Research Grants and Funding

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

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Internal Grants and Funding

Faculty Grants

ACU offers a number of grant opportunities to faculty who do scholarly research or creative work. Faculty members may submit one internal grant proposal per year.

Cullen Grants

Cullen Grants are designed to provide summer support for faculty to pursue scholarly research or creative activity. Eligible faculty include all full-time faculty except for those in the Physical Sciences and Mathematics.

Math-Science Grants

Math-Science Grants are designed to provide summer support for faculty to pursue scholarly research or creative activity. Eligible faculty include all full-time faculty in the Physical Sciences and Mathematics.

SEED Awards

The SEED Award for Scholarly Excellence and Extramural Determination is a highly competitive grant designed to fund an investigator over 2 years in the conduct of studies aimed at providing preliminary data for an external funding application. The award requires the submission of an external application within 9 months following the end of the 2 year grant period.

Student Grants

ACU students may earn stipends for research or creative work conducted under the guidance of a faculty mentor as part of a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research or the Honors College. To be eligible for a research stipend, the student must make arrangements with a faculty member and be listed as a Research Assistant on that faculty member’s grant application. Follow the links for specific requirements on faculty grant opportunities.

Undergraduate Research, Creativity and Innovation
Honors College

Undergraduate Research Grants

The purpose of this grant is to encourage participation of undergraduate students in faculty-mentored summer research projects. Any faculty member may apply for student stipend support during both the semesters and summer, faculty summer stipends, course release, development fund and other research costs as part of the overall internal grants application process. Student stipends are at the following rates. For summer work: $400/week for a student working full time. $300/week for 3/4 time, $200/week for 1/2 time, and $100/week for 1/4 time. During the Fall/Spring semester up to $500/semester. Faculty summer stipends are at the rate of two summer courses: $6,000 for full professor, $5,500 for associate professor, and $5,000 for assistant professor.

URCI Student Travel Grants

These are travel funds for conference attendance for both student and faculty travel.

Related Links

External Grants and Funding

Expectations

A primary responsibility of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is to assist faculty and staff in their pursuit to obtain external funds to support scholarly research and projects. This is typically a multi-step process which involves:

  1. Finding a funding agency
  2. Writing the grant proposal, contract or cooperative agreement
  3. Gaining internal approval to submit the proposal or enter into a contract or agreement
  4. Submitting the proposal
  5. Post-award management

Every situation is unique, and the various steps of the grant seeking process range from very simple to very complex.  In most cases, the grant seeking process should begin 6 months to 1 year prior to the anticipated date of actually needing the award.

You are encouraged to contact the ORSP staff when you first consider seeking external funding. They can help answer questions you may have, and help guide you through the various steps, including the administrative review and approval process.

Funding Search Tools

A number of web-based tools exist to help you to find funding for your project. In conducting a search for funds, consider these key points:

  1. Most agencies have well-established areas of interest, and they fund proposals that help them achieve their goals. Study potential funding agencies closely to become familiar with their interests.
  2. A valuable source of information with regard to charitable foundations is their IRS Tax Form 990. This tax document is publicly available and will contain information on their actual charitable giving. This information typically includes recipient names, locations, amount of award, project name, etc. This type of information, examined closely, reveals whether or not the foundation typically gives to institutions similar to ACU, the types of projects funded, geographic giving boundaries and the typical monetary range of awards. Form 990s can be accessed via GuideStar and Foundation Directory Online (see below).
  3. Some of the sites listed below have the capability to provide RSS feeds and/or set up user profiles, which will then automatically send customized information regarding new opportunities. SPIN has some particularly powerful capabilities in this regard.

Pivot-RP

Pivot-RP accelerates the research process by providing access to the most comprehensive global source of research funding opportunities. ACU has subscribed to this database service annually.

Government Funding Sources

Non-Government Funding Sources

Administrative Approval Process

Prior to submitting a grant proposal to or entering into a contract or cooperative agreement with any external agency, the proposed funding request must be approved by the University. This is a relatively simple process, though the review can take some time. In particular, the Legal Office must review all relevant Certifications and Assurances or other contractual obligations. These are essentially any “strings” which the funding agency may place on ACU should an award or agreement be accepted. This is sometimes a very brief process, but it can also take a great deal of time. It is therefore very important that the administrative review process be initiated in a timely manner.

Tips for the Administrative Review Process

  1. As soon as a definite decision is made to apply for external funding, contact Qi Hang in ORSP.
  2. You will need to complete a Proposal in Cayuse – Sponsored Projects for internal review and approval
    If you require assistance in completing the proposal in Cayuse, please contact Qi Hang in ORSP.
  3. The proposal should be completed and submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the deadline for grant submission and prior to signing any contracts or agreements. However, the legal review of certifications and assurances can be conducted well in advance of submission. This will ensure enough time to conduct an adequate legal review. Further, should there be problems in this area, it is far better for this to be identified as early in the process as possible than to make this discovery after a great deal of work has been invested in the project.
  4. Please complete Responsible Conduct of Research Training in the CITI Program. The RCR training should be conducted once every 4 years. All investigators must have an up-to-date Completion Certificate on file.
  5. Financial disclosures are required for each grant application and annually if you receive the award. Please see the Conflict of Interest policy and forms. Please complete the disclosure and submit it in Cayuse. The disclosure should be completed by all significant contributors on the team.
    If you anticipate applying for or receiving a gift from a private foundation, you will still complete You will need to complete a Proposal in Cayuse – Sponsored Projects for internal review and approval, and it will be routed to the Advancement Office for approval. Please note that if you are asking a private foundation for $100,000 or more, then you must receive approval from the Senior Leadership Team before applying.

