Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Grants

The Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, human services and other causes.

The Lawrence Foundation was established in mid-2000. We make both program and operating grants and do not have any geographical restrictions on our grants. Nonprofit organizations that qualify for public charity status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or other similar organizations are eligible for grants from The Lawrence Foundation.  

Grant Amount and Types

Grants typically range between $5,000 - $10,000. In some limited cases we may make larger grants, but that is typically after we have gotten to know your organization over a period of time. We also generally don’t make multi-year grants, although we may fund the same organization on a year by year basis over a period of years.

General operating or program/project grant requests within our areas of interests are accepted. In general, regardless of whether a grant request is for general operating or program/project expenses, all of our grants will be issued as unrestricted grants.

About

Welcome to the Clif Family Foundation, an organization we started in 2006 to support grassroots groups led by people with vision and commitment. We believe that much of our nation's needed innovation will spring from grassroots organizations' daily efforts in local communities. The foundation has been proud to support hundreds of nonprofits that are working tirelessly to transform our food system, revitalize the environment, and enhance community health. Now that we’re grandparents, the urgency to build a healthy, just, and ecologically thriving world is even more personal. We look forward to expanding the reach and impact of the foundation in the years to come. This means working with nonprofits that prioritize people-centered solutions and address urgent gaps and historically underfunded priorities. We believe we can all do more good in the world. Together.

Strategic Priorities

• Regenerative and Organic Farming: Accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices, including organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches.
• Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety: Amplify efforts to secure healthy, safe, just, and empowering working and living conditions for food production workers.
• Climate Justice: Expand community-centered solutions to climate change that build resilience and empower those who have been historically marginalized.
• Healthy Food Access: Advance food systems’ changes that make healthy and sustainably produced food accessible, affordable, and culturally appropriate.
• Inclusive Outdoor Access: Catalyze solutions that expand access to safe places to enable healthy physical activity and improve mental health.
• Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution: Promote preventative health approaches by identifying and eliminating toxics from our air, water, soil, and human-made materials.

Open Call

These grants support general operating cost or specific projects and applicants must be registered as (or fiscally sponsored by) a 501(c)3 organization. The Foundation reviews applications twice a year; the deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Grant announcements occur approximately four months after the deadline. Typical grants range from $5,000 - $50,000 and last for one year.

The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work, and compassion.

The Foundation considers applications for grants in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Health care
• Civic and cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

The majority of our grants are made in the U.S. However, like Dr. Scholl, we recognize the need for a global outlook. Non-U.S. grants are given to organizations where directors have knowledge of the grantee.

Philanthropy is our commitment to communities in which we operate and broader society. We focus our resources on a limited number of key projects that can deliver valuable benefits from our contributions and those of our partners. We give priority to innovative, high-quality projects that meet the following criteria:

• promote sustainable development
• offer an opportunity for Roche to use its expertise and logistics capabilities
• involve Roche actively at an early stage with local authorities and established partners
• engage Roche employees in cultural (focus on contemporary arts), educational and social activities
• managed by an accredited charity

Our four focus areas

Humanitarian and Social

We direct the majority of our philanthropic donations to humanitarian and social development projects.

Science and education

We are dedicated to programmes that promote scientific interest and provide educational opportunities for young people around the world.

Community and Environment

We are committed to building stronger communities and responding to natural disasters sustainably.

Arts and Culture

We support groundbreaking contemporary art, cultural projects and activities that explore the parallels between innovation in art and in science. 

Background

The Robert F. Schumann Foundation was established by Mr. Schumann out of his beliefs that the environment is essential to sustain the future of the planet, that education is essential to solve many quality of life issues for society, and that arts and cultural programs offer society hope and the ability to dream.  Mr. Schumann was an avid environmentalist and fought for open spaces where birds and other animals could maintain habitats and where people could enjoy nature.  He supported efforts to improve the planet through environmental education, as well as artistic and cultural institutions that sought to raise the quality of life for local communities. Robert F. Schumann developed a love of birds early in his life.  From a young age, he continued to learn and understand the importance of protecting the environment from over-development and pollution.  He purchased acreage in upstate New York where he created a bird sanctuary known as Nuthatch Hollow.  There he began a partnership with the local university allowing students, faculty and staff to use the land for environmental studies.  Mr. Schumann served on the board of many environmental and educational institutions seeking to encourage the interests of students of all ages to understand and appreciate the importance of protecting and enjoying the environment. Robert F. Schumann died on December 8, 2011.  His legacy of support for the environment, education, arts and culture will continue through the work of his foundation for many years to come.

Mission

The Robert F. Schumann Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life of both humans and animals by supporting environmental, educational, arts and cultural organizations and agencies.

There are no program limitations; however, the foundation is interested in primarily supporting environmental sustainability, education, the arts and humanities.

Program areas

• Environment, animals

Global Impact Cash Grants

Cisco welcomes applications for Global Impact Cash Grants from community partners around the world who share our vision and offer an innovative approach to a critical social challenge.

We identify, incubate, and develop innovative solutions with the most impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We’re looking for programs that fit within our investment areas, serve the underserved, and leverage technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services. We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. An initial information form is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application.

Social Investment Areas

At Cisco, we make social investments in three areas where we believe our technology and our people can make the biggest impact—education, economic empowerment, and crisis response, the last of which incorporates shelter, water, food, and disaster relief. Together, these investment areas help people overcome barriers of poverty and inequality, and make a lasting difference by fostering strong global communities.

Education Investments

Our strategy is to inclusively invest in technology-based solutions that increase equitable access to education while improving student performance, engagement, and career exploration. We support K-12 solutions that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as literacy. We also consider programs that teach environmental sustainability, eliminate barriers to accessing climate change education, and invite student engagement globally to positively affect the environment.

What we look for:

• Innovative early grade solutions using the internet and technology to bridge the barriers preventing access to education for underserved students globally.
• Solutions that positively affect student attendance, attitudes, and behavior while inspiring action by students to improve learning outcomes, whether they participate in person, online, or in blended learning environments. 
• Solutions with high potential to replicate and scale globally, thereby increasing the availability of evidence-based solutions that support student-centricity, teacher capacity in the classroom, and increased parental participation to help students learn and develop.

Economic Empowerment

Our strategy is to invest in early stage, tech-enabled solutions that provide equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that people need to support themselves and their families toward resilience, independence, and economic security.

Our goal is to support solutions that benefit individuals and families, and that contribute to local community growth and economic development in a sustainable economy.

We target our support in three interconnected areas:

• Skills development to help job seekers secure dignified employment and long-term career pathways in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green jobs.
• Inclusive entrepreneurship with small businesses as engines of local growth as well as high growth potential start-ups as large-scale job creators nationally and internationally, in technology or other sectors, including environment sustainability/green businesses.
• Banking the unbanked through relevant and affordable financial products and capacity building services.

Cisco Crisis Response

We seek to help overcome the cycle of poverty and dependence and achieve a more sustainable future through strategic investments. We back organizations that successfully address critical needs of underserved communities, because those who have their basic needs met are better equipped to learn and thrive.

What we look for:

• Innovative solutions that increase the capacity of grantees to deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently
• Design and implementation of web-based tools that increase the availability of, or improve access to, products and services that are necessary for people to survive and thrive
• Programs that increase access to clean water, food, shelter, or disaster relief and promote a more sustainable future for all
  • By policy, relief campaigns respond to significant natural disaster and humanitarian crises as opposed to those caused by human conflict. Also by policy, our investments in this area do not include healthcare solutions.

Climate Impact

Our strategy is to invest US$100 million in Cisco Foundation funds over the next decade to help reverse the impact of climate change, working toward a sustainable and regenerative future for all.

The commitment includes both grant and impact investment funding for early-stage climate innovation. Both categories of support will be focused on bold climate solutions, and the grants side will also concentrate on community education and activation. Grants will go to exceptionally aligned nonprofit organizations, while impact investments will go to highly promising for-profit solutions through the private sector and climate impact funds.

