Grants are often awarded to nonprofit organizations and not individuals. Individuals seeking grants must pursue other funding routes other than public charities or private foundations. If you’re a researcher in need of capital, you can scour various grant news online to see if there are any available funding opportunities for research. Usually, there are a handful. If you’re affiliated with a school you may contact your administration office since some colleges and universities offer sponsored programs dedicated to coordinating grant requests. This way, it also helps researchers like yourself find the right grant opportunity.
Also, never underestimate the power of your connections. Your peers and colleagues can help you if they know any funding sources available. There is also an array of national organizations that have local chapters managing their own funding programs. Another good approach is to seek a nonprofit or grantmaker that offers support for individual projects.
Check out the list below on how and where to find research funding:
The site is your home of federal grants resources and are organized by topic. You can select the topic of your choice, which provides links to pages that provide information for the 26 federal grantmaking agencies. Some of these agencies financially backup individual research projects. The site is managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and offers users “full service electronic grant administration”, along with available grant application forms and guidelines you can download and peruse.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) aims to encourage and further scientific progress at the national level by competitively providing grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in key areas of science, mathematics, and engineering.
GrantSelect is a self-proclaimed practical online grants resources site that include organizational and government grantmakers. You can access this database at no charge at your nearest Foundation Center library.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH’s Office of Extramural Research provides various types of grants, basics of grant applications and support for research projects in the field of biomedicine.
Michigan State University Libraries
MSU Libraries presents a compilation of grant funding sources for individuals , such as scholarships or financial aid for students that are arranged by academic level, population group, subject and additional choices.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
The CFDA is a government-wide collection of Federal programs that offer assistance or benefits to state and local governments, private nonprofit and for-profit agencies, specialized groups, and individuals. You can search and browse information on assistance by agency, program area, and other specific areas that is associated with your research project.
Social Science Research Council
SSRC, an independent, nonprofit international organization, supports grant programs and fellowships in the social sciences. The site’s Fellowship section offers access to information on current funding opportunities and online grant applications. Plus, there’s a handy guide to writing a research grant proposal. The SSRC’s work is made possible by grants from private and public institutions, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the United Nations, the Ford Foundation among others.
Pivot offers a global source compendium of funding opportunities and has grown with 700 member institutions. You can register for free, however you won’t get access to the funding database. There’s a free trial access for 30 days that you can try.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency that is known as the leading funder of humanities programs across the United States. NEH’s grants are designed for cultural institutions such as libraries, colleges, universities, museums, and to individual scholars. It supports humanities learning and funds research and education.