Internal Funding Opportunities
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At VCU, research begins with boldness, creativity and ambition that is transforming innovation and improving the human condition. And, we are succeeding, changing who is shaping and creating knowledge and ensuring that research serves our collective good by aligning our collective strengths toward with a focus on the four initiatives outlined under the VCU Strategic Research Priorities Plan (SRPP).
Information about funding opportunities and their application instructions from VCU’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation can be found here. These opportunities are also detailed below. Please direct any questions to ovprifunds@vcu.edu.
The VCU Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fund (AHSS) supports, facilitates and enhances the creation, production and dissemination of arts, humanities and social sciences research and creative activity at any stage of development, including initial or mid-stage project development, presentation or performance, final publication, or preliminary results for which external grant applications could be based. To find out more information, please review the VCU AHSS Request for Application (RFA).
The VCU Momentum Fund promotes impactful interdisciplinary research by providing multi-principal investigator research teams with support to prepare and submit competitive, external, multicomponent large-scale proposals. Examples include, but are not limited to, large funding opportunities from federal agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health P- or U-series mechanisms, National Science Foundation Gen4 Engineering Research Centers, NSF Science and Technology Centers, Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Centers) or foundations (e.g. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and MacArthur Foundation), or industry partners. To find out more information, please review the VCU Momentum Request for Application (RFA).
The goal of the VCU Quest Fund is to afford all faculty an internal funding opportunity to support new, emerging, or continuing research. Research proposals that advance any discipline and area of research focus are appropriate for consideration. Requests for grant support may be based on a broad array of needs, from restarting an inactive research program to pilot studies that would produce preliminary results on which external grant applications could be based. Proposed work that helps advance transdisciplinary research, multidisciplinary research, and cross-campus collaboration, as well as research that has the potential for translation to practice or market, is especially encouraged. To find out more information, please review the VCU Quest Request for Application (RFA).
The VCU Breakthroughs Fund (Breakthroughs) supports transdisciplinary teams to design unique, creative, and innovative large-scale approaches to confront humanity’s grand challenges as identified in the VCU Strategic Research Priorities Plan. Successful projects are designed to reach specific outcomes or establish the capability to compete for external funding upon award completion. To find out more information, please review the VCU Breakthroughs Request for Application (RFA).
The VCU Commercialization Fund is dedicated to the advancement of VCU inventions with a goal of bringing projects to a more mature stage of development and improving their chances of being licensed and brought to market.
VCU External Funding Opportunities Support
Grants are a way the government and other organizations fund ideas and projects to provide public services and stimulate the economy. Grants support critical recovery initiatives, innovative research, and many other programs listed in the Annual Publication of Assistance Listings (APAL).
A grant is one of many different forms of federal financial assistance. Federal financial assistance is a broad term to refer to the various ways the U.S. government redistributes resources to eligible recipients.
There is also a wide variety of Industry sponsors that provide support and funding opportunities. A comprehensive list of external funding opportunities can be found here
The Pivot database includes federal, foundation, private, and internal funding opportunities across all disciplines at VCU. Search for potential collaborators and set up search alerts to track funding opportunities here. Pivot-RP users must create an account using the “Login From My Institution” menu to set up an account with your VCU.EDU email. Please direct technical questions about the database to your assigned library staff, found here.
The Grants.gov program management office was established, in 2002, as a part of the President's Management Agenda. Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, Grants.gov is an E-Government initiative operating under the governance of the Office of Management and Budget.
Under the President's Management Agenda, the office was chartered to deliver a system that provides a centralized location for grant seekers to find and apply for federal funding opportunities. Today, the Grants.gov system houses information on over 1,000 grant programs and vets grant applications for federal grant-making agencies.
The Search Grants feature within Grants.gov allows you to search, filter, and apply for specific funding opportunities. Federal funding opportunities are usually published on a federal agencies' own website.
- Grants.gov: Free searchable database and email notification service for all federal funding opportunities.
- Department of Education Grants Forecast: Forecast of funding opportunities under the discretionary grant programs for upcoming fiscal years.
Foundation grant databases:
- The Grantsmanship Center: Search for private foundations by state. Provides general funding information, contact information, and links to organization websites.
- Philanthropy News Digest (PND): A free service of the Foundation Center, PND publishes a weekly roundup of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from private grantmaking organizations. You can also search for RFPs by subject or keyword.
NIH Grants
As the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, NIH supports a variety of programs from grants and contracts to loan repayment. Learn about assistance programs, how to identify a potential funding organization, and past NIH funding here (embed Explore NIH Grant Opportunities | Grants & Funding )
Researchers can use the NIH-specific filters in the search tool to quickly identify potential funding opportunities of interest at Grants.gov. Starting in October 2025, Grants.gov is the single official source for NIH grant opportunities. Use Grants.gov Subscriptions for notifications of new opportunities. Find NIH Parent Announcements and check Search Tips for NIH Opportunities.
CDMRP Grants
The CDMRP originated in 1992 via a Congressional appropriation to foster novel approaches to biomedical research in response to the expressed needs of its stakeholders-the American public, the military, and Congress. Researchers can find the current CDMRP funding opportunities here.
The CDMRP application submission process requires Principal Investigators and Business Officials to conduct preliminary registration steps in the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal, Grants.gov and the System for Award Management prior to executing three steps for successful application submission. Please direct technical questions about the application process to the eBRAP Help Desk.