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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEH Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening (20240806-CHC) | 8/6/24 (optional draft due 6/26/24) | The award will be a cooperative agreement to plan and host a national convening to evaluate the current state of graduate education in the humanities, to make recommendations for programs to prepare graduate students for a variety of humanities-related careers, and to develop a roadmap that articulates a strategic vision for graduate education in the humanities. | up to $500,000 (match required) |
| William T. Grant Research Grants on Reducing Inequality | 8/7/24 | Research grants on reducing inequality fund research studies that aim to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. | $100,000 to $600,000 |
| William T. Grant Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence | 8/7//24 | This program fund research studies that advance theory and build empirical knowledge on ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, intermediaries, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States. | $100,000 to $1,000,000 |
| NEH Public Humanities Projects (20240814-BP-BR-GE-GG-GI) | 8/14/24 (optional draft due 7/10/24) | The Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Awards support projects that are intended to reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings in the United States. Projects should engage with ideas that are accessible to the general public and employ appealing interpretive formats. Public Humanities Projects supports projects in three categories (Exhibitions, Historic Places, and Humanities Discussions), and at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). | Planning: up to $60,000 Implementation: up to $400,000 (+ $100,000 for Positions in the Public Humanities, if relevant) |
| NEH Media Projects (20240814-TD-TR) | 8/14/24 (optional draft due 7/10/24) | The Media Projects program supports the development, production, and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, documentary films, and documentary film series that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. Projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship and demonstrate an approach that is thoughtful, balanced, and analytical. | Development: up to $75,000 Production: up to $700,000 Chair's Special Awards: up to $1,000,000 |
| John Templeton Foundation Open Funding Inquiry | 8/16/24 | The Templeton Foundation funds research "that inspire people with awe and wonder." Funding areas include Human Sciences, Philosophy & Theology, Culture & Global Perspectives, Character & Virtue Development, and Public Engagement. Templeton invites funding inquiries on a rolling basis, but they are reviewed annually at this time. | Varies |
| NEH Public Scholars (20241127-FZ) | 8/28/24 | The Public Scholars program offers grants to individual authors for research, writing, travel, and other activities leading to the creation and publication of well-researched nonfiction books in the humanities written for the broad public. The program encourages academic writers in the humanities to communicate the significance of their research to the broadest possible range of readers. | $5,000 per month for six to twelve months |
| NEH Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities (20231011-DOI-DOC) | 9/12/24 | This program supports research that examines technology and its relationship to society through the lens of the humanities, with a focus on the dangers and/or opportunities presented by technology. NEH is particularly interested in projects that examine the role of technology in shaping current social and cultural issues. | Individual researchers: up to $75,000 Collaborative Teams: up to $150,000 |
| NEH Summer Stipends (20240918-FT) | LS (req'd): 8/19/24 Funder deadline: 9/18/24 |
This program provides small awards to individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. You can apply with a project at any stage of development, but NEH is especially interested in supporting early-stage research and late-stage writing. | $8,000 |
| ACLS Fellowships | 9/25/24 | This competition is open to scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Approximately half of this year’s awards will support early-career scholars, but anyone with a PhD in a relevant field may apply. The ultimate goal of the proposed project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant, which can take the form of a monograph, articles, publicly engaged humanities project, digital research project, critical edition, or other scholarly resources. Projects can be any stage of development. | $5,000 per month for 6-12 months |
| NEH Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research (20240925-RFW) | 9/25/24 | This program support empirical field research to answer significant questions in the humanities. Archaeological methods may include field survey and field-based remote sensing, documentation or visualization, and/or excavations; Ethnographic methods may include participant observation, surveys and interviews, and documentation or recording. | up to $150,000 |
| VIA Art Artistic Production Grants | 11/9/24 (Letter of Intent) | Artistic Production grants fund the production and exhibition of new artistic commissions. Often exhibited beyond museum walls in public space, these projects feature high levels of thought leadership, artistic production, and public engagement. VIA Art Fund accepts Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) on a semiannual basis for our Fall and Spring award cycles. | $25,000 to $100,000 |
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 2024
- Public Humanities Research, last update July 2024
- Funding Opportunities for Collaborative Research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, last update May 2023
- Recurring Limited Submissions Programs
Other Resources
- Pursuing Extramural Funding - A Primer for Faculty in the Humanities, Arts, and Interpretive Social Sciences: This resource, created by RDO for Stanford faculty in the Humanities, Arts, and Interpretive Social Sciences, provides a general overview of the process of applying for extramural funding as a Principal Investigator (PI) at Stanford.
- 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.
- DoResearch's Find Funding links to university-supported resources, including Pivot and grants.gov, that allow the user to search funding opportunities in their area(s) of interest.
- The National Research Council (NRC) has identified a list of awards in a range of disciplines that include research/scholarship awards, fellowships, and memberships in honorary societies.
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.