Finding Funding: Tools and Sources

Research Guide Aims and Goals

This research guide is intended as as an overview of how to find funding opportunities for your research. In the guide, you will find a description of the grant process, information about funding databases where you can search for grant opportunities and learn about various grant-makers, helpful tips, and further resources for identifying and writing grant proposals and funding applications.

Compliance and research integrity is a crucial element of the grant process. 

Compliance is the formal process of understanding and complying with relevant laws, regulations, professional standards and policies. Higher education has become a highly regulated enterprise, and compliance has become an important part of virtually every activity of the College. Examples of compliance areas include such areas as environmental health and safety, information security, conflict of interest and ethics, human resources, financial aid, non-discrimination, equity and diversity, financial management, immigration, and research. 

Image Credit: Teachers College Institutional Review Board 

Image credit: Illinois Institute of Technology

1. Project Development

At this stage, you develop a compelling research question. 

Your project should be something that interests you and that you are well-positioned to investigate, will be meaningful to others, and can access resources to execute.

Consider:

• Significance (Why would others care?)
• Potential impact (How will it move the field forward?)
• Innovation (How will it change the status quo?)
• What research has already been done?
• What will the results mean not only to your own research, but to your field, to other fields, and to the people who are going to be reviewing your proposal?
• Where will your potential project fit within an agency's or funding sponsor's objectives?
• What resources will you need to perform your work?
• What resources do you already have?

2. Identify Funding

Refer to the "Find Grants and Funding" page of this research guide for further information on funding opportunities and grant-searching databases.

Your proposed project should align with the funder’s mission. 

• Carefully review the solicitations and requests for proposals to identify relevant topic areas. 
• Well before you apply, consider contacting staff at the agency or program of interest for advice on whether your topic is a good fit. Even if your research area does not exactly match the solicitation, the funder might still be interested in your proposal.
• Remember to avoid overlapping projects with multiple funders, as your resulting awards may have conflicting obligations.
• Unless explicitly permitted, avoid submitting the same proposal to more than one federal agency or sponsor.
• If the federal government does not fund your proposal, you may be allowed to resubmit at a future date or you can submit the proposal to a non-governmental sponsor, such as industry or a foundation.

3. Proposal Preparation

Want some help getting started in the proposal process? Wondering how to write the research narrative component of grant applications? Developing grant budgets? Questions regarding data management? Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (sponsoredprograms@tc.columbia.edu) with any inquiries.  

4. Proposal Submission

When your proposal is ready, have it reviewed. Obtain internal approvals prior to submission. See "Proposal Review and Approval", Research@TC. 

5. Award Acceptance

6. Project Start Up

7. Award Management 

Refer to Teachers College Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting: Managing A Grant Award.

8. Award Closeout

Adapted from Grant Life Cycle | Research UC Berkeley. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2023, from https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/grant-life-cycle/overview#step-2-find-funding.