WTGF: Major Grants and Officers’ Research Grants

Sponsor: The William T. Grant Foundation (WTGF)

Since its inception in 1936, the William T. Grant Foundation has had a remarkable constancy of purpose: to further the understanding of human behavior through research. The Foundation’s mission focuses on supporting research to improve the settings of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. We invest primarily in high quality empirical studies. Our current interests focus on studies that strengthen our understanding of youth’s settings, including how those settings work; how they affect youth development; how they can be improved; and how research is used to improve the policies and practices that affect youth’s settings.

All of the criteria below are applicable to all grants. It is likely that the criteria will be weighed and rated differently by individual reviewers, but the Foundation’s review process will incorporate diverse views.

Research area is consistent with Foundation’s Current Research Interests. See our website for more detailed discussion of our interests.

Project addresses questions or issues that are important to policy and/or practice. Questions or issues have compelling relevance for policies and/or practices affecting the settings of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States or a vulnerable subpopulation of those youth (e.g., young people who are adjudicated or aging out of foster care).

Project complements and extends prior and concurrent efforts. Proposal reflects a mastery of related theory and empirical findings. Project builds upon this other work and contributes to theory as well as policy and/or practice.

Project reflects high standards of evidence and rigorous methods, commensurate with the proposal’s goals:

-Study’s design, methods, and analysis plan fit the questions under study.

-Sample is appropriate in size and composition to address the study’s questions.

-Assessment, observation, and/or measurement reflect methodological rigor.

-Analysis plan for quantitative and/or qualitative data reflects sufficient sophistication for addressing the study’s questions. Plan reflects a clear understanding of the strengths and limits of various analytic techniques.

-Where relevant, there is attention to generalizability of findings and to statistical power to detect meaningful effects.

-Project demonstrates adequate consideration of the gender, ethnic, and cultural appropriateness of concepts, methods, and measures.

-Project is feasible.

Amount: Investigator-initiated Major Grants are typically between $200,000 and $500,000 and cover two to three years of support. Projects involving secondary data analysis are at the lower end of the budget range whereas projects involving new data collection and sample recruitment can be at the higher end. Officers’ Research Grants range between $2,000 and $25,000.

Deadline: In 2007, we will review investigator-initiated proposals only at our March and October Board Meetings. At our June Meeting we will review applications for our Request for Proposals (RFP) for Distinguished Fellows and Intervention Research to Improve Youth-Serving Organizations. Information and deadlines for these RFPs are available on our website.

For further information, please visit: http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/info-url_nocat3042/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_id=76054&attrib_id=4393