Grant Seeker FAQ

Yes. Applications for research grants must be preceded by a brief letter of inquiry (4 pages max. excluding references) to determine whether our present interests and funds permit consideration of a proposal. We do not consider unsolicited proposals unless otherwise specified in a request for proposals.

All letters of inquiry must be submitted directly by an eligible principal investigator (PI) or co-PI of the proposed project. The account must be in the name of the applicant; university administration staff or students may not submit applications. If the person submitting the application is not eligible to apply, the foundation will not consider the application.

The letter of inquiry (LOI) must not exceed 4 pages (single spaced, with standard 11 or 12-point font and 1-inch margins). This 4-page limit does not include references. We encourage applicants to use all four pages to provide sufficient details about the proposed project.

Letters of inquiry should be treated as "mini proposals." The LOI should reflect the key elements of a complete proposal, with the majority of the space dedicated to hypothesis, data, power calculations, preliminary or pilot findings if available, and research design. LOIs are expected to have well-developed conceptual frameworks and research designs, analytical models must be specified, and research questions and hypotheses (where applicable) must be clearly stated. The LOI should also include a paragraph about the qualifications and responsibilities of all key investigators and a brief paragraph outlining the major budget categories. Applicants should have a solid understanding of the amount of funds they will need to carry out the project; if a proposal is invited, the proposal budget cannot deviate significantly from the amount requested in the LOI. Letters of inquiry should also be clear as to how the proposed project fits within RSF’s core interests.

An LOI should contain only one research project; you may submit additional LOIs with other (potentially related) projects.

Each project or experiment proposed in the LOI should include as much information as possible in the space provided in terms of data to be used and why it is appropriate for answering the questions posed, sample sizes and power analyses (where relevant), key explanatory variables and how they are measured, the primary analyses to be performed, major strengths and limitation of the approach and design, etc. The investigator should also consider whether the projects/experiments differ enough so  that separate LOIs should be submitted. In most cases however, investigators would have a higher chance of success if they submitted separate LOIs. The primary reason for this is that including more than one project/experiment in an LOI means that there is typically insufficient information on any one on which to base a determination about whether to invite a full proposal. Our experience is that most LOIs that describe multiple projects/experiments in one LOI do not provide sufficient detail about any one project/experiment.

Yes, please refer to our current deadlines for the latest information. Our deadlines are strict due to the large volume of applications that we receive. Please be sure to submit before the specific time, which is generally 2pm Eastern Time/11am Pacific Time. Any applications submitted after the cut-off time will automatically be deferred to the next round of applications. This applies even if you submit your application 10 minutes late.

Yes, you may submit multiple letters of inquiry (for different projects) for the same funding cycle. You do not need to submit the same LOI to different programs as your application will be evaluated across all of our program interests, regardless of the program you apply to.

Applicants will be notified by email as soon as a decision has been made. Decisions may be made at different stages of the review process. We aim to send out decisions no later than 1 month before the corresponding proposal deadline. Letters of inquiry received in between deadlines will only be processed as time permits; in general, LOIs will be kept on file until the next relevant deadline and only processed at that time.

Yes. A letter of inquiry must be submitted within 6 months, or you will need to restart the process.

The foundation employs a rigorous review process, even for letters of inquiry. Letters of inquiry can be reviewed by foundation program staff, external reviewers from multiple disciplines with substantive expertise in the project’s topic area and/or methodology, one of the foundation’s standing Advisory Committees, or some combination of these.

Because of the large volume of applications that we receive, we are unable to provide individual feedback on every inquiry. If your proposed project is not seen as a strong match to the foundation's program and funding priorities, or if the project is underdeveloped, you will not receive any specific feedback on your inquiry. If the proposed project aligns with the foundation's priorities, you may expect to receive some feedback based on the comments we receive from external reviewers and/or one of the foundation’s standing Advisory Committees, if we feel that these comments may be useful in explaining the response to your application. Please be aware that we only request brief comments from our reviewers at the LOI stage, but occasionally receive longer comments if reviewers choose to provide more feedback. The amount of feedback you receive will therefore vary from one application to the next depending on the reviewers.

No, you do not need to include the draft instrument at the LOI stage. However, you do need to confirm that you have or will have a draft instrument ready to include with your proposal, if invited. Your LOI must include a discussion of the proposed instrument as part of the research design section. You may include example questions if it helps to provide some context for your research design. RSF will not support the development of the instrument as part of the proposed project.