Funding comes from the Cisco Foundation and will focus on:

• Identifying bold and innovative solutions that:
  • Draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere
  • Regenerate depleted ecosystems and broadly support the transition to a regenerative future
• Developing curricular initiatives to spur community engagement that can lead to measurable behavioral change and collective action

We will prioritize organizations that can achieve, measure, and report outcomes such as:

• Reduction, capture, and/or sequestering of greenhouse gas and carbon emissions
• Increased energy efficiency and improved mapping and management of natural resources, such as ecosystem restoration, forest treatments, reforestation, and afforestation that also will help repair our water cycles
• Transition to inclusive, just, coliberatory, and regenerative operating models, ways of being, and ways of organizing economies
• Creation of, and increase in, access to green jobs and job training
• Changes in community and individual behavior that lead to carbon footprint reduction, community climate resilience, and localized roadmaps to a sustainable shared climate future for all

The Sidney Stern Memorial Trust is devoted solely to the funding of charitable, scientific, medical and educational organizations.

The Board endeavors to support soundly-managed charitable organizations that give service with a broad scope, have a substantial effect on their target populations, and contribute materially to the general welfare. The Board does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

Mission

The DanPaul Foundation will use its resources to help train teachers and parents in early childhood development, protect children from abuse and neglect, stimulate children's personal social responsibilities, and offer them opportunities for enrichment and growth.

The Foundation will also encourage children to be concerned and informed about the environment and the underprivileged, particularly with regard to clean air and water, and adequate housing and nutrition for all.

Beliefs

The DanPaul Foundation believes that children should have ample opportunities for enrichment in their lives, and thus strives to provide many different ways to enrich and expand children's minds through direct programs and monetary support to organizations doing similar work.

We have provided or currently provide grants related to the following program areas:

• Workshops, Conferences, + Seminars: We strive to offer educational workshops, conferences, and seminars for parents and teachers on topics related to early childhood development.
• Student Scholarships: We aim to help students attending post-secondary education institutions by providing need-based and academic scholarships.
• Scientific Endeavors: We desire to advance scientific endeavors which seek to improve the quality of life for everyone in the world.
• Clean Air + Water: We hope to pass on knowledge and practical life skills to youth regarding their personal responsibility to the environment, teaching them about issues surrounding clean air and water.
• Child Advocacy: We believe in protecting children from abuse and neglect and particularly love to support programs that provide education and assistance to children as well as organizations advocating or caring for vulnerable children.
• Homelessness: We want to encourage young people to take a personal interest in seeing that adequate housing and proper nutrition, especially for the underprivileged and homeless, are available.
• Poverty + Neglect: We seek to help those in poverty as well as educate youth about their responsibility to consider the underprivileged and take care of those most in need of life's basic essentials like adequate housing and proper nutrition.
• Refugee Enrichment: We wish to help refugee youth by supporting programs that provide them enrichment and help them transition to life in a new country.

The DanPaul Foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by the IRS. The Foundation is interested in providing funding to programs that directly serve the health, education, development, and welfare of the world's youth.

Grants range from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000 per calendar year.

Mission

To provide financial and other resources to improve the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Vision

Our vision is one of lasting progress and sustainable solutions to address the range of needs among the intellectual and developmental disabilities population. We envision a world where these individuals are celebrated for their unique gifts. We want families to have open access to resources and information they need to make decisions about best-in-class care for their loved ones. We imagine a world where local communities are actively engaged in learning from and receiving the meaningful contributions of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by including them in the fabric of the community.

Funding Priorities

The Enterline Foundation’s overarching funding priority is to increase access to services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Believing that an adequate direct support professional (DSP) workforce is essential to ensuring the provision of services, The Foundation will focus its giving in 2025 on initiatives that support the recruitment and retention of DSPs. Although not limited to these examples, initiatives could include:

• Internship programs
• New hire welcoming, orientation and coaching 
• Training and professional development including certification programs
• Establishment of career ladders
• Connection to community resources for nonwork related needs of DSPs
• Improvements to organizational culture
• Communication and feedback soliciting initiatives
• Recognition and appreciation activities
• Front line supervisor coaching and development
• Technology needed to support data collection and employee experience

Funding Amount

Not to exceed $25,000. One year in duration.

