How to look for other sources of funding
Make good use of your campus resources – department administrators, graduate divisions, and offices of research (or sponsored research, contracts and grants offices) all receive RFPs from multiple sources and post or announce them within the campus or department. In addition, research offices and campus libraries often have searchable databases – ask your research office or seek out the reference librarian at your campus library. A list of campus research offices is available on the UC MEXUS website.
In addition, the University of California Office of the President website has some excellent resources for UC faculty and researchers:
- UC Systemwide Funding Opportunities — this site gives you available funding opportunities as applicable to different academic fields.
- Research Information Links — this site gives you links to state and federal agencies.
In applied areas, UC also offers a discovery grant program:
- The Industry-University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP) awards MICRO Grants and UC Discovery Grants in several fields of science and engineering: Biotechnology, Communications and Networking, Digital Media, Electronics Manufacturing and New Materials, Information Technology for the Life Sciences, Microelectronics, and Economic Impact Research.
To search for opportunities from other private foundations or government agencies, consider the following links:
- Most UC campuses subscribe to IRIS, the Illinois Researcher Information Service. This is a comprehensive site with links to federal funding resources, funding opportunities, and tips for getting started. There is a link at the top to find out if you are at a subscribing institution or you can ask your research office. Even if you are not at a subscribing institution, IRIS serves as a portal to many useful sites and is worth the time to explore what it has to offer.
- You can search by foundations or research areas if you are subscriber to The Foundation Center. If you are not, you can still use the RFP (Request for Proposals) search function. Try several search words related to your project, and the site will provide links to foundations with associated RFPs. Try to be imaginative in your use of key words. For instance, if "hydrology" yields nothing, try "water." Better yet, try both, one at a time.
- Government Grants — this site provides a portal to all federal grant-making agencies, with multiple searchable links.
- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the AAAS offer a grant-seeking resource. Subscription is free.
- The American Council of Learned Societies offers grants in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences.
- The American Association of University Women offers many fellowship and funding opportunities
- The Minnesota Council on Foundations provides very helpful tips on writing grant proposals to almost any funding organization.
Several foundations and organizations focus on research related to Mexico or Latin America. Check their websites for the dates and focus of their funding competitions or RFPs:
- The Pacific Rim Research Program is also a UC multicampus research program. It provides several grants programs that are complementary to those of UC MEXUS and with a broader geographical focus.
- The Inter-American Foundation offers grants for projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, including dissertation research.
- Proyecto Forma is a consortium of organizations dedicated to supporting forestry and bioenergy projects that will strengthen “clean development” in Iberoamerican countries.
- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars offers residential fellowships to citizens from other countries with outstanding projects in the social sciences and humanities as related to national and/or international policy issues.
Or go directly to the sites of the big funding agencies in your discipline. Here is just a small sampling of the links:
- Fulbright Scholars Program
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- National Endowment for the Arts
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S. Office of Justice
- U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (look at the "quicklinks" and start with the Fulbright Program)
- U.S. Institute of Peace
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Social Science Research Council
- Ford Foundation
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- MacArthur Foundation
- Kellogg Foundation
- Tinker Foundation
- Packard Foundation
- Hewlett Foundation
- Lindbergh Foundation
- Smithsonian Institution
- Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Spencer Foundation
- J. Paul Getty Foundation
If all else fails, go for a broader strategy. Simply use Google, type in "funding opportunities" and a simple but specific search word, like "water" or even "water Mexico." Chances are you will find some surprises!