Selected Open Funding Opportunities
RDO curates this list of open funding opportunities in the Humanities, Arts, and Interpretive Social Sciences to highlight large, collaborative, and/or strategic funding opportunities that may be of particular interest to the Stanford community. Opportunity descriptions have been compiled from funder announcements, program solicitations, and CFR. This page will be updated regularly to spotlight new opportunities. See RDO's archive (SUNet ID required) for opportunities previously featured on this list.
| Title/Sponsor | Deadline | Description | Amount/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEA Grants for Arts Projects |
|
NEA’s GAP program funds arts projects in the following disciplines: Arts Education, Challenge America, Dance, Design & Our Town, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Museums, Music, Opera, Our Town, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Theater & Musical Theater, and Visual & Media Arts. | up to $100,000 (1:1 match required) |
| Templeton Open Funding Call | July 15, 2026 | Templeton supports interdisciplinary research across a range of fields and topics, including character virtue development, public engagement, and religion, science, and society. | varies |
| Templeton Intelligence Venture | July 15, 2026 | With this “venture,” Templeton invites researchers, scholars, practitioners, and creators whose work engages foundational questions about intelligence in many forms to apply for funding. Projects may (but are not required to) align with one or more of the Venture’s guiding themes—on the story, diversity, plurality, or future of intelligence. | varies |
| Wenner-Gren Engaged Research Grant | August 1, 2026 | This program supports longstanding research partnerships that empower those who have historically been the subjects of anthropological research. Applicants must have a PhD in Anthropology or a related field. | up to $25,000 |
| Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program | August 15, 2026 | This program offers more awards in more than 120 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects around the world. For the full list of our award offerings, visit the U.S. Scholars Awards Search. Location, activity type, and eligibility vary across awards. |
varies |
Federal (and some non-federal) opportunities are subject to the university's Facilities & Administration (F&A) cost rates. For many foundation funders, the university has approved lower rates, which can be found in the Pre-Approved IDC Exception List.
For some foundations you must request clearance to apply. Be sure to check CFR's Clearance Restricted Foundations list before submitting a letter of inquiry or proposal.
Recurring Funding Opportunities by Topic
- Recurring Limited Submissions Programs
- Archived
- Public humanities research - ARCHIVED, last update June 2025
- Digital humanities research - ARCHIVED, last update June 2025
Other Resources
- RDO Arts & Humanities Funding Newsletter: This newsletter features timely, curated internal and external funding opportunities to support scholarly endeavors in these fields.
- Navigating Grant Preparation at Stanford provides guides from our team on how to submit grants as a Stanford PI and how to conceptualize and solicit institutional support.
- Stanford University's Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) maintains a more comprehensive list of foundation funding opportunities. The CFR team can also provide insight around funding priorities and application processes for private funders, as well as tailored prospect research.
- RDO's Funding Search Databases links to resources such as GrantForward and grants.gov that allow the user to search funding opportunities in their area(s) of interest.
Funding Opportunities in Other Disciplines
- The RDO team also curates a list of funding opportunities for researchers in STEM*, including social scientists who employ quantitative methods.
- The Research Management Group at Stanford's School of Medicine keeps a list of funding opportunities for medical researchers.