Who We Are

The Creag Foundation is a private grant making foundation established in 2009 in Woodinville, Washington.

The founders of the Creag Foundation believe that meaningful change can only be achieved through hard work, creativity and passion. They also understand the practical mechanisms that allow charitable organizations to succeed and grow. As a group, Creag Foundation principals are dedicated to helping today’s most innovative programs improve the human condition in a wide variety of ways.

Our Focus

The broad purpose of the Foundation is to support the efforts of nonprofit organizations who are innovators in the field of human services. Our particular focus is on smaller organizations that are starting out or established organizations that are looking for funding to take their organization in a new direction.

What We Fund

/ What We Fund

The Creag Foundation is focused on innovation in the industry. We will consider proposals from 501(c)(3) organizations that are finding new ways to address societal issues facing the nonprofit community. Applicants must have held 501(c)(3) status for one year before submitting. If your organization has held 501(c)(3) status for over a year, and your believe that your organization has a new approach to an existing social problem or is addressing a previously unaddressed social issue, you are welcome to contact us and request that we consider your organization for a funding opportunity.

Mission

Driven by a philanthropic calling to support marginalized communities throughout the world, the Semnani Family Foundation partners with on-the-ground organizations and leverages its resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner that delivers the maximum benefit.

History

Guided by his grandmother Maliheh’s example and teachings, Khosrow Semnani and his wife Ghazaleh established the Semnani Family Foundation in 1993. The foundation’s first grant was issued through CARE International to an orphanage in Romania that cared for newborns affected by HIV. Over the last few decades, the foundation has continued to build upon its mission to empower the disaffected, partnering with a variety of organizations in different countries who can make the greatest impact.

In addition to its global influence, the Semnani Family Foundation established roots within the state of Utah with the founding of Maliheh Free Clinic in 2005 to provide free healthcare to thousands of uninsured people in the Salt Lake City area.

Where We Work

The Semnani Family Foundation focuses primarily on promoting health, education, and disaster relief for marginalized communities all around the world. Driven by a clear mission to adapt and serve at the global level, we have leveraged our resources to make a meaningful impact in the following countries so far:

• Afghanistan
• Bosnia
• Colombia
• England
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• India
• Iran
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Romania
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Tonga
• Uganda
• United States
• Yemen

At the heart of the Foundation lies a fervent commitment to human welfare, always prioritizing health and the needs of society’s most vulnerable.

Our Mission

The Tony Robbins Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of people often forgotten.

We’re dedicated to creating positive changes in the lives of youth, seniors, the hungry, homeless and the imprisoned population, all who need a boost envisioning a happier and deeply satisfying way of life. Our passionate staff, generous donors and caring group of international volunteers provide the vision, inspiration, and resources needed to empower these important members of our society.

Grants

Dedicated to meeting challenges within the global community, creating solutions and taking action, The Tony Robbins Foundation provides monetary donations to various organizations around the world. Funding requests are evaluated on an ongoing basis. We look for organizations that align with our mission to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of those often forgotten.

Background

Governmental public health (GPH) is a fundamental system for protecting and improving population health in all communities. This system works toward preventing and eliminating health inequities while responding and meeting emergency and emergent needs. Transforming governmental health to address structural barriers to health and advancing an equitable system where governmental public health and communities work in collaboration and share power fosters health equity and helps communities thrive. Non-governmental organizations, power-building organizations, and public health professionals are crucial components to this transformation by supporting the priorities, meeting the needs, and holding public health accountable to communities they serve while protecting the integrity and historic health justice orientation of the governmental public health system. The connected systems of both public health and healthcare systems have often failed to provide adequate consideration for the needs of adults with developmental disabilities, resulting in many experiencing these systems as a source of harm and mistrust. These systems can have a disparate impact on populations that have experienced systems of oppression, including ableism1. Society has traditionally looked at disability through a medical model of inability and dependence. These structural barriers are further intensified for individuals experiencing multiple systems of oppression, as racism and ableism1 mutually reinforce each other. There are medical professionals and disability advocates who are actively involved in and leading change toward more equitable public health and healthcare systems. WITH Foundation (WITH) promotes comprehensive healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities in the United States that is designed to address their unique and fundamental needs. WITH embraces an intersectional approach, centers the expertise and leadership of those most impacted by this injustice, is committed to cultural humility5 and addressing power imbalances, and values innovation. In alignment, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime. To get there, we must work to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Through funding, convening, advocacy, and evidence-building, RWJF works side-by-side with communities, practitioners, and institutions to achieve health equity faster and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

