2026 Dr. Scholl Foundation Grant

Overview:

The Dr. Scholl 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.

Applications for grants are considered in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Healthcare
• 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.

Solicitation limitations:

Only one application will be accepted from an institution per grant year.

Other information:

The Foundation only accepts requests for one year of funding.
If selected by ASU to advance, see Sponsor’s website for details on the two-step application process which begins with an LOI.

Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12)

Overview:

Situated at the intersection of fundamental and applied research and development, the DRK-12 program supports research projects that seek to transform and strengthen formal preK-12 STEM education through innovative approaches, tools, and practices. Studies at the intersection of fundamental and applied research will address both generalizable scientific knowledge and applied classroom strategies (Stokes, 1997). As a research program, DRK-12 aims to support continuous accumulation of knowledge about STEM teaching and learning, in particular knowledge that is relevant to, or is instrumental for, practical innovations. 

Innovations can include but are not limited to teacher preparation and professional development programs, potentially transformative teaching practices, curriculum development, development and testing of formative or summative assessment systems, instructional technologies, models of collaborative partnerships between teachers and researchers, and combinations of approaches that improve STEM learning and learning environments for students and their teachers, and provide the foundation to generalize to other contexts. Proposals are encouraged to adapt ideas, concepts, theories, practices and test them across contexts and populations. Proposals can address any STEM subject matter; interdisciplinary proposals that focus on two or more STEM domains are welcomed. The DRK-12 program invests in projects with potential to immediately address longstanding challenges, inequities, and opportunities in formal education. It also invests in proposals that anticipate and provide the foundation for preK-12 STEM education as it could be in future decades. 

Given the importance of early learning in students' STEM trajectories, the program is particularly interested in supporting research and innovations that promote high-quality and innovative STEM education in the preschool years and early elementary grades. Proposals that focus on this developmental span are encouraged to draw from knowledge and practice of teaching and learning in out-of-school and informal settings, such as families and community organizations, to enhance preK-12 formal education. DRK-12 proposals must have clear implications for and ties to learning in formal K-12 settings. Proposals situated solely in informal contexts will be returned without review. Proposals situated in informal contexts should be submitted to the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. 

Finally, the program welcomes proposals that connect prekindergarten (PreK) through grade 12 formal education to STEM workforce development. Proposers choosing to focus on workforce development should note the following differences between the Teaching and Learning strands. Proposals submitted to the Teaching Strand that choose to focus on workforce development aspects such as teacher preparation, learning, and continuing education should align their aims and content to professional teaching and curricular standards. Proposals submitted to the Learning Strand that focus on workforce development should demonstrate

DRK-12 Program Strands 

DRK-12 proposals must be submitted to one of the program's two strands: Learning or Teaching. The program recognizes that there is overlap and interdependence among the two strands; however, each proposal should have a clear, foregrounded focus on only one strand. 

1. Teaching Strand
   Effective STEM learning requires a well-prepared, skilled, and knowledgeable STEM teacher workforce. As advances in STEM continue to unfold, teachers need support to learn about new discoveries in the STEM disciplines and how to integrate contemporary and dynamic content from STEM fields into their classroom practice. The DRK-12 program invites proposals that advance current understanding of pre- and in-service teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to STEM content and that demonstrably enhance teaching practice. The overarching goal of the Teaching Strand is to contribute to the development of a science of teaching that addresses the complexity of how people facilitate other people's STEM learning. Submissions to the Teaching Strand should describe how the proposed innovation or approach aligns with current STEM education frameworks (e.g., curriculum, pedagogies, standards). In doing so, proposals should also provide a compelling argument for how the innovation or approach would be an improvement relative to current practice, and why and how it would lead to improved teacher practices and related outcomes for teachers and students. Teaching Strand proposals should focus primarily on teacher knowledge, beliefs, and practices as the unit of analysis. Student learning outcomes can be assessed and framed as evidence of the effectiveness of innovative approaches to supporting teacher practice.
    
2. Learning Strand
   Like their teachers, students need support to learn about new discoveries in the STEM disciplines and how to integrate contemporary and dynamic STEM content into their developing understandings of the world and their place in it. The program invites proposals that seek to understand how and why novel and potentially transformative STEM education innovations or approaches may improve student learning and interest in STEM. Further, the program invites proposals that aim to provide all students with STEM learning experiences that prepare them to understand and use scientific information, to serve their communities, and prepare students for potential post-secondary education opportunities and workforce participation. Proposals submitted to the Learning Strand should describe how the proposed STEM education innovation or approach aligns with current curricular frameworks, understandings of child and youth development, and evidence of how students engage with and learn STEM content. Moreover, proposals should demonstrate how a proposed innovation would be an improvement relative to students' current opportunities to learn. Learning Strand proposals should focus primarily on student learning and other characteristics as the unit of analysis. Teacher professional development and related outcomes can also be assessed and framed as part of the innovation's efforts to support student outcomes.

