Tips & Resources | Russell Sage Foundation

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Considerations before starting your application:

Confirm fit with Foundation’s research priorities: Browse recently award grants and read the RFPs, FAQs, and other literature provided for each of our research priorities to see if your project might be a fit. If you’re unsure, please reach out at least one month ahead of the deadline to programs@rsage.org with a short abstract and some details about the research design.
Assess the stage of your project: The different types of support are intended for different stages of research. Visiting Fellowships support projects after data collection has been completed. Core Research Grants generally have some proof of concept or pilot data in hand at the time of application. Early Career Grants can be in the pilot stage but still must have a sufficiently detailed research design.
Review application requirements: Each of our grant and fellowship programs has its own set of application requirements, including page limits and materials required at the time of submission. Please familiarize yourself with the relevant requirements before starting your application.

Tips for drafting your LOI or proposal:

Connect narrative to the research questions: Applicants should map the research design tightly to their research questions. The theory, motivation, and literature reviews should all be consistent with the research questions.
Provide sufficient details: With limited space, the narrative should be weighted towards sections that RSF prioritizes in our evaluation. The research design (describing the data, methods, analytic plan, etc.) should take up at least 50 percent of the narrative. Reviewers cannot make assumptions; they only have the information provided in the narrative. Applicants must provide sufficient details for the reviewers to evaluate whether the research questions are well matched to the research design. Discussions of broader impact, fit with RSF goals, investigator qualifications, and requested budget should be brief.
Draw on research outside your field: RSF is an interdisciplinary funder, and your application may be reviewed by scholars outside your discipline. A literature review that is narrowly focused in one discipline will not be as competitive as one that cites widely and demonstrates that the investigator(s) have a broad understanding of the topic.
Acknowledge the limitations of your project: The narrative should demonstrate an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the project’s design, data, methods and analyses. Showing that you understand a limitation or weakness but defending why it is still the right way to approach the questions proposed gives reviewers confidence that you have a well-rounded understanding of the whole project.