RFP Advancing Disability Justice in Public Health—New Funding Opportunity

This is an invitation for collaborative proposals that advance disability justice6 in public health and center the goals, perspectives, and needs of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in Communities of Color. The efforts supported through this RFP will contribute to a public health system that is fair and just, treats all people with dignity and respect, and rectifies past harms and prevents future ones. Proposals should prioritize one of the following approaches:

Implementation: Support implementation of models, i.e., testing and advancing solutions to enhance governmental public health in being trustworthy, accountable, truly collaborative, and anti-racist. Models should support the leadership of and power sharing with adults with intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color, or those with a demonstrated track record of working with Adults with I/DD in Communities of Color;

Educational resources: Developing public health curriculum and/or training resources with Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color, and/or creating/leveraging networks supporting resource dissemination and utilization within public health and disability justice6 ecosystems, helping public health systems become more accountable to Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color – communities that have been historically marginalized.

Advocacy, Power and Bridging: Support regional or national advocacy, community power building to build and shift power, and bridging between governmental public health with entities such as grassroots organizing groups, social movement groups, movement-building organizations, community-based organizations, community organizing groups, and base-building groups related to the care that Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color receive within public health; and

Research: Identify and close gaps in knowledge and inform efforts to improve health related to the care Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color receive, i.e., community-based or community-led research that assists disability-led organizations in illuminating and addressing structural barriers within the governmental health system that are experienced by Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Communities of Color.

Our Mission

Our mission is to continue and further the philanthropic legacy of Gardner Cowles, Jr. and the Cowles family, which includes promotion of education, social justice, health, and the arts.

The Founder

The Cowles Charitable Trust was first established in 1948 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles, Jr. (1903-1985). Born into the Cowles publishing family of Des Moines, Iowa, Mike was the youngest of Gardner Cowles and Florence Call Cowles’ six children. A newspaper editor and publisher by trade, he was committed to his family’s traditions of responsible, public-spirited, and innovative journalism as well as philanthropy. 

The Cowles Charitable Trust supports the arts, education, the advancement of ethical journalism, medical and climate research.

About Us

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent, nonprofit research organization that seeks to empower patients and others with actionable information about their health and healthcare choices. We fund comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER), which compares two or more medical treatments, services, or health practices to help patients and other stakeholders make better informed decisions.

Since its authorization by Congress in 2010, PCORI has awarded more than $3 billion to fund nearly 2,000 research and related projects (explore our research portfolio). PCORI-funded research studies produce important results that are published in leading medical journals and presented at major scientific meetings. Results from studies we have funded are also taken up in a variety of clinical guidelines. We post results from every study we fund, with versions for both patients and clinicians. 

In 2019, PCORI’s funding was reauthorized, with additional research priorities—intellectual and developmental disabilities and maternal morbidity and mortality—and a mandate to consider, as appropriate, the full range of outcomes data, including the potential burdens and economic impacts of the use of medical treatments, items, and services for different stakeholders in the research we fund.

PCORI is committed to transparency and a rigorous stakeholder-driven process that emphasizes patient engagement. PCORI uses a variety of forums and public comment periods to obtain public input to enhance its work. PCORI helps people make informed healthcare decisions and improves healthcare delivery and outcomes by producing and promoting high-integrity, evidence-based information that comes from research guided by patients and other stakeholders.

