Foundation Relations for Office Directory

Faculty and Staff Resources

Looking for information about foundations? Need help preparing a proposal? Want some guidance on next steps? 

WPI has a required process for all grant proposal submissions. We can assist you in meeting these requirements, help focus your search, and assist in preparing the appropriate proposal. Please contact us.

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.

Graduate Fellowship Resources

Faculty and Graduate Students - looking for graduate fellowship funding? 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. 

        • PIVOT

        • 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.  

        • Institutional Advancement Libguide - A library source to find possible funding opportunities and other funding databases.

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?