DRK-12 Research Project Types (See full funding announcement for details.)

1. Exploratory
2. Design and Development
3. Impact Studies
4. Implementation and Improvement Studies
5. Measurement and Assessment
6. Syntheses

Other DRK-12 Project Types (See full funding announcement for details.)

1. NEW: Partnership Development
2. Workshops & Conferences

Other information:

Funding level ranges for research projects are as follows:
Level I = requests up to $450,000 with a duration of up to three years; 
Level II = up to $3,000,000 with a duration of up to four years; 
Level III = up to $5,000,000 with a duration of up to five years. 

Funding levels for other project types are as follows: 
Partnership Development proposals are up to $100,000 for one year; 
Synthesis proposals are up to $600,000 and three-years duration;
Workshop /Conference proposals are up to $200,000 and one-year duration.

NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders 

Community Impact Grants

Overview:

The APS Foundation supports programs that enhance academic achievement in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Since 1981, the Foundation has invested more than $44 million in projects throughout Arizona that help prepare students to compete in a 21st century economy.

A workforce proficient in STEM skills is critical to attracting and retaining high-quality businesses and industries to the state. The APS Foundation targets projects that help educators increase content knowledge in STEM subjects as well as the ability to transfer this knowledge effectively to students.

Organizations must be registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity in good financial and public standing. Programs should demonstrate their ability to improve educational outcomes, increase access and/or offer an innovative approach to learning.

Solicitation limitations:

ASU may submit only one (1) application to the sponsoring organization. After the posted internal deadline, this opportunity will be first come, first served. If you would like to apply, please submit an application in InfoReady as soon as possible—and alert Ashley O’Brion (ASUF) of your intent.

Other information:

All grantees will have specific reporting requirements and must submit a final evaluation before they can be considered for additional funding. The APS Foundation accepts grant requests during two cycles each year.

All applications are required to be a onetime all-inclusive annual request for an organization and we respectfully ask that requests seeking event sponsorship be submitted at least 90 days prior to the event date. We are committed to reviewing all grant requests within 60 days of submission. Please note all notifications about your grant will come from [email protected]. Please add this email address to your safe sender list to receive communications.

AWS Education Equity Initiave

Overview:

Since launching in 2006, Amazon Web Services has been providing world-leading cloud technologies that help any organization and any individual build solutions to transform industries, communities, and lives for the better.
As part of Amazon, we strive to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. We work backwards from our customers’ problems to provide them with cloud infrastructure that meets their needs, so they can reinvent continuously and push through barriers of what people thought was possible.
The AWS Education Equity Initiative expands access to future skills education for underserved learners globally. Amazon is committing up to $100 million in AWS credits and technical expertise to support socially-minded organizations develop innovative digital learning solutions that utilize cloud and AI technologies.
By future skills education, we refer to skills, knowledge and behaviors that help learners gain access to, and maintain jobs in today's increasingly tech-driven world. We welcome organizations' definitions of future skills education and you are able to share this as part of the application.
AWS will evaluate applications based on:
•    Succinct articulation of challenge(s) being faced by underrepresented and underserved learners in accessing future skills learning opportunities
•    Comprehensiveness of how proposed learning solution addresses challenge(s) outlined
•    Focus of learning solution on underserved and underrepresented communities and learners
•    Focus on skills, knowledge, and behaviors helping learners access and maintain jobs in an increasingly technology-driven world
•    Succinctly defined milestones along with timeline
•    Clearly defined impact metrics
•    Detailing and applicability of AWS services within the project scope
•    Viability of proposed sustainability plan
•    Cloud building capacity
 

Other information:

Award Information: Selected organizations will receive AWS credits to build and scale learning solutions and targeted technical advising from AWS Solutions Architects. 

Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL)

Overview:

The purpose of the Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL) program is to support early-stage research in emerging technologies for teaching and learning that respond to pressing needs in authentic (real-world) educational environments. RITEL supports future-oriented exploratory and synergistic research in emerging technologies (including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and immersive or augmenting technologies) for teaching and learning. The program accepts proposals that focus on learning, teaching, or a combination of both. The scope of the program is broad and includes teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and in foundational areas that enable STEM (e.g., self-regulation, literacy, communication, collaboration, creativity, and socio-emotional skills). RITEL supports research in all learning contexts (e.g., formal, informal, workplace) and for all learner populations. RITEL has a special interest in diverse learner/educator populations and in developing new educational technologies that are cost-effective for budget-limited school districts, colleges and universities. 

Research in this program should be informed by the convergence (synthesis) of multiple disciplines: e.g., learning sciences; discipline-based education research; computer and information science and engineering; design; and cognitive, behavioral, and social sciences. RITEL is unique in its requirement that projects must advance research in both learning (and/or teaching) and technology.

RITEL is an exploratory research program that serves as an incubator to support cutting-edge research in advanced learning and teaching 4 technologies. Research should be theory-driven and apply human-centered design methods to explore proof-of-concept or feasibility of innovative learning technologies in support of new learning and/or teaching experiences. Emerging and innovative technologies have the potential to reshape teaching and learning processes, which in turn can influence new technology designs. RITEL encourages projects that explore new ideas and involve risk.

RITEL is unique in its requirement that projects must advance fundamental research in both learning (and/or teaching) and technology.

Projects that broaden participation, expand STEM pathways, ensure educational equity, or otherwise promote diversity, inclusion, and access in STEM education and careers are strongly encouraged. RITEL encourages proposals from Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).

All projects must be framed in terms of a pressing need in an authentic educational environment. The research should address a meaningful and practical teaching and/or learning problem identified by educators and/or other stakeholders who have expertise in the specific context.

This program supports a broad range of projects across: 
-Content areas: STEM and other foundational areas supported by NSF that enable STEM learning and teaching (e.g., self-regulation, literacy, communication, collaboration, creativity, curiosity, and social skills). 
-Populations and contexts: learners, teachers, mentors, educators, and other workers in formal (e.g., K12, higher education) or informal settings; and individual, collective, and collaborative learning and teaching across the lifespan.

The primary goal should be investigating a new technology in the context of advancing teaching and/or learning. RITEL will not fund projects that are primarily about development of a technology.

All projects must have clear research objectives that integrate teaching and/or learning and technology research to advance the respective fields (e.g., learning sciences, discipline-based education research, computer and information sciences, engineering, and/or social, cognitive, and behavioral sciences) as described below:

Teaching and/or learning research 
-For teaching, this includes researching new teaching processes and approaches (e.g., andragogy and pedagogy). 
-For learning, this includes researching new learning processes, principles, and theories (e.g., cognitive, behavioral, affective, socio-cultural, social, epistemological, problem-based, project-based, developmental, and other perspectives).

Technology research 
-Examples of emerging technology research include (but are not limited to): AI-driven technologies; virtual, immersive, embodied, interactive, or augmented environments; multimodal modeling/sensing of cognitive or affective states; language and speech processing; learning analytics and dashboards; and robotics. 
-The technology research must advance fields involving computer science, information science, and/or engineering. 
-It is insufficient to simply implement or test an existing technology, even if innovative. Incremental advances in existing technologies or deployment/implementation of existing technologies in novel learning contexts will not be funded through this program.

Solicitation limitations:

 An individual may participate as PI, co-PI, or other Senior Personnel in no more than one (1) proposal in response to this solicitation for each submission date. In the event that an individual exceeds the limit, the first proposal received (based on the date and time stamp of proposal submission) will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made.

Other information:

Each project will be funded for a duration of 3 years and up to $900,000.

NDEP STEM Open NFO

Overview:

The Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) seeks innovative applications on mechanisms to implement and research the effectiveness of STEM education, outreach, and/or workforce initiative programs, here onto referred as STEM activities. 
In response to this NFO, the Department intends to release amendments and solicitations, such as Industry Days, Opportunity Days, etc., detailing funding opportunities through award(s) in STEM activities. 

These activities include, but are not limited to: 
(1) STEM Education and Outreach 
(2) Support for STEM Education at Two-Year Institutions/Community Colleges (2YI/CCs)
(3) Manufacturing Engineering Education Program 
(4) Education and Workforce Development aligned to the DoD Critical Technology Areas 
(5) Enhanced Civics Education 
(6) STEM Scholarship Programs 
(7) Strategic Partnerships 
(8) Program Evaluations and Assessments 
(9) Data Analytics and Visualizations 
(10) Activities aligned to the DoD STEM Strategic Plan
(11) Other NDEP Congressional Initiatives and Programs

This NFO competition is implemented in two stages: 
(1) Applicants must submit a white paper by the designated deadline specified in the NFO amendment or Industry Day/Opportunity Day announcement. 
(2) Based on assessment of the white paper, selected applicants will be invited to submit an application by the designated deadline.
White papers that fail to address the areas listed in the Program Description of the NFO amendment or Industry Day/Opportunity Day announcement will not be evaluated and will not receive an invitation to submit a full technical application.

Solicitation limitations:

Per 2 CFR § 200.216, funds may not be used to procure telecommunications equipment or video surveillance services or equipment produced by 

• Huawei Technologies Company 
• ZTE Corporation Hytera Communications Corporation
• Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company
• Dahua Technology Company
• Any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities 

Resultant grants will not allow reimbursement of pre-Federal award costs. The DoD will only fund salary, fringe benefits and indirect costs on awards under the announcement. Funds from an award may not be used to attain fee or profit.  

Other information:

Mandatory White Paper Due: March 5, 2025  

In response to this NFO, applicants may be asked for a mandatory white paper submission, emailed to [email protected]. Use of the white paper is intended to determine which efforts are of merit preparatory to submission of a full application as described in Section IV. Applicants will be selected from the white paper submissions to be invited by the Government via email to submit a full application on Grants.gov for evaluation and possible award consideration. White papers that fail to address the areas listed in the Program Description of the NFO amendment or Industry Day/Opportunity Day announcement will not be evaluated and will not receive an invitation to submit a full technical application.

The submission of a white paper is dependent on the NFO amendment or Industry Day/Opportunity Day announcement. In addition to the submission requirements outlined in Section IV, all responses should address items in the specific NFO amendment or Industry Day/Opportunity Day announcement.

The white paper should be emailed to [email protected] with the subject line, “NFO White Paper Submission.”

For all personnel proposed as key personnel applicants must submit an SF424 Research and Related (R&R) 4040-001 Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) form.

All awards are expected to be in place by 8 February 2028.

The Comerica Charitable Foundation Grants

Overview:

The Comerica Charitable Foundation funds programs and/or projects by partnering with community organizations through event sponsorships. This allows us to demonstrate our support of these important community organizations.

Comerica's Giving Focus
All funding requests must be in alignment with one, or more of our giving priorities, which include:

1. Education for low-and moderate-income (LMI) individuals and families, including programs that support:

a. Financial education (Pre-K through 12th grade and adult);
b. Business-focused and STEM-related education; and
c. College scholarships for business, finance and STEM-related fields.

2. Economic/community development support for programs that promote and enhance opportunities for LMI families and communities through:

a. Economic self-sufficiency;
b. Job creation, training, readiness and retention;
c. Neighborhood/community revitalization and business development;
d. Small business training and development; and
e. Affordable housing advocacy and development.

3. Human services programs that enhance and protect the health and well-being of LMI individuals and families, including:

a. Transitional and supportive services and housing; and
b. Feeding the hungry/food access.

4. Equity programs that identify, invest and partner with the community to serve and promote scalable and sustainable strategies addressing systemic racism, social injustice, and the improvement of societal well-being:

a. Education & Opportunity

* Closing the Digital Divide – Advancing representation in the technology industry
* Support of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) & Hispanic Supporting Institutions (HSIs)
* PreK-12 education

b. Economic Empowerment

* Fair Chance Hiring
* Supplier Diversity
* Workforce Development

c. Social Justice

* Workforce Advocacy

Solicitation limitations:

The Comerica Charitable Foundation ONLY accepts grant proposals online by invitation and has four grant seasons during which charitable organizations may request support.

Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant

Overview:

The Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant supports an innovative project that represents a change in research direction for an early stage investigator (ESI) and for which no preliminary data exist. Applications submitted to this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) must not include preliminary data. Applications must include a separate attachment describing the change in research direction.

The proposed project must be related to the programmatic interests of one or more of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) based on their scientific missions.

This notice of funding opportunity does not accept applications proposing clinical trials.

Other information:

Recurring deadlines as follows:
January 26, 2024; May 29, 2024; September 26, 2024; January 28, 2025; May 28, 2025; September 26, 2025; January 27, 2026; May 27, 2026; September 28, 2026.

For this funding opportunity, applications including preliminary data will be considered noncompliant with the NOFO instructions and will be withdrawn. Preliminary data are defined as data not yet published. Existence of preliminary data is an indication that the proposed project has advanced beyond the scope defined by this program and makes the application unsuitable for this funding opportunity.