The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation focuses on impactful and direct lines of support through our four mission pillars: Individuals with Special Needs, Junior Golf, Military Families and Veterans and Pediatric Cancer. All grant applicants' primary work must fall very specifically within one or more of these areas. For each initiative we support, JSFF seeks to fund achievable ideas that aim to help remove barriers and/or provide opportunities that directly impact individuals and families within our mission focus. Ideally the primary work of each grant should take place within the 2025 calendar year. 

Individuals with Special Needs

The Foundation seeks to partner with programs that close the gap for those with cognitive or neurological special needs, ensuring these children and young adults have access to developmental programming and vocational opportunities to expand their communication, self-help, and social skills. We focus on pursuing partners that create developmental opportunities and promote inclusion for the intellectually disabled.

Junior Golf

We believe the game of golf can be a conduit for many life skills and an on-ramp for expanding youth horizons. The Foundation will focus on junior golf programs that are diverse, emphasize outreach and remove potential socio-economic barriers to the game. We also pursue partnerships with groups that utilize golf as an avenue to furthering education and/or mentorship opportunities.

Military Families and Veterans

In an effort to honor those military members who have served our country, the Foundation pursues established grant partners who directly impact service members and/or their families through financial aid opportunities, familial respite support, mental and physical therapies and avenues that look to provide long-term support mechanisms.

Pediatric Cancer

Our goal is to fund programs that offer direct care for children fighting cancer and their families. This includes supporting child life services, emotional and social therapies, familial respite, and avenues to overcome financial burdens on families when facing a diagnosis. Additionally, the ultimate goal of the JSFF and our partners would be to eradicate pediatric cancers, and we welcome grant applications for research and clinical trials.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Calling to Serve

Since its inception in 2016, the Robinson Foundation has sought to demonstrate God’s love through sharing the gifts we have received. We understand the often unspoken hardships and struggles that people in and outside of our community face everyday. As such, our contributions are focused on relieving these hardships for the betterment of our world.

As a family-operated foundation, we pray that our small efforts will not only create immediate change in the lives of our neighbors, but will help set those lives on a course for success in the future. We are thankful for each and every day we have on this earth to use what God has granted us to make a difference.

Areas of Interest

• Animal Welfare
• Children & Families
• Disaster Relief
• Education
• Medical Assistance
• Nature & Wildlife Conservation
• Poverty Relief
• Religious & Spiritual Endeavors
• Veterans' Issues

Grant Considerations

We take many different aspects of applications into account when making grant issuing decisions, however these are some of the high-level questions we ask ourselves during the process:

• How does the organization serve their key audience goals?
• Is the organization fiscally responsible?
• Will a grant have a tangible, meaningful impact?
• Will we see direct results from this grant?
• Does the organization have other financial contributors?

Project CASK Grant Program

Project CASK, in collaboration with the Orphan Disease Center, is seeking proposals to advance research that supports therapeutic development for CASK gene disorders.

Background

The X-linked CASK gene provides instructions for making a protein called calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase (CASK), which is primarily found in neurons and helps control the expression of other genes involved in brain development. Mutations on the CASK gene are currently associated with two disorders, microcephaly with pontine and cerebellar hypoplasia (MICPCH) and XL-ID with or without nystagmus. The spectrum of neurological phenotypes associated with CASK variants is broad and includes global developmental delays, intellectual disability, epilepsy, or other seizure disorders, hypotonia, swallowing or feeding challenges, hearing and vision issues, and other neurological symptoms. 

Funding

Proposed funding period is one or two years, beginning about one month after full applications are received.  

The Engagement Award Program is now accepting Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the Engagement Award: Capacity Building funding opportunity. This opportunity aims to build the capacity and skills of patients and stakeholders to engage in all phases of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER).

Award

You may propose projects that will last up to two years and cost up to $300,000.

Notice of Upcoming PCORI Funding Announcement

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) intends to release a Broad Pragmatic Studies (BPS) PCORI Funding Announcement (PFA) on May 7, 2024, which seeks to fund applications for high-quality patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) projects. This preannouncement is provided to allow potential applicants additional time to identify collaborators; obtain patient and stakeholder input on potential studies; and develop responsive, high-quality proposals.

