External Funding Sources
Federal, state, and foundation grants are the most common sources of external funds for sponsored projects. Sponsored Programs (SP) distributes regular emails to interested faculty and staff to inform them of upcoming funding opportunities. SP staff meet one-on-one with faculty and staff to help identify the best potential funding sources for each project.
To assist SVSU employees in locating funding sources, SP purchases database services from InfoEd and Grant Resource Center
Grants Resource Center (GRC) http://www.aascu.org/grc/
GRC is a part of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). For a yearly membership fee, the Center provides a list of current funding opportunities by discipline, training at workshops or webinars, bi-annual external funding conferences, online resource library, and GRC staff expertise. The GRC Bulletin and the Grant Week newsletter are available in weekly emails, containing grant opportunities and announcements. Under “Funding Resources” select “GrantSearch” and conduct your own keyword search. Log-in information: user name - svsu; password – information.
For a list of GRC’s three regular publications, visit http://www.aascu.org/GRC/Publication/. GRC Deadline provides a list of upcoming grant deadlines, organized by college disciplines.
InfoEd - Information Network (SPIN)
SPIN is a robust grants database. It is accessible from any campus computer and provides detailed information on funding opportunities offered by more than 10,000 federal and non-federal sponsoring agencies. A variety of qualifiers allow users to filter retrieved data by keywords or phrases, project category, geographic limitations and applicant type. Alternately, users can click the “Funding Guides” tab and read the latest requests for proposal (RFPs) released by the federal government in the Federal Register or browse the current contracting opportunities published in the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) digest.
To use SPIN, point your web browser to http://www.infoedglobal.com and then click on “SPIN” at the top of the webpage. Enter appropriate keywords in the “Search” box. Anyone with an svsu.edu email address is automatically able to use this resource.
InfoEd - Spin Matching and Researcher Transmittal Systems (SMARTS)
SMARTS is InfoEd Global’s proprietary funding opportunity alerts service. Leveraging data in our SPIN funding opportunities database, users can configure automation for any SPIN saved search to generate daily or weekly email notices of newly added or modified opportunities that meet the criteria of the saved search. SMARTS works hand-in-hand with SPIN. Simply configure a search in SPIN, save the search, and setup the automation you prefer. Automation options include whether to receive update notices daily or weekly and whether you want to receive plain text or html-styled email messages. Note: You must create an account and be logged in to save searches – anonymous users cannot save searches and therefore cannot configure SMARTS automation.
Sources of external funding include Federal grants, state grants, and foundation grants.
- Federal Grants. Federal grants are announced in the Federal Register, a search page for locating funding opportunities – https://www.federalregister.gov/ and www.grants.gov
- State Grants. State grants are generally announced by the various state agencies through official publications and electronic bulletin boards – http://www.michigan.gov.
- Foundation Grants. Foundations do not issue Request for Proposals (RFPs), but many published annual reports highlight priorities and available resources. Start by contacting SP for assistance with your search.
Note: For many foundations in the local area, coordination is required with the SVSU Foundation office. Contact: Brian Brunner, bdbrunne@svsu.edu.
Sponsor Websites follow with detailed information: