Finding Funding Opportunities

Identifying Different Types of Funders

There are many different sources of funding – from large government agencies to small non-profits. Different funders have different priorities and goals, so it is important to find a good match between your project and funder.

Internal Pace University Awards

The Scholarly Research Committees of the Pace Faculty Councils provide funding to full-time faculty in support of scholarship. There are two types of awards: reduction in teaching load and direct monetary assistance to cover research expenses. Please see Section D24 of the Faculty Handbook (PDF) for additional information. Some of the Schools/Colleges at Pace also have opportunities to apply for research funds. These internal awards can be an excellent way to generate preliminary research and/or pilot data for subsequent proposals.

Federal Granting Agencies

There are 26 federal agencies that award grants, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services (including the National Institutes of Health), the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. These agencies range in terms of discipline, outcomes, and scope; we encourage you to look at the agency websites to learn more about each one’s mission and funding opportunities.

Professional Societies and Organizations

We recommend checking the websites relevant professional organizations for your research/scholarship to see if they have any funding opportunities – many do! For example, the American Psychological Association offers a range of grants, scholarships, and awards. The websites of professional organizations often provide disciplinary-specific information on relevant external funding opportunities, and some societies/organizations offer mentorship or workshops on different career development topics, including obtaining external funding.

Private Funders

If you are interested in pursuing funding from foundations or corporations, please reach out to the Office of Research and Graduate Education. We will confer with Corporate and Foundation Relations and then advise on next steps.

Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) at Pace serves as the central point of contact between the university and corporations, foundations, and other non-governmental, philanthropic organizations. CFR is dedicated to identifying, establishing, and enhancing relationships with private funders by matching their philanthropic interests with the appropriate initiative.

If you are interested in pursuing private funding opportunities, please email Corporate and Foundation Relations at cfr@pace.edu or (212) 346-1218.

Identifying Funding Opportunities

There are many different ways to keep up-to-date on relevant funding opportunities, including online search tools, listservs, email updates, conference sessions, and utilizing resources at Pace.

Listservs

We recommend subscribing to disciplinary or interdisciplinary listservs related to your research interests. Program directors at different agencies and foundations often use listservs to disseminate funding opportunities to their communities.

Subscribe to Funding Announcements

Some funders and organizations have bulletins and email lists that you can sign up to receive that have new and upcoming funding opportunities.

• Philanthropy News Digest - announcements from grant-making organizations and non-profits.
• Receive email updates from National Science Foundation- you can sign up for Foundation-wide announcements or select to receive information from specific Directorates.
• Subscribe to the National Institutes of Health listserv in which new opportunities, updates, and information is circulated.
• Department of Energy - latest developments from the Energy.gov team -- from videos to infographics to live Q&A’s
• Department of Education - Institute of Education Services - An email-based alert service designed to inform you about all new content posted to the IES websites.
• EPA: United States Environmental Protection Agency - Sign up to receive news releases and other information from EPA
• NIH Guide Listserv

Email Alerts

Sign up for email alerts to learn about funding opportunities

• PIVOT
• Department of Energy
• IES (Institute of Education Sciences)
• EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
• NIH (National Institute of Health)
• NSF (National Science Foundation)
• USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)

Conferences

When you attend professional conferences, check the program for sessions related to grant funding. Often program directors will be holding formal sessions, funding roundtables, or “office hours.” This can be a great way to connect with a program director and obtain valuable information about funding priorities and opportunities.

Search Tools

Pivot is a great resource for faculty, staff and students interested in identifying relevant funding opportunities for their research, scholarship, teaching, and creative activities. Pace University has a subscription to Pivot.

There are several other ways to conduct online searches to identify relevant funding opportunities.

• Grants.gov has a searchable database of federal funding opportunities. You can insert relevant keywords to narrow your search; we recommend checking the “private institutions of higher education” box under eligibility to limit your search to relevant opportunities for Pace University. Grants.gov provides helpful search tips.
• Corporate and Foundation Relations has a subscription to the Foundation Directory Online. Please email Corporate and Foundation Relations for assistance with using this online database.
• Challenge.gov is the official hub for challenges and prize competitions across the U.S. federal government

Library Resources
The Pace University libraries have resources for identifying grants opportunities, including a research guide, the Annual Register of Grants Support and the Directory of Grants in the Humanities. For additional information, you can email Greg Murphy.