All applications must align the proposed research with at least one of the National Priorities for Health described within the PFA (Increase Evidence for Existing Interventions and Emerging Innovations in Health; Accelerate Progress Toward an Integrated Learning Health System; Achieve Health Equity; or Advance the Science of Dissemination, Implementation and Health Communication). Topic Themes are also included in this funding opportunity. Applicants have the option to choose up to three Topic Themes based on how their proposed research aligns with the themes. However, aligning with a Topic Theme is not required. The National Priorities for Health and Topic Themes will assist PCORI in determining the optimal review pathway for the proposed research.

National Priorities for Health

PCORI’s National Priorities for Health are a comprehensive set of mutually reinforcing goals that focus on impact, guiding PCORI research funding and other initiatives to improve patient care and health outcomes. The breadth of the goals allows for flexibility, agility, and responsiveness to foreseen and unforeseen changes in the healthcare landscape. The National Priorities for Health were developed, revised and finalized with extensive stakeholder input. Learn moreabout the National Priorities for Health here.

The National Priorities for Health build on PCORI’s longstanding funding framework of research approaches to improve patient-centered health through CER. Applicants should be able to recognize how their proposed CER may serve and align with one or more National Priorities for Health. For example, research to help Achieve Health Equity may compare existing and emerging evidence-based innovations in health system delivery, making use of alternative health communication methods to increase access to care for historically underserved and under-researched populations. This example illustrates how a research study can have multiple connections to PCORI’s National Priorities for Health.

Topic Themes

PCORI Topic Themes of interest that inform PCORI’s funding opportunities over the next several cycles. PCORI’s Topic Themes speak to everyday health issues facing large numbers of people in the United States including children, youth, and older adults and address urgent topics such as substance use, mental and behavioral health, violence and trauma, as well as widespread conditions including cardiovascular disease, pain management, and sleep health. These themes include four key topics that have been important interest areas for PCORI—preventing maternal morbidity and mortality, improving outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), addressing COVID-19, and addressing rare disease. 

Applicants to the Cycle 2 2024 BPS PFA may select up to three of PCORI’s Topic Themes that best align with their proposed research. Applicants may also opt not to select from the PCORI Topic Themes and select “other” to indicate that their research aligns with other areas of important need for patient-centered CER. In keeping with past cycles, the BPS PFA welcomes all investigator-initiated, patient-centered CER.

Funds and Project Period

• Funds available up to approximately $160 million total for all categories (1, 2 and 3)
• Total direct costs:
  • Category 1: Less than or equal to $5 million in direct costs
  • Category 2: Greater than $5 million; up to $12 million in direct costs
  • Category 3: Up to $12 million in direct costs
• Maximum project period up to five years for all categories (1, 2 and 3)

People With Disabilities Foundation Grants

In February 2017, PWDF announced a pilot grant program to help other nonprofit agencies in their work to integrate people with psychiatric, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities (P/IDD) into the whole of society. Grants may be used for a specific program, project, or general operating expenses if related to a specific project or program in furtherance of providing advocacy, education, vocational, or other services to people with psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities.

PWDF’s Grant Program is accepting LOIs for new grant awards. LOIs must be submitted on PWDF’s LOI form and received by November 6, 2024, to be considered for the next grant cycle. The date of approval will depend on the date of the next Board meeting at which grants are reviewed. 

Rapid advances in genotyping and next generation sequencing technologies have led to the identification of genetic variants that are associated with a wide variety of congenital defects including human congenital anomalies (HCAs), intellectual developmental disabilities (IDDs) and inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs). Large quantities of genomic data collected from pediatric congenital anomalies cohorts are available to the research community through several databases such as the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP), the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Portal, the European Genome-Phenome Archive and Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen). The purpose of this initiative is to promote the screening, functional validation and characterization of congenital anomaly-associated genetic variants identified through public facing databases and individual efforts using in-silico tools, appropriate animal models, in vitro systems or multi-pronged approaches. This initiative addresses a challenging gap between identifying sequence variations of potential interest and recognizing which of those variations have functional effects on the phenotype of interest.