Advance planning is often the most difficult aspect of a grant application. Almost all grant programs have deadlines. Some applications must be filed a year prior to the start of the fellowship or grant. Faculty are encouraged to begin investigating potential sources of funding well in advance of the planned research period.
INFORMATION SOURCES
On-line databases: Internet resources have greatly facilitated research on funding opportunities. The College currently subscribes to the following databases:
· IRIS (Illinois Researcher Information Service) – Maintained by the University of Illinois Library, IRIS contains records on more than 8,000 grants programs at more than 2,000 funding agencies. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/iris/
· Community of Science (COS) - http://fundingopps.cos.com/ - Despite the name, this database lists funding opportunities in all disciplines.
These database subscriptions are domain-enabled, so that any member of the Trinity College community may use them. The databases are updated daily and provide daily or weekly updates on new funding opportunities. The Faculty Grants Office will hold periodic workshops for faculty in the use of these databases and welcomes requests from individual academic departments for targeted sessions. The director welcomes comments from faculty members about these services and suggestions for additional resources the Faculty Grants Office should consider.
The Faculty Grants Office tries to avoid duplication with the resources of the Development Office, which include databases on private foundations. Most faculty inquiries about private foundation or corporate funding can be met through the databases listed above. On occasion, however, the director of faculty grants may request additional information from Development Office sources.
Print publications: The Faculty Grants Office has a small collection of reference materials related to grantseeking and sponsored research. Journal subscriptions include the Chronicle of Higher Education, Federal Grants and Contracts Weekly, and Arts & Culture Funding Report. A list of books on proposal writing appears in the next section. Faculty members may borrow books from the collection and suggest additions.
Some useful Web addresses:
Federal and state agencies
National Science Foundation (NSF): http://www.nsf.gov
FastLane: http://fastlane.nsf.gov
Guide to Programs: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/publicat/nsf0065/how-to/toc.htm
E-Bulletin: http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin/
National Institutes of Health (NIH): http://www.nih.gov
Grants: http://www.nih.gov/grants
CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) database: https://www-commons.cit.nih.gov/crisp/
PHS 398 Application Materials: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/forms_toc.html
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): http://www.neh.gov
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): http://www.nea.gov
Department of Energy Office of Science: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Programs: http://www.reeusda.gov/nri/
Federal Register Online: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA): http://www.cfda.gov/
Connecticut Humanities Council: http://www.cthum.org/Home/default.htm
Connecticut Commission on the Arts: http://www.cslnet.ctstateu.edu/cca/
State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management: http://www.opm.state.ct.us/programs.htm
Private foundations and grantmaking nonprofit organizations
The Foundation Center: http://www.foundationcenter.org/
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS): http://www.acls.org/
Social Science Research Council (SSRC): http://www.sscrc.org/
Council on International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) [Fulbright programs for U.S. faculty]: http://www.iie.org/cies/
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: http://www.gf.org/
American Philosophical Society: http://www.amphilsoc.org/
American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/
Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR): http://www.cur.org/
Research Corporation: http://www.rescorp.org/
Connecticut Innovations: http://www.ctinnovations.com