Funding Opportunities for Faculty & Staff

Funding for Collective Impact, Focused on Community Priorities Community-engaged Grants logo

The Edward Ginsberg Center offers funding opportunities for community-engaged teaching and research. In partnership with multiple units on campus, we offer a collaborative funding model, encouraging -- and practicing -- collective action to increase our impact in service to the public good. Our funding priorities encourage grantees to adopt an "outside-in" approach to community engagement, which is driven by community-identified priorities that are matched to campus partners and resources. This model is aligned with research that shows that establishing equitable partnership practices leads to greater partner satisfaction and positive community outcomes (Levkoe & Kepkiewicz, 2020; Wegemer et al, 2020; Holland et al, 2003).

Ginsberg Center Small Grants

Ginsberg Center Community Driven Engagement Grants (up to $2000, Mini grants up to $500)

This grant offers faculty up to $2000 for eligible expenses that advance community partner priorities and strengthen university-community partnerships in community-engaged research, teaching, programs, projects, and initiatives at U-M. We seek to fund projects that align with Ginsberg Center’s definition of community-engagement, strengthen relationships with community partners in Washtenaw County, Detroit, and/or Southeast Michigan; specifically allocate funds for the community partner in the project budget; respond directly to community partner priorities and requests; and/or are matched through Ginsberg Center’s community partner matchmaking process. 

Mini grants of up to $500 are also available with a shorter application process and expedited review. In addition to the funding priorities listed above, applicants can also request a mini grant for one-time funding gaps and emerging needs in community-engaged research, teaching, programs, or projects. Proposed expenses in this category should be those that are difficult to fund from other sources, will strengthen U-M relationships with local community partners, and provide a direct benefit to community partners. In most cases, proposals should originate from a request that a community partner has made of their U-M partner(s).

Who can apply?

  • Open to faculty (tenured and tenure-track, research, lecturers, and clinical faculty), postdoctoral fellows, program staff.  If proposing a collaborative project with multiple U-M applicants, the primary applicant must be in this eligibility group.
  • Campuses: Ann Arbor 
  • Priority Consideration for Ginsberg Academic Partners: Yes 

Allowable expenses include:

  • honorariums for community partners serving as guest speakers and advisory board members
  • compensation for community partners serving as co-educators, co-researchers, and for other contributions 
  • project-related travel for community partners
  • materials and resources that enhance or support the partnership
  • research support for community partners, including technology, software, or data access
  • addressing a specific request expressed by your community partner, in line with U-M spending policies
  • paying a student to complete a specific project or task requested by the community partner
  • transporting a group of students to work on a project requested by a community partner
     

Application Information

 

Click here to learn more about our Past Award Recipients.

For students interested in funding opportunities, please visit our student funding page.

LSA Community Engaged (CE) Course Development Grants, funded by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and administered by the Ginsberg Center, offer up to $1500 to support LSA instructors in developing new and ongoing community-engaged courses. Mini grants offer up to $500 dollars in funding, with a shorter application and expedited review.

Who can apply?

  • Open to LSA tenured and tenure-track faculty; clinical instructional faculty, post-docs, and lecturers (all ranks) who teach on Ann Arbor campus and have continuing appointments and/or course development responsibilities in LSA 

Application Information

Additional Opportunities

The Ginsberg Center does not manage vehicles for instructors teaching community-engaged courses or programs or provide funding specifically for transporting students to off-site engagements. Transportation of students may be an allowable expense for our LSA CE Course Development grants and Ginsberg Community Driven Engagement Grants if the proposed project otherwise meets grant criteria (ex: students are addressing a community request). 

Ginsberg Center welcomes requests from faculty, staff, schools and units to co-sponsor events and initiatives that advance our our mission.  To be eligible, your event/initiative must achieve at least one of the following mission-aligned goals: 

  • Builds student capacity for learning and leading through meaningful civic and community engagement experiences that are grounded in social justice education and leadership development. 
  • Supports community-driven opportunities for engagement and/or learning about a community priority or issue.
  • Builds the capacity of communities through partnerships with the University that meet community-defined priorities and improve community quality of life.
  • Increases the institutional capacity of the University of Michigan for student civic learning by connecting socially-just civic and community engagement experiences to coursework, research and programs.

Review our co-sponsorship process and submit an application

These are opportunities for additional support and outside funding, unaffiliated with Ginsberg:

FAQs

Priority Consideration
Priority applicants to our grants have established and maintained a connection with Ginsberg Center as a part of their community-engaged practice at U-M. This can include but is not limited to connecting with community partners through Ginsberg Center’s matchmaking process, participating in our cohort programs, utilizing our teaching or research consultation services, serving on our advisory boards, or utilizing our student-facing curriculum to prepare students for community engagement. Priority consideration will also be given to proposals submitted by an applicant who has not received Ginsberg funds during the previous academic year.

Pre-Application Consultation
Some grants require a pre-application consultation with our Academic Partnership staff to confirm eligibility and ensure alignment with our grant priorities and to provide insights to the applicant on writing the application, timing of application, feasibility of request, funds available, etc. Pre-application consultations are typically 30 minutes. Request a grant consultation.

Re-Applying for Funding
Due to funding limitations, Ginsberg Center grants are not intended to be sustaining or repeating sources of funding for CE courses and projects at U-M. Applicants must seek additional sources of funding to sustain their projects over time. If you have applied in previous years, you may apply again, but we strongly encourage you to plan ahead in the event that our funding is exhausted or unavailable.

Grant Agreement & Benefits
Ginsberg Center provides grantees with funding, as well as access to ongoing consultation on project design, partnership development, project scoping, assessment of impact, and the production and dissemination of academic and public products. All Ginsberg Center grantees commit to our Grant Agreement as a condition of award acceptance. This includes agreeing to submit a final grant report and/or post award questionnaire and acknowledgement that your community partner(s) must confirm support of your project before funds are disbursed. 
 

Community Partner Confirmation of Support
Some grants require that your community partner(s) affirm their support of the project and use of funds outlined in your proposal. Your community partners can affirm their support during the grant application process or during a contingent period after an award notification. Review the Instructions for submitting Community Partner Confirmation of Support.
 

How to Prepare Your Application
All grant proposals are submitted via Google Forms. We’ve eliminated many of our document uploads and now require applicants to answer questions within the form. Before sitting down to apply, we suggest you gather information in advance and prepare some of your responses. View a list of short answer application questions and required documents for each grant type.

Questions about faculty and staff funding?  Want to learn more?