Welcome to the first stage of applying for research grants - figuring out what opportunities you should apply to in the first place! The RSP office provides faculty members with a list of funding agencies and collaborative institutes on and off campus to assist you with your grant applications.
RSP has secured a subscription to Pivot-RP, a database containing active funding opportunities for all disciplines and project types. It includes a wide variety of funding sources, including US Federal and State government, private foundations, and corporate sponsors from one search tool. Use Pivot-RP to find collaborators and identify new funding opportunities for your research, scholarship, and creative activities. Learn how to create an account and begin receiving customized funding alerts by visiting Pivot-RP under RSP Resources.
Join our mailing list to receive current funding opportunities and announcements. An archive of previous newsletters and funding opportunities is available here.
Federal Funding
Federal Funding Agencies
- Federal Contract Opportunities
- Search by keyword, solicitation ID, or agency name. Use filters to narrow your results.
- Accounts are not required to view contract opportunities. Create an account to save searches, add your entity to an opportunity's Interested Vendors List, and receive automatic updates when opportunities change.
- Use the Contract Opportunities Learning Center to access the Contractor Quick Start Guide and other instructional resources.
- Access the User Video for an overview of search capabilities.
State Funding
State/Local Funding Agencies
- California State Grants Portal
- California State & Local Government Agencies
- California Arts Council
- California Department of Water Resources
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- California Humanities
- Office of Emergency Service
- The California Endowment
- State Contract Opportunities
- Search options include Event Name/keyword, Department, UNSPSC codes, and Service Area. User account is not required.
- Access the Vendor Training Portal for interactive online courses and printable instructions.
Local (City/County) Funding
County of Los Angeles
- Arts Commission
- Public Health
- County Contract Opportunities
- Enter keyword, solicitation number, title, or description into single search bar. Download CSV file with a list of all open solicitations. User account is not required.
- Subscribe to RSS feed to get notices about the County's solicitation opportunities.
City of Los Angeles
- City Contract Opportunities
- Select "Open" from the status dropdown menu and enter keyword, or use Advanced Search to refine by Department, NAICS code, or industry.
- User account not required. Vendors may register to receive periodic email notifications by specific commodities/services.
- Department of Cultural Affairs
- Recreational & Cultural Facilities (Prop K) Competitive Grants
CSU/CSUN Funding
RSP Summer Grant Program
The Research & Sponsored Programs (RSP) office is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 2023 Summer Grant Program. The purpose of the Summer Grant Program is to provide summer salary to support the development of a proposal for external funding, to be submitted through RSP as early as July 1, 2023, but no later than April 1, 2024. External grant and contract funds assist the University in advancing its overlapping missions of instruction, research, and community service. Funds from external sources increase faculty scholarship activities, support student training and services, and provide support for community services that otherwise may not be possible.
Please review the full announcement in the call for proposals.
Applications must be submitted via InfoReady.
Please direct any questions regarding the Summer Grant Program to Edgar Lopez at (818) 677-6776 or edgar.lopez@csun.edu.
Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Awards
The University Research and Grants Committee (RGC) is pleased to announce the annual competition for research, scholarship, and creative activity (RSCA) is now open. Applications are available in the InfoReady system with a receipt deadline of 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. Please review the program guidelines as some details have changed. Applicants are encouraged to watch this brief video for more information on preparing the applications. Awards will support RSCA projects over the 2023-24 academic year.
CSUN Diversity & Equity Innovation Grant (DEIG)
The Diversity & Equity Innovation Grant (DEIG) was established to support educational projects, scholarly research, creative activities and other programmatic initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, anti-racism and social justice for the benefit of the CSUN community. The Grant is administered by the President’s Cabinet in collaboration with the President’s Commission on Diversity & Inclusion. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis and proposals will be selected based on such criteria as relevance to grant objectives, impact on the CSUN community, dissemination and assessment of results, and potential for successful continuation past the grant period. Funding Requests of all sizes are encouraged and will be considered, however, most awards will fall between $5,000 and $75,000. Please refer to the DEIG website for the next funding cycle.
Other Internal Funding Opportunities
Intramural grants are funded by the university. These funds are a good way for new or junior faculty to get used to leading funded research activities, improve their track record, and prepare to apply for external funding. Proposals are evaluated based on the quality of the project, the researcher's qualifications, the necessity of the funding to complete the project, the expected contribution of the project to the professional growth of the researcher and to the reputation of the University, and the appropriateness of the proposed budget.
- Community Engagement Grant Opportunities
- CSU Program for Education & Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB)
- Office of Faculty Development Grants
Limited Submissions
For some funding mechanisms, many funding agencies place limits on the number of letters of intent (LOI), pre-proposals, or full proposals that an institution can submit in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP), Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), or Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in a given funding cycle. Submissions that limit the number of proposals that an institution can submit are those we refer to as “Limited Submission” opportunities.
RSP will make every effort to identify limited submission opportunities early to allow enough time for faculty to obtain appropriate internal approvals. However, it is ultimately the PI's responsibility to immediately notify RSP of their intent to submit an application to such a program. Once an opportunity is identified, RSP will send a notice to all colleges and departments to ensure that all faculty are given a fair chance to respond.
Please review the Limited Submission Application Guidelines for step-by-step instructions and application format. For a current list of open RSP Limited Submission competitions, please visit https://csun.infoready4.com/. You may login using your CSUN credentials.
I-Corps
CSUN I-Corps Customer Discovery Program
Do you have an innovation or technology that you think is ready for market?
Are you interested in customer discovery around your innovation?
Are ready to commercialize your innovation?
Teams selected for CSUN’s I-Corps based customer discovery program will receive training in customer discovery and can receive up to $3000 to explore customer discovery around their innovation. Please contact Tim Tiemann to learn more.
Foundations
Research Funding from Charitable Foundations
In addition to government-based funding, RSP partners with our colleagues in CSUN's Advancement office to obtain research support from corporate foundations, philanthropic organizations, and private donors.
- Foundation Center Finder offers basic information on funders in the U.S. including private foundations, community foundations, public charities, and corporate giving programs.
- Philanthropy News Digest a service of the Foundation Center, publishes RFPs and notices of awards as a free service for grant-making organizations and nonprofits.
Submitting a proposal to an agency that has not put out a call for proposals is considered an unsolicited proposal. If you have a new and innovative idea that does not fall under the topic areas publicized in a call for a proposal, you may wish to consider submitting it as an unsolicited proposal. The submission should be relevant to the agency’s research and mission, and should be persuasive enough to convince the agency to fund the proposal.
Please contact the CSUN Foundation for additional information about obtaining grants from charitable foundations.
