Pipeline Grant Tips, Resources & FAQs
Please review these resources before submitting your application for the Pipeline Grants Competition
Competition Details
The Pipeline Grants Competition deadline is usually in the Fall for funding the following Summer. Please see our deadlines page and sign up for the RSF mailing list and follow RSF on Twitter for updates.
Eligibility
Early-career scholars (anyone who is currently an Assistant Professor or Adjunct Assistant Professor, as well as Lecturers who received the Ph.D. within the last 10 years) are eligible to apply. The pipeline grants competition is only available to faculty who have not previously received a research grant (not counting our dissertation grants) or a visiting fellowship from RSF. The program seeks to promote racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity and will prioritize applications from scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences.
Budget Guidelines
A budget is not required at the time of submission. The budget will be finalized with the grantee, their university's research office, and RSF after the approval of the grant. RSF will provide grantees with a budget template via email, to be completed in accordance with the Pipeline Grants budget guidelines.
Proposal
We do not require or accept letters of inquiry for the Pipeline Grants Competition. Proposals should be submitted through RSF’s online application portal. Proposals are limited to seven single-spaced pages (with standard 11 or 12-point font, and 1-inch margins), and should include a very brief literature review (no more than one page), and detailed information on the research question, hypotheses, research methods and data, analytic plan, and project timeline. References do not count towards the page limit. Also required are an abbreviated CV (5 pages max). If your proposal is positively reviewed, we will ask for a detailed budget, budget justification (1-2 pages), and a letter from your institution stating that it will act as the fiscal agent for the project should a grant be made, but these are not required at the time of application. Investigators from the selected projects will be invited to an onboarding webinar after the funding decisions have been made, to inform about RSF grantee reporting and best practices, as well as budget guidelines and other due diligence requirements.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted via the RSF online application portal, Fluxx.
- Create an account or log in to your existing account. **Allow up to 48 hours for a new account to be approved**
- Start a new “Pipeline Grants” application
- Submit the following documents:
- A concise single-spaced proposal (7 pages maximum) describing the proposed work;
- An up-to-date abbreviated CV (maximum of 5 pages per CV) for each investigator; - Not required at submission, but required prior to funds being disbursed:
- A budget narrative (1-2 pages)
- A detailed Excel budget using the Foundation's budget template, which will be shared with grantee if approved for funding
Research Conference
The funded researchers will be expected to present their findings at a capstone conference. Investigators, mentors, advisory committee members, and other experts will participate. The conference will focus on improving the quality of the research and also foster collaboration among researchers. RSF will reimburse participants for reasonable travel expenses to attend the conference.
Administrative Procedures
The grant must be administered by the grantee’s university. RSF will pay the entire grant amount upon submission of all completed grant documents. At the end of the grant period, the investigator(s) must submit a final substantive report to RSF along with an official financial report from the university and copies of all research papers supported by the grant.
Below we have provided examples of two successful Pipeline Grants proposals.
Click here to view two successful Pipeline Grants proposals.
FAQ - Pipeline Grants
- Who is eligible to apply?
Early-career scholars (anyone who is currently an Assistant Professor or Adjunct Assistant Professors and Lecturers who received the Ph.D. after January 1, 2014) who have not received an RSF research grant previously are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet these requirements as of the submission deadline. There are no limitations on the disciplinary background of the researcher. The Foundation encourages applications from scholars who are traditionally underrepresented in the scientific disciplines and RSF’s application pool.
- Are Post-Docs eligible?
Post-docs are not eligible to be PIs, but can be included on and receive funding on a grant.
- Can full professors or associate professors be co-PI's?
Full professors and associate professors, and professors who have previously received RSF funding are eligible to be co-PI’s on projects, but cannot receive funding.
- What do we support?
Projects must contribute to RSF's mission to improve social and living conditions in the United States. Appropriate projects will demonstrate use of relevant theory, data, methods and measures in the research design.
- Do you fund projects in other countries?
No. In line with the foundation’s mission, all projects must focus on the United States. In some exceptional cases, RSF may consider data collected outside the U.S. (e.g., experimental data, survey data, etc.) if the researcher can demonstrate that the data needed for the project is not available in the U.S., and that the data has direct and strong relevance to understanding social and living conditions in the U.S.
- Do I have to submit a letter of inquiry before submitting an application?
No, pipeline grants applications do not require an initial letter of inquiry.
- Are there deadlines for submitting an application?
Please see our webpage Upcoming Deadlines for the most up-to-date information.
- What should my application include?
Applications must be submitted via the RSF online application portal, Fluxx.
- Create an account or log in to your existing account. **Allow up to 48 hours for a new account to be approved**
- Start a new “Pipeline Grants” application
- Submit the following documents:
- A concise single-spaced proposal (7 pages maximum) describing the proposed work;
- An up-to-date abbreviated CV (maximum of 5 pages per CV);
- Not required at submission, but required prior to funds being disbursed:
- A detailed Excel budget using the Foundation's budget template, which will be shared with grantee if approved for funding;
- A budget narrative (1-2 pages)
- How long should my proposal be?
The maximum length for the text of a proposal is seven single-spaced pages, excluding the bibliography (with standard 11 or 12-point font, and 1-inch margins).
- What should my proposal substantively include?
Proposals should outline the rationale of the research, include a very brief literature review (no more than one page), and detailed information on the research question, hypotheses, research methods and data, analytic plan, and project timeline.
- What are the budget restrictions?
A budget is not required at the time of submission. The budget will be finalized with the grantee, their university's research office, and RSF after the approval of the grant. For general budget guidelines, see our budget requirements page. The following are special budget exceptions that are specific to this program. The budget guidelines listed here for the pipeline grants competition supersede any conflicting guidelines listed on the general budget webpage.
Representative categories of expenditure that should be described in the budget narrative include:
- Salary Support or Course Buyout (up to $15,000 per eligible PI, not including fringe)
- Data acquisition, such as data access fees or the purchase of data sets
- Data collection
- Research assistance
- Travel (for data collection or conferences)
- Other research expenses will be considered on a case by case basis.
Individual applicants can apply for grants of up to $50,000, teams of eligible assistant professors can apply for up to $65,000. RSF will pair grantees with mentors working in the same field, and provide an honorarium for the mentors.
Full professors, associate professors, and assistant professors who have previously received RSF funding are eligible to be co-PI’s on projects, but cannot receive funding.
RSF does not allow indirect costs on pipeline grants and restricts the project period to one year.
- How long does the application review take?
To be guaranteed full consideration, all application materials, must be submitted by the application deadline. We anticipate decisions by early March.
- If my application gets rejected, can I revise and resubmit?
No, applications will be accepted or rejected with no possibility of subsequent negotiation. You may apply again in future competitions.
- Do I have to use the online application system?
Yes. If you have any questions or problems with Fluxx, please contact grantsmgt@rsage.org.
- Is there a time limit in which I must submit my proposal once I start an application online?
Yes. Any application not submitted by the deadline will automatically be deleted from the online system and you will need to restart the process.
View All Upcoming Application Deadlines
If you have clarifying questions regarding the LOI or proposals, please review our FAQ.