External Funding Sources

The Director and Assistant Director of Sponsored Programs distribute specific funding opportunity announcements to deans, department chairs, and individual faculty, as appropriate. They are also available to discuss current grant opportunities and to assist faculty and staff in locating funding for their scholarly activities.

For an individual funding interest search, click the following link to complete and submit the Online Funding Request Form. The completed form will be directed to the Assistant Director of SP who will assist with the search.

Additionally, the SP office is the liaison with the Grants Resource Center (GRC), a service to which the office subscribes. If you would like GRC to perform an individual funding search for you, please direct your request to 228 Zahnow or call 964.4295. Staff will be happy to work with GRC in responding to your request. The Project Outline Form was also designed to assist you by serving these two purposes:

  • First, to help you structure your thoughts about undertaking an academic activity (training, curriculum design, research, public service, etc.) in a project format, and
  • Second, to assist your Sponsored Programs office in their efforts to identify external funding sources for your project.

Sponsored and Academic Programs Support offers workshops on locating funding, proposal development and preparation, and other aspects of grant seeking and project management. Sponsored Programs can assist with the following aspects of funded proposal development and project implementation:

  • Researching funding opportunities
  • Contacting funding source staff
  • Providing information and education
  • Securing application materials
  • Analyzing proposal guidelines
  • Project planning
  • Proposal outlining
  • Providing institutional narrative
  • Providing editorial advice
  • Budget preparation
  • Securing institutional approvals
    Click here to see flowchart of the Grant Proposal Development and Transmittal Process.
  • Production and packaging of proposals
  • Post-award publicity
    • abstract submitted to University Communications for release
    • published in Interior
    • posted to website
  • Establishing sponsored projects accounts
  • Reviewing reports to funding sources

Federal Appropriations Program
Academic appropriations (earmarking) refers to the process by which the U.S. Congress attaches funding for specific university-directed projects to federal appropriations legislation.  It is part of the annual Congressional budgeting process.  Click here for details. 

The following are PowerPoint® presentations which may guide you toward funding sources.

  • NRI – The National Research Initiative PowerPoint® is for applicants interested in agriculture, the environment, human health, and rural communities.
  • Grants.gov – The Grants.gov PowerPoint® allows you to search the entire federal database for available funding dollars.
  • NIH – The National Institute of Health PowerPoint® illustrates some of the background of the NIH, and its dispersal of its funds.
  • NSF RUI Program – The National Science Foundation: Research in Undergraduate Institutions (NSF-RUI) PowerPoint® illustrates how NSF-RUI supports research at predominately undergraduate schools.

Federal Grants. Federal grants are announced in the Federal Register (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html), the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

State Grants. State grants are generally announced by the various state agencies through official publications and electronic bulletin boards. They usually require specific forms and formats.

Foundation Grants. Foundation grant agencies usually do not issue RFPs, but a number of privately published annual reports highlight available funding resources. Start by contacting the Office of Sponsored and Academic Programs Support for assistance with your search. Note: For many foundations, coordination is required with the SVSU Foundations Office. Contact:

Sponsor Websites follow with detailed information: