Matrix is pleased to partner with the UC Berkeley Office of Foundation Relations and Corporate Philanthropy in sharing resources to assist researchers in their corporate and foundation giving. Visit the FRCP’s website for an up-to-date list of current funding opportunities. You can also join FRCP’s mailing list to receive monthly communications with new funding opportunities.
William T. Grant Foundation Institutional Challenge Grant
Deadline: 9/13/23
The Institutional Challenge Grant supports university-based research institutes, schools, and centers in building sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. We welcome applications from partnerships in youth-serving areas such as education, justice, prevention of child abuse and neglect, foster care, mental health, immigration, and workforce development. We especially encourage proposals from teams with African American, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American members in leadership roles. The partnership leadership team includes the principal investigator from the research institution and the lead from the public agency or nonprofit organization. Funding amount: $650K (over 3 years).
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI): 2023 Summer Pilot Award
Deadline: 9/14/23
The goal of the Pilot Award is to provide early support for exploratory ideas considered higher risk but with the potential for transformative results, particularly those with novel hypotheses for autism. This funding mechanism is particularly suitable for investigators new to the autism field, though we encourage applicants to consult with experts in autism research to ensure their projects are relevant to the human condition. We encourage applications that propose research to link genetic or other ASD risk factors to molecular, cellular, circuit or behavioral mechanisms and set the stage for development of novel interventions. Funding amount: $300K (over 2 years)
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship
Deadline: 9/28/23
ACLS invites research proposals from scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Given the disproportionate effect the pandemic’s social and economic disruptions have had on emerging, independent, and untenured scholars, ACLS will continue in the 2023-24 competition year to offer these fellowships solely to untenured scholars who have earned the PhD within eight years of the application deadline. ACLS welcomes applications from scholars without faculty appointments and scholars off the tenure track. In 2023-24, the program will award up to 60 fellowships. ACLS invites applications from scholars pursuing research on topics grounded in any time period, world region, or humanistic methodology. ACLS aims to select fellows who are broadly representative of the variety of humanistic scholarship across all fields of study. We also believe that diversity enhances scholarship and seek to recognize academic excellence from all sectors of higher education and beyond. In ACLS’s peer review, funding packages, and engagement with fellows, we aspire to enact our values of equity and inclusion. Funding amount: $60K (over 12 months).
International Center for Responsible Gaming: Applications for online gambling research
Deadline: 9/29/23
Although open to a wide range of topics, the following are potential areas for grant applications: creating models for identifying behavioral markers of gambling problems among internet players in general and among specific bettors (sports wagering or casino games, for example) to distinguish players with gambling problems from players with no problems, identifying the most valid and reliable algorithms to detect problem gambling patterns, evaluating responsible gambling strategies used by online gaming companies for safety and effectiveness (for example, pop-up warnings, self-exclusion, and self-imposed limits on time and money spent gambling), and testing the effectiveness of responsible gambling messaging with customers such as warning messages when self-imposed limits on budget and time have been exceeded. Funding amount: $75K per year (up to 2 years).
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Health Policy Fellows
Deadline: 11/1/23
The program is seeking outstanding midcareer health professionals, behavioral and social scientists, and others with an interest in health and the drivers of health who are skilled and committed; with expertise in health and health equity; and can offer an informed perspective on important and complex challenges facing policymakers. Fellows actively participate in the policy process in congressional or executive branch offices of their choosing and leverage this leadership experience to promote policies, practices, and systems changes that advance health and health equity. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) conducts and administers the fellowship, with funding support from RWJF. Up to 8 awards of $175K. The fellowship requires a full-time commitment starting in September with a minimum 12-month residence in Washington, D.C., which prepares individuals to influence the future of health in the nation.
The Retirement Research Foundation Research Grant
Deadline: 11/1/23
Proposals are sought for the Retirement Research Foundation’s Responsive Grants Programs. The areas of interest include advocacy, direct service, professional education & training, and research seeking causes and solutions to significant problems for older adults. Up to $250K.
Wellcome Mental Health Award: Understanding how anxiety- and trauma-related problems develop, persist and resolve
Deadline: 11/14/23
Wellcome’s mental health strategic aim is to drive a transformative change in our ability to intervene as early as possible in the course of anxiety, depression and psychosis, in ways that reflect the priorities and needs of people who experience these problems. This call will fund research that advances scientific understanding of the causal mechanisms through which brain, body and environment interact over time in the development, persistence and resolution of anxiety- and trauma-related disorders. Up to £4 million ($5.2M USD).
Andrew Mellon Foundation Humanities in Place: Monuments Project
Deadline: Up to $250M (over 5 years)
The Monuments Project is a signature initiative to reimagine and rebuild commemorative spaces and transform the way history is told in the United States. The project seeks to ensure that future generations inherit a memorial landscape that venerates and reflects the vast, rich complexity of the American experience, and tells a fuller, more inclusive story of our history and our many different forbearers.
Arnold Ventures: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
Deadline: Rolling applications
Arnold Ventures is accepting letters of interest for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) focused on testing criminal justice programs and practices. The ultimate goal of this effort is to build credible evidence about “what works” to improve criminal justice outcomes and, in particular, grow the number of criminal justice interventions rigorously shown to better people’s lives. Funding: No amount limitations.
Impact Fund: Social, Environmental and Economic justice programs
Deadline: Rolling applications
The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and/or small law firms who seek to advance justice in the areas of civil and human rights, environmental justice, and/or poverty law. Funding amount: $10K – $50K.
Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation
Deadline: Two funding cycles annually: June 10th, November 30th
The program aims to create a more equitable and humane justice system. Current funding priorities include multi-pronged approaches to eliminate the use of solitary confinement, including supporting a national campaign that provides resources to state and local coalitions. No amount limitations.
Kresge Foundation: Racial Justice Grantmaking
Deadline: Rolling Applications
Their Racial Justice Grantmaking program will provide general operating support to local organizations working to address racial inequities in their respective communities; including efforts to advance change led by residents of color, strengthen local economies, support small businesses owned by people of color, and better coordinate community systems so as to facilitate lasting, large-scale community transformation. Funding will be prioritized for organizations operating in Fresno, CA.
Rosenberg Foundation: LOI Submissions
Deadline: Rolling Applications
The Rosenberg Foundation currently makes grants in four priority areas – Leading Edge Fund, Justice and Public Safety, Immigrant Rights and Immigrant Workers’ Rights, and Civil Rights and Civic Participation. The foundation works closely with social justice advocates, policy makers and other thought leaders throughout the state to identify the strategies that will best help us achieve positive impact in California within each program. As such, most of our grantee partners are identified and contacted by foundation staff first. In addition, we frequently invest in emerging initiatives and organizations, and are committed to long-term relationships with our grant partners. Application Procedure: Letter of Inquiries accepted by email to Grants Manager, Linda Moll. Budget: Grants are typically in the $10K-$50K range.
Impact Fund: Social, Environmental and Economic justice programs
Deadline: Rolling Applications
The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and/or small law firms who seek to advance justice in the areas of civil and human rights, environmental justice, and/or poverty law. Funding amount: $10K-$50K
The Knight Foundation: Research on the Future Internet
Deadline: Rolling Applications
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation seeks to support fundamental research that addresses issues of rules, norms and governance of the internet and digital platforms. Recent research, policy debates and public controversies have highlighted the absence of uniform consensus on the norms, rights and responsibilities that should govern digital services, in particular social media. We wish to fund scholarly inquiry and novel approaches that will strengthen our democracy as the digital age progresses.
Internet Society Foundation: Future & Sustainability of the Internet
Deadline: Rolling Applications
Through the program grants are available for research focused in one of two categories: (1) Greening the Internet and (2) the Internet Economy.
Arnold Ventures: Moving the Needle Initiative
Deadline: Rolling Applications
This initiative seeks to demonstrate the power of evidence-based programs to “Move the Needle” on major U.S. social problems. No amount limitations.
Omidyar Network: Economic Response Advocacy Fund
Deadline: Rolling Applications
The Omidyar Network welcomes applications to the Economic Response Advocacy Fund. This grant will infuse 501(c)(4) funding into national, state, and local advocacy and organizing efforts aimed at passing economic stimulus to address the immediate toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on working people while reshaping economic structures to ensure they are less vulnerable in the future.
Unchartered: Economic Inequality Initiative
Deadline: None
Unchartered is dedicated to elevating solutions that increase wealth in the near term while building towards addressing the root causes themselves. In support of this mission, they are launching the Economic Inequality initiative to support eight early-stage social entrepreneurs, movement builders, and nonprofit innovators who are tackling wealth inequality in the U.S. Applications accepted via website. Budget: up to $25K.
Smith-Richardson Foundation:
Domestic Policy
International Security & Foreign Policy
Deadline: Rolling Applications
The mission of the Smith Richardson Foundation is to contribute to important public debates and to address serious public policy challenges facing the United States. The Foundation seeks to help ensure the vitality of our social, economic, and governmental institutions. It also seeks to assist with the development of effective policies to compete internationally and to advance U.S. interests and values abroad.
- Budget: No limitations
- Application Procedure: The Foundation has a two-stage application process. Initial inquiries should be submitted by mail in the form of the concept paper. Interested applicants may contact Sylvia Bierhuis for pre-application counseling.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Evidence for Action
Deadline: Rolling Applications
E4A awards grants to encourage and support innovative, rigorous research on the impact of programs, policies, and practices on health and well-being, with a particular focus on research that will help advance health and racial equity. Racial equity refers to the conditions in which race or ethnicity no longer predicts a person’s ability to live a healthy life. Letters of intent are accepted on a rolling basis. Contact Sylvia Bierhuis (sbierhuis@berkeley.edu) or David Siegfried (dsiegfried@berkeley.edu).
Public Welfare Foundation: Adult Criminal Justice Program
Deadline: Rolling applications
The program aims to create a more equitable and humane justice system. Current funding priorities include multi-pronged approaches to eliminate the use of solitary confinement, including supporting a national campaign that provides resources to state and local coalitions. No amount limitations.
Charles Koch Foundation: Trade Policy Research
Deadline: Rolling
The foundation invites proposals for research and related projects aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice and contributing to contemporary debates around important trade-policy issues. Areas of priority include: National Industrial Policy, Getting Our Approach to Trade with China Right, and Free Trade and Flourishing.
Amazon: Alexa Fairness in AI
Deadline: Rolling
Alexa AI-Natural Understanding’s (NU) mission is to build and enable engaging, world-class conversational AI capabilities that are broadly accessible. Priority will be given to the following project areas: transparency, explainability, and accountability in AI systems; theories of computational/algorithm fairness and factors that affect algorithmic trustworthiness; detecting and ameliorating adverse biases in data and algorithms, and fairness-aware design of algorithms; and metrics and methods for designing, piloting, and evaluating systems that mitigate against adverse biases and ensure fairness, including the use of human-machine collaboration and decision support.
Andrew Mellon Foundation: Humanities in Place Monuments Project
Deadline: Rolling
The Monuments Project is a signature initiative to reimagine and rebuild commemorative spaces and transform the way history is told in the United States. The project seeks to ensure that future generations inherit a memorial landscape that venerates and reflects the vast, rich complexity of the American experience, and tells a fuller, more inclusive story of our history and our many different forbearers. Funding level: up to $250M (over five years).
Arnold Ventures: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
Deadline: Rolling
Arnold Ventures is accepting letters of interest for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) focused on testing criminal justice programs and practices. The ultimate goal of this effort is to build credible evidence about “what works” to improve criminal justice outcomes and, in particular, grow the number of criminal justice interventions rigorously shown to better people’s lives. No amount limitations