William T. Grant Foundation: Research Grants on Reducing InequalityDeadline: May 1, 2019
The Research Grants programs support high-quality field-initiated studies that are relevant to policies and practices that affect the lives of young people ages 5 to 25 in the United States. The Foundation pursues this mission by supporting research within two focus areas:
- Reducing Inequality: This focus area supports research to build, test, and increase understanding of approaches to reducing inequality in youth outcomes, especially on the basis of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, or immigrant origins.
- Improving the Use of Research Evidence: This focus area supports research to identify, build, and test strategies to ensure that research evidence is used in ways that benefit youth. The Foundation is particularly interested in research on improving the use of research evidence by state and local decision makers, mid-level managers, and intermediaries.
The Foundation does not have a preference for a particular research design or method. The Foundation supports research to build, test, and increase understanding of approaches to reducing inequality in youth outcomes, particularly on the basis of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, or immigrant origin status. It is interested in research on programs, policies, and practices to reduce inequality in academic, social, behavioral, and economic outcomes. The Foundation supports research from a range of disciplines and methodologies and encourages investigations into various systems, including justice, housing, child welfare, mental health, and education.
The Foundation welcomes descriptive studies that clarify mechanisms for reducing inequality or elucidate how or why a specific program, policy, or practice operates to reduce inequality. Its also welcomes intervention studies that examine attempts to reduce inequality. In addition, it seeks studies that improve the measurement of inequality in ways that can enhance the work of researchers, practitioners, or policymakers.
Amount: Major research grants typically range from $100,000-$600,000 and cover two to three years of support. Projects involving secondary data analysis are at the lower end of the budget range, whereas projects involving new data collection and sample recruitment can be at the higher end. Proposals to launch experiments in which settings (e.g., classrooms, schools, youth programs) are randomly assigned to conditions sometimes have higher awards.
Officers’ research grants are a separate funding mechanism for smaller projects with budgets ranging from $5,000-$50,000. Some are stand-alone projects; others build off larger projects. The budget should be appropriate for the activities proposed. Projects involving secondary data analysis are typically at the lower end of the budget range, whereas projects involving new data collection and sample recruitment can be at the higher end.
Eligibility: Tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations.