Looking for information about foundations? Need help preparing a proposal? Want some guidance on next steps?
Please contact us– we can help focus your search and/or craft or assist in preparing the appropriate proposal.
As a member of the WPI community you have access to the Foundation Directory Online (FDO). The FDO is a searchable database of over 100,000 U.S. foundations and corporate donors and over 2.4 million recent grants. Once you have identified your funding prospect, please contact us to begin the grant process.
NEW! Graduate Fellowships Listing
Faculty and Graduate Students - looking for graduate fellowship funding? We've put together a list of relevant opportunities for WPI graduate students; please contact Janet Pane-Joyce once you have identified an opportunity for further assistance.
Other resources:
• Individual foundation websites
• The Foundation Center - The Center maintains the most comprehensive database
on U.S. and, increasingly, global grant makers and their grants.
• Philanthropy News Digest – a weekly service of the Foundation Center
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy - "The newspaper of the nonprofit world" some
portions of the web site is available only to subscribers.
• The Chronicle of Higher Education - The major news service in the United States
academic world. Presents news and information for college and university faculty
members and administration.
Proposal Writing. There are a number of proposal-writing guides available. One good resource is the Foundation Center a nonprofit organization that offers a wide variety of resources for dealing with foundations. It offers free, online courses, including a Proposal Writing Course and Proposal Budgeting Basics.
When thinking through your proposal, consider the following questions:
• What is the issue to be addressed? Frame your project in the context of a larger
issue (global, regional, national, societal) and show how your project will address
that issue or otherwise move the field forward.
• Is the timing propitious?
• Why is WPI the ideal institution to address the issue?
• What will the outcomes be?
• How will you accomplish those outcomes?
• What do you need (time, money, facilities, people) to do it?
• How will you gauge your success?
• Why are you sending this particular proposal to this particular foundation?
