I do my best to bombard you with relevant funding opportunities via email, website, and now even via Facebook.  But, given the diversity of our College of Agricultural Sciences group, it isn’t easy to target those with a unique niche. As such, I thought I would provide some useful pointers on how to find the best funding to fit your research needs.

Grants.gov

For federal funding opportunities, your best resource is going to be Grants.gov.  They have a searchable database but also note, at the bottom of that screen, that you can set up a “Subscription” tailored to your interest.  They offer several options including:

1. Subscribing to a RSS Feeds based on (a) agency or (b) category,
2. Receiving a daily notification of all new grant opportunities, or
3. Received notifications based on specific criteria.

I currently use option #3 but plan to also try out the RSS Feeds as a backup.

If you find an opportunity that you think might fit your research, I highly encourage you to contact the program manager to discuss.  They encourage, even welcome, the conversations.  And, if they feel your idea isn’t quite right for this particular program, they often can advise which other opportunities might be a better fit.

GrantForward.com

Grant Forward (formally IRIS – Illinois Researcher Information Service) is another excellent resource for finding funding opportunities and includes federal, state, foundation, and “other.”  Thanks to the Research Office, anyone at OSU can subscribe to the site using their oregonstate.edu email address.  Once your account has been authorized, you can create advanced searches that can be saved. You even have the option to set up an email alert.

This is a useful service as it extends beyond just federal opportunities.  Given that my search for the college is VERY broad / generic, I encourage researchers to fine tune their own searches. There is even an option to “create profile” which the site will then use to identify matching funding opportunities.

Foundations

If you are looking for foundational funds, there really are countless options out there…I would encourage you to search for a pertinent source but also contact them to discuss your ideas.  It would also be wise to check with the OSU Foundation to ensure they are a reputable source.

Crowdfunding (Wikipedia definition)

I’ll admit that I just recently became aware of the crowdfunding option thanks to some of our brightest graduate students.  This may be an up-and-coming option.  A recent article added a little fuel to the fire when they specifically addressed using crowdfunding to fund academic research. You can read more here; I find it very interesting, some universities are even taking the extra step to partner with specific crowdfunding platforms.

I have checked with the research office on how this type of funding would be processed and they said it would simply be viewed as gift funds.  Next on my list is to start a dialog with the OSU Foundation to find out their views, policies, etc. on crowdfunding (to be continued).

Those are my top 4 resources, but please comment here to share your favorite sources for funding opportunities. All of that aside, I am also happy to meet with any of you to discuss your specific ideas.  It is ALWAYS a pleasure to meet with the faculty and get to know someone a little better.