Our team can conduct a funding search if you email us your project idea or summary of research focus areas. We also have a database of foundation and corporate funding opportunities available online! Click here to view the Find Funders database.
Please contact us if you -
- Need help locating non-governmental (corporate, foundation, society) financial support sources for your project or program,
- Are preparing a concept paper, letter of intent or inquiry, or proposal for a foundation or other private funding source, or
- Have received funding from a foundation so that we can assist you with reporting and stewardship.
Yes, we will help you edit proposals or letters of inquiry that you have drafted and tailor them to the specific funder that you are targeting. We can also help draft text for your review.
Limited submission funding opportunities occur when a funder limits/specifies the number of applicants that an institution may submit. The Proposal Development Office (PDO) runs limited submissions for UK. UK sets an internal deadline for limited submission opportunities that is much earlier than the funder deadline so that interested faculty may submit ideas for a committee to review and select UK’s applicant. A list of current and archived limited submissions with their deadlines can be found on PDO’s website. If no applicants submit by the internal deadline, then the limited submission remains open until an eligible applicant comes forward or the funder’s deadline passes. If you are selected to be UK’s applicant for a non-government funded limited submission, then we can work with you on your application materials. We can also provide advice on what project might be most attractive to the funder if you are having trouble narrowing down your choice of projects.
Yes, we can absolutely help you with required institutional information.
Most foundations will specify on their website or in the RFP guidelines the amount they are willing to pay for indirect costs. Often times, foundations will pay a lower % for indirect costs than the amount that federal funders have agreed to pay. If you cannot find information about a funder’s indirect cost allowances, then contact us and we will help.
Please notify Foundation & Corporate Philanthropy that you are submitting to a private foundation or corporation. We can help shape your submission for the specific interests of private funders to improve your chance of funding, provide you with information on the funder, and reach out to the funder with questions to help save you time. If your submission is considered a charitable grant, then it will also need to route through OSPA (we can help you make that determination). It’s important to note that many times OSPA and Foundation & Corporate Philanthropy are working on the same submissions, but support different aspects of preparing the request for support. OSPA will navigate the required approvals and budget submission and we can help with project formation, narrative development, funder strategy, and cultivating or maintaining a relationship with the funder.
We would be happy to meet with you to explain the differences between applying for federal funding and foundation funding. Also please see the Proposal Tips page of our website for tips on how to write a successful proposal to a foundation.
Corporations have several mechanisms through which they support community programs and research. These include marketing budgets, corporate foundations, business development offices, and community engagement departments. Similarly, UK has several different departments that handle these various incoming funds. The Foundation & Corporate Philanthropy office handles gifts that are philanthropic in nature and come mostly from corporate foundations or community engagement departments.