Vision Grants by spencer foundation | Research grants

Intent to Apply Form Deadline | Vision Grants by spencer foundation | Research grants
August 15, 2023 (12 noon CDT)

Full Proposal Deadline
September 14, 2023 (12 noon CDT)

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About Vision Grants

The joint planning of creative, methodologically varied, interdisciplinary research on education that aids in transforming educational systems for equity is supported by the Vision Grants program. With the help of research planning funds called Vision funds, a team can come together for six to twelve months in order to jointly establish ambitious, large-scale research initiatives with the goal of improving educational equity. Visionary, transdisciplinary, and collaborative research initiatives need time, space, and consideration to incubate and plan, according to the program’s central tenet. Two cycles of this award program will be offered annually, with a total grant amount of $75,000 for vision projects. The proposal does not need to be a completely developed research strategy just yet, in contrast to many of our other projects. In order to provide a fully developed research plan by the end of the funding period, proposals must specify a research topic, impact scope, method, and team.

A Vision Grant is a requirement for applying to our Transformative Research Grant program (TRG, $3.5 million), which is intended for large-scale research projects that transform education systems for equity. Although the Vision Grant program can be used independently to spark research ideas and collaborations, receiving one also serves as a prerequisite.

Vision Grants will provide planning funds for teams to develop proposals for research projects that: 

• Are focused on key challenges and opportunities that have the potential for increasing equity in education
• Engage across disciplines and/or research methods
• Collaborate with practitioners, policymakers, and communities (and other stakeholders)
• Have clear sightlines to transformational change through research at a systemic level

The Vision Grants allow teams to join together and generate ideas for collaborative scholarship that develops a new vision of what equitable educational systems can look like, consider which disciplines have taken up these issues previously (and why they have fallen short or encountered limitations), and foreground important ideas that will allow new and ambitious research to emerge. For example, Vision Grants might lead to research projects that:

• Develop a new policy, pedagogical approach, practice, or intervention, e.g., at the K-12 or post-secondary level, that has the potential to have a transformative and systemic impact and explore the feasibility of implementing it at the state or local level, or within a system.
• Build upon approaches or policies that have worked well in one setting, with the goal of studying them in a range of settings to better understand how, where, and with whom they work and why.
• Work in partnership with youth at the city, state or federal level to reimagine the choices young people have to learn beyond school.
• Work with communities to co-design approaches that improve educational equity by working across sectors (e.g., education and health, housing, criminal justice).
• Connect scholars with legal teams to impact litigation strategies in local, state, or federal contexts of educational inequity.
• Rethink effective approaches to teacher and educational leader preparation, learning, and development, and partner with systems of teacher and leader preparation and/or accreditation to enact changes that would increase the diversity and robustness of the educator and leader pathways.

These are just examples. We welcome proposals that consider creative ways to understand and solve complex problems with the goal of reimagining and transforming education systems for equity. 

Supports for Vision Grant Cohort Program

Once we make funding decisions, we will bring together cohorts of Vision grantees to learn from each other, and to participate in learning opportunities that will further support Vision Grant teams’ collaborative planning and project development. Learning opportunities include support for how to do research for impact, and how to partner in equitable and generative ways with stakeholders outside of the academy, or other topics identified by grantees. We will bring together cohorts both in-person and virtually.

Eligibility

• Proposals to the Vision Grant program must be for developing research projects that study education and/or learning, broadly conceived, though they can include other sectors in addition to education. Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Vision Grant must have appropriate experience or an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or terminal degree in a professional field. While graduate students may be part of the research team, they may not be named the PI or Co-PI on the proposal.
• The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization or public/governmental institution that is willing to serve as the administering organization if the grant is awarded. The Spencer Foundation does not award grants directly to individuals. Examples include non-profit private or public colleges, universities, school districts, and research facilities, as well as other non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS (or equivalent non-profit status if the organization is outside of the United States).
• PIs and Co-PIs may apply for a Vision Grant if they have another active research grant from the Spencer Foundation or if they have another Spencer grant proposal in review.
• Proposals are accepted from the U.S. and internationally. All proposals must be submitted in English and budgets must be proposed in U.S. Dollars.

Note: All awarded Vision Grantees will have the option to apply for a Transformative Research Grant, with awards to carry out the planned research project (budgets up to $3.5M). In addition to considering the development of a proposal for the Transformative Research Grant program, Vision Grant Awardees are also eligible to submit a proposal to other Spencer Foundation grant programs or may choose to submit a proposal to another funding agency.

Restrictions

Proposed budgets for this program are limited to $75,000 total and may not include indirect cost charges per Spencer’s policy.

The Vision Grant may not be longer than 12 months in duration.

How To Apply:

Step 1: Submit an Intent to Apply Form

The Intent to Apply is not more than 200 words and has no impact on proposal review. It is a mechanism to assist Spencer’s internal planning and program management. The Intent to Apply is required to submit a proposal to the Vision Grants program. 

Intent to Apply Guidelines

The Intent to Apply must be submitted through an online application form following the guidelines below before you are given access to the full proposal application. The steps for registering and/or updating SmartSimple profiles and then submitting an Intent to Apply form

For More Information:

Visit Vision Grants by spencer foundation Official Website