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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSF Science and Technology Studies | 2/2/26 | The STS program supports proposals across a broad spectrum of research that uses historical, philosophical, and/or social scientific methods to investigate STEM theory and practice. | depends on award type; rarely exceeds $750,000 |
| NEA Grants for Arts Projects | Internal Competition: first come, first served 2/12/26 (funder deadline) |
Through project-based arts funding, Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) enables Americans throughout the nation to experience the arts, foster and celebrate America’s artistic heritage and cultural legacy, and benefit arts education at all stages of life. Arts and health programs are also supported. NB: This year Our Town and Challenge America applicants will need to apply through the GAP program. |
varies |
| Terra Foundation Convening Grants | 2/16/26 (LoI) |
This program supports conversations, symposia, and workshops that stimulate interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange related to the visual arts of the United States and the Indigenous arts of North America. NB: Terra Foundation is also accepting grant inquiries for their Exhibitions and Collections Grants, though neither of these has a set deadline. |
$10,000 - $25,000 |
| Spencer Foundation Research Grants on Education | 2/24/26 (pre-proposal) | The Large Research Grants on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived. This program is “field-initiated”; Spencer's goal is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education. | $125,000 - $5,000 |
| Samuel H. Kress History of Art Grants | 3/1/26 | This program supports scholarly projects that will enhance the appreciation and understanding of European works of art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century. Examples include archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogues and publications, and technical and scientific studies. | varies |
| Russel Sage Core Research Grants | 3/11/26 (LoI) | RSF will accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) under its core programs for Social, Political and Economic Inequality (SPEI), the Future of Work (FOW) and its special initiative Implications of the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities for Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility (SCD23). | varies |
| Schmidt Sciences Humanities & AI Virtual Institute | 3/13/26 | This program is aimed at fostering research in the digital humanities with a particular focus on artificial intelligence. Ideal projects will have co-PIs with expertises from both the humanities and AI and will address research questions from both domains, advancing both AI capabilities and humanities scholarship. |
|
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
- Digital Humanities Research, last update June 2025
- Public Humanities Research, last update June 2025
- Recurring Limited Submissions Programs
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.