Letters of Intent

If a funding agency requires the submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI) as a first step,  please complete a Proposal in Cayuse – Sponsored Projects for internal review and approval. Please complete the LOI proposal at least 2 weeks prior to your submission date. The ORSP Office will review the request and route for appropriate signatures.

Submitting a Proposal

Different agencies have different requirements for how to submit a funding proposal. Some require little more than an email with the materials attached. Others, such as the federal agencies, require registration with certain submission platforms, such as grants.gov  or eRA Commons. In addition, they may require that certain institutional officials be the ones who approve and submit the application. Therefore, it is important in these cases to ensure, well in advance of the application due date, that the appropriate individuals are registered on the site and prepared to submit the application. If you have any questions about how to submit your application for funding, please contact the ORSP office.

External Budget Template
Extra Service Pay Approval Form

 

Post-award Management

The ORSP office will assist you with your post-award management. If you receive notification that you have been granted a funding award, please contact the ORSP office immediately so that the proper financial accounts can be set up. In addition, ORSP can assist you with budgeting and accounting issues, annual reports, or project close-out.

Expense Documentation Template

 

Time and Effort Reporting

Abilene Christian University (ACU) monitors and documents efforts expended on externally funded projects, whether federal or non-federal in source, in compliance with “The Uniform Guidance” (2 CFR 200) requirements. All project directors and principal investigators for such projects (“PD/PIs”) are required to certify both their effort and that of other persons active on such projects led or supervised by PD/PIs. Effort reporting is required for all externally funded projects, whether federal or non-federal in source, following each academic semester (fall, spring, and summer). Reports must be signed and submitted to ORSP by the 15th of the month following the end of the reporting period (February 15, June 15, and September 15).

Time and Effort Reporting Policy and Form

NEH Summer Stipends Application Process

The National Endowment for the Humanities offers summer stipends for “two consecutive and uninterrupted months of full-time independent study and research.” Faculty members teaching full-time at colleges or universities must be nominated by their institutions to apply for a Summer Stipend. Once faculty members are nominated by their institutions, they may submit their applications via Grants.gov. Each college and university in the United States and its jurisdictions may nominate two faculty members. Any faculty member is eligible for nomination.

Eligibility

Any tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the humanities or any tenured or tenure-track faculty member who proposes a project in the humanities may apply.

Application Procedures and Standards for Proposals

  1. Applicants should prepare a detailed description of the proposed study, not to exceed six double-spaced pages, as well as a one-page bibliography for the project, following NEH guidelines. The initial proposal should be submitted to ORSP (orsp@acu.edu) by the end of the first working day following August 14.
  2. Upon the recommendations of the Research Council, the director of the ORSP nominates up to two faculty members for the NEH stipend. The director of the ORPS informs the nominees. In most cases, the nominees are selected and informed by August 30.
  3. Nominees then prepare a final electronic application for the NEH on the NEH website, which includes the already completed description of the proposed study and bibliography along with the NEH cover sheet, and a resume (cover sheet is available at www.neh.gov). The electronic application asks you to designate the University’s nominating official. At ACU that person is the Director of the ORSP.Complete a proposal in Cayuse, along with the materials listed in #3 by the end of the second week of September.”
  4. ORSP will submit the proposal via grants.gov. The nominating official will be notified by NEH and complete the nomination by the deadline.

Grant Writing Tools & Resources

The following resources may be especially valuable for those who are new to grant writing. Combined, these resources give a broad overview of grant writing basics. Though every grant is different, a review of the following resources should provide a basic understanding of the general form and structure of a proposal and answer many common questions.

Please contact ORSP should you have questions or need assistance with the conceptualization and development of a proposal or writing a proposal.

What Are Direct vs. Indirect Costs in Research Funding? – Explaining Indirect Costs/F&A

OSP Introduction to F&A – A thorough discussion from the University of Idaho OSP Office about what F&A is and how it is determined.

It is not uncommon for funding agencies to require the inclusion of a logic model in a proposal. However, whether required or not, logic models can be extremely useful in the conceptualization and development of a proposal.

A logic model is a “flow-chart,” which provides a visual means of representing project resources needed to engage in project activities that produce measurable outputs or products which then also result in desired outcomes and impacts. In short, the logic model can be useful both in helping in the initial conceptualization and planning of a project and in communicating to readers of a proposal exactly what it will take to make a project successful and how those resources will be utilized to produce specific results.

Many guides and resources for logic models are freely available by conducting a quick internet search. However, one of the best and most comprehensive guides, which describe both simple and complex logic models, is the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide.

A Gantt chart is another commonly used tool in grant writing. Gantt charts, in their simplest forms, are graphic depictions of the various project activities along a timeline. Gantt charts are quite useful both in the development of a project plan and in communicating to others exactly how and when various activities associated with the project will be executed.

Many guides and resources regarding Gantt charts are freely available by conducting a quick internet search. Except for very complex projects, the easiest way to create a Gantt chart is to make your own using an Excel spreadsheet. However, below are links to two web-based Gantt chart programs that are free of charge.