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The University Libraries offers a hands-on and online workshops on searching Pivot, SPIN and the Foundation Directory Online (FDO). Setting up e-mail updates in Pivot is also covered. The workshops are co-sponsored by Office for the Vice President for Research (OVPR). Tailored presentations are also available by request for departments, colleges or schools, or other interested groups.
Search tools
Pivot (formerly Community of Science) Grant opportunities in many disciplines. Includes federal, non-federal, and international agencies.
SPIN contains over 40,000 funding opportunities from 10,000 federal, public, non-profit and private funders. Please note that to access SPIN off-campus, you will need to set up an account.
Foundation Directory Online (FDO) Profiles and recently awarded grants from over 80,000 foundations.
Local resources
Internal U of M funding sources: A list of campus resources maintained by OVPR
Departmental or college grants coordinators: A downloadable list of grants coordinators maintained by OVPR
The Strategic Partnerships and Research Collaborative (SPARC): Supported by OVPR and GPSAlliance, SPARC engages researchers and practitioners across disciplines in the US and globally to establish new large-scale programs that catalyze collaboration, innovate for new discoveries, and deliver practical new solutions that address these critical challenges.
Proposal development
Proposal development at the U of M
For advice on grant writing, consider consulting this page from Purdue OWL, the Art of Grantsmanship, Writing a Successful Grant Proposal from the MN Council on Foundations, the Proposal Writing Short Course online from the Foundation Center, or Developing Competitive Proposals from the Grant Resource Center.
Open Grants, from the Moore Foundation, includes grant proposals made openly available by researchers. This resources includes proposals for foundation and society funders, as well as federal funders in the United States and internationally.
Additional funding resources
- Web of Science To see a list of funders of previously awarded grants for specific topic, do a subject search for articles on that topic and then analyze the results, ranking by funding agency.
- Grants.gov Background on all Federal grants. Also check specific agencies' Web sites for the most current information and more detail.
Sources for international activities
- Funding for international activities: graduate students Useful resources, maintained by the U of M GPS Alliance
- Funding opportunities for global health research NIH maintains this list which has an emphasis on health-related topics
- European Union An example of a regional organization. Also consider government and other agencies in individual countries