, contact your department office. Some colleges and universities have an office for sponsored programs, which coordinates grant requests and helps researchers with finding grant opportunities. Also ask your peers and colleagues about funding sources.

How do I find funding source? ›

Check federal, state, and local grant-making agencies, and local foundations for possibility of grants. a) Federal agencies list all of their available grants on http://grants.gov. If you apply for a federal grant, you will need to set up an account. It is best to set this up in advance rather than at the last minute.

What is the largest source of funding for research? ›

The federal government has been the largest funder of academic R&D since 1953; in 2021, federal funding supported 55% of academic R&D spending. Academic institutions were the second largest source of funding for academic R&D, contributing 25% of the funds.

Is it hard to get a research grant? ›

Applying for research funding can be difficult, time-consuming, and stressful, besides the fact that it has, now, become an increasingly competitive and demanding job. There are many challenges that an applicant needs to address to keep oneself competitive, and that is much beyond motivation.

How much is a typical research grant? ›

Major Research Grants

Studies involving secondary data analysis are at the lower end of the range (about $100,000-$300,000), whereas studies that involve new data collection can have larger budgets (typically $300,000-$600,000).

Can independent researchers get grants? ›

The AACR and its partners support independent investigators at all career stages, enabling promising researchers to embark on transformative projects that are expected to lead to significant advances in the field. Independent research grants are categorized as individual or team science.

How to look for funding opportunities? ›

The California Grants Portal (a project by the California State Library) is your one destination to find all grants and loans offered on a competitive or first-come basis by California state agencies.

What is the most common source of funding? ›

What Is the Most Common Source of Funding for Entrepreneurs? The most common sources of business startup capital include personal savings, family and friends, bank loans, angel investors, venture capital, crowdfunding, small business grants, business incubators and accelerators, self-funding, and revenue financing.

How to find who funded a research study? ›

A Funding Statement is included in the metadata of each published article. The Funding Statement includes the funding information declared by the authors. Inaccurate information about funding discovered after publication may require a correction.

How do I get a source of funds? ›

Examples of Source of Funds
  1. wages, bonuses, dividends, and other income from employment.
  2. pension payments.
  3. interest from personal savings.
  4. returns on investments.
  5. money from property sales.
  6. legitimately won money, such as that received from betting or winning the lottery.
  7. inheritance and gifts.

How do I get my research funded? ›

Grants.gov provides a list of all discretionary funding opportunities from 26 US government agencies. Access is free, and the database of available grants is comprehensive with customizable search options. The grants offered by these government agencies cover a broad range of research fields.

How to do research without funding? ›

How to get started with your research without research grants.
  1. Search the literature. Great applications always start with great ideas, and great ideas come from creative thinking. ...
  2. Find a mentor. ...
  3. Get free research consumables. ...
  4. Apply for small research grants. ...
  5. Pitch your research idea.
Oct 17, 2021

How do I get more research funding? ›

How to apply for research and innovation funding
  1. Check if you are eligible. We fund individuals, businesses, research institutes and establishments, plus independent research organisations.
  2. Find funding. Search current funding opportunities from UKRI or one of our councils.
  3. Browse our areas of investment and support.

How do you seek funding? ›

Fund your business
  1. Determine how much funding you'll need.
  2. Fund your business yourself with self-funding.
  3. Get venture capital from investors.
  4. Use crowdfunding to fund your business.
  5. Get a small business loan.
  6. Use Lender Match to find lenders who offer SBA-guaranteed loans.
  7. SBA investment programs.
Jul 16, 2024

How to get sponsorship for research? ›

You can use online databases, directories, or trade publications to find potential sponsors in your target market. Additionally, you can look at your competitors or similar events and see who sponsors them. Effective sponsorship research hinges on a thorough internal analysis to identify open categories.

How do you get funding to publish research? ›

Different government agencies, grants, and nonprofits supporting scholarly and literary publishing can help you fund the academic editing and proofreading services you need.
  1. University Funds. ...
  2. Crowdfunding. ...
  3. Grants and Fellowships. ...
  4. PEN/HEIM Translation Fund Grants. ...
  5. Goethe-Institut Grant Program.

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