Dear Colleagues,
By a variety of measures, the grant-seeking environment is thriving at Colorado College. Below are some of the highlights of the first annual report of my office’s activities, which focuses on grants to support scholarly and creative work at the College.
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- In the five-year period from FY19-FY23, 57 individual faculty and staff submitted 104 proposals to 34 distinct funders, requesting $13,158,875 in research funding. All told, 49 of the 104 proposals were funded for $3,720,480, representing a 47% funding rate over that period.
- In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, 48 unduplicated faculty and staff engaged in the “pre-award process” (from first meetings with me to proposal submissions) including 14 faculty from all ranks who engaged for the first time in the grant-seeking process.
- In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, 28 faculty submitted 27 proposals, representing a 35% increase over the 10-year average of 20 proposals submitted annually.
- Given that it often takes 6 to 9 months to hear whether a grant or fellowship has been funded, we are not yet able to report on final proposal success for the proposals submitted in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. However, of the 27 proposals submitted, we have received notifications for 22, of which 7 have been funded for a total of $1,701,322 to date. This eclipses our annual average of $744,096 in research funding awards in the FY19- FY23 fiscal years.
- During FY24, faculty also availed themselves of internal funding that supports and encourages proposal development and submission. Through the College’s SEGway program, 14 faculty were supported through its seed funding program; $34,105 in funding was awarded to three faculty in the humanities, three in the social sciences, and eight in the natural sciences.
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The level of energy and effort devoted to enhancing our research environment has been extraordinary ~ and yet it represents only a portion of the grant activity happening on campus. In the following section my colleague Laura Hines, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, reports on grant activity for institutional efforts.
Please reach out to either of us if you are interested in joining the College’s vibrant community of grant seekers.
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Report on Institutional Grant Activity
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The Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR), housed in Advancement, creates lasting, transformative change on our campus by strengthening institutional relationships between CC and philanthropic organizations in support of the College’s priorities. The office provides administration and faculty members information and assistance for securing funding to support institutional priorities.
All proposals for outside funding must be reviewed and approved by the College. In addition to ensuring that grant requests are in agreement with college policies and priorities, the CFR office can help shape a request to improve its chance for funding. The grants team has years of experience and can help you present the best possible proposal for your project.
Proposal Success — Five-year Overview
In the five-year period from FY20-FY24, the CFR office, in coordination with staff and faculty from across campus, submitted 116 proposals, requesting $26,044,069 on behalf of institutional priorities for the College. During this time, 72 proposals were funded, securing $18,737,601, representing a 62% funding rate.
In FY2024, 25 grants were submitted requesting $4,009,673, with 13 awarded totaling $2,367,422.
Highlights of the previous year include:
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- A two-year $800,000 commitment from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to continue the work of State of the Rockies, which includes the Conservation in the West public poll and student engagement around the poll.
- A one-year $25,000 grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation for their Frankenthaler Climate Initiative will support an energy audit of the FAC to help us work toward the College’s sustainability goals.
- A five-year $125,000 grant from Heart of America Patriot Foundation to support financial aid for the dependents of veterans.
- A one-year $14,000 grant from the Margarite Balke Fund of Pikes Peak Community Foundation supported an arts educational collaboration between the FAC and students from the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.
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Laura Hines
Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations
lhines@coloradocollege.edu
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New Internal Grant for Dependent and Elder Care
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The Office of the Dean of the Faculty is launching a three-year internal funding pilot program to support dependent and elder care (that would be a taxable grant) of up to $1,000 per academic year to support qualified short-term dependent care expenses incurred when traveling to present at professional conferences. Guidelines are now available.
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Faculty and staff are invited to break bread together over lunch (noon to 1:15 p.m.) to learn about the scholarly and creative work of our colleagues:
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- Block 2: Tuesday, October 8: Jiun Bang, Political Science, will present on “Extraterritorial Displacement: The South Korea-U.S.-Israel Tri-Constellation of Flags During Protest and Far Right Politics.” Learn more here.
- Block 3: Wednesday, November 6: Cory Scott, Math & Computer Science will present on, “A Crash Course in Machine Learning Model Design: Current Trends and Historical Perspectives.” Register before Oct. 30.
- Block 4: Tuesday, December 10: Maybellene Gamboa, Organismal Biology and Ecology. Register before Nov. 21.
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Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
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The Council of Undergraduate Research’s “Grant Dialogues,” an annual forum for connecting faculty with funders, will be held virtually again this year from Feb. 11-14, 2025. Participating funders includes AERA, HHMI, IMLS, NIH, NASA, USDA, NSF, Dept. of Education, and Dept. of Energy. Live content sessions will be available for three months post-conference, however you must be registered prior for access. Q&A sessions will not be recorded. For the full agenda, visit CUR Grant Dialogues. Interested in registering by the Early Bird deadline of Dec. 13? Interested in learning more about this alphabet soup of funders? Please reach out to Tess. The SEGway program will support your registration!
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CC will be one of approximately 10 regional institutions who will be co-sponsoring an NEH Regional Application-Writing Workshop at CU-Denver on Thursday – Friday, Feb. 20-21, 2025. As of the time of publication, Thursday is scheduled to be a day for 15- to 20-minute one-on-one meetings with NEH staff, Friday morning will be the (recorded) public workshop (likely to feature an overview of NEH’s programs and a mock panel session), and Friday afternoon will feature more one-on-one sessions with NEH staff. Zoom options for the one-on-ones will be available; registration highly recommended. NEH Endowed Professor Rebecca Tucker will serve as CC’s humanities faculty representative on the planning committee to finalize the schedule. If you would like to take advantage of the one-on-one meetings, please indicate your interest on this form, so that we may reach out with registration details as soon as that information is available. As NEH notes, “the more effort the faculty member puts into such a meeting, the better the result will be.” NEH will likely request an abstract of your project in advance of the meeting. Please reach out to Tess to discuss!
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Welcome to New Member of the Grants Team
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I am thrilled to announce that Janna Jones will be joining the CFR team as the Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations.
Jones has been an integral member of the Alumni and Family Relations team since 2020, most recently serving as the Associate Director of Parent and Family Engagement. Her strong background in communications and engagement, coupled with her extensive knowledge of CC and campus relationships, makes her an invaluable asset to CFR and our fundraising efforts to support the College’s priorities.
Jones began her new role on October 1. Please join me in welcoming Janna to her new position within the CFR team!
~ Laura Hines, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
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Help us celebrate your colleagues’ accomplishments! Use this anonymous form to share news of publications, creative work, grants and fellowships, and other professional accomplishments.
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