Small Project Grants up to $5,000
Proposals for Small Project Grants are accepted throughout the year – rolling deadline
Successful grant proposals will demonstrate:
- A clear focus on an issue or question of teaching or learning within higher education
- Readiness to learn on the part of the project director
- A set of activities that will explore the central question or issue
- Alignment in its focus, goals, activities, and assessment
- An institutional readiness to listen and respond to what is discovered during the grant project
- A process to gain feedback during the course of the project with built-in time to reflect on what is being learned and what needs to be changed
- An allocation of grant monies for work the institution could not ordinarily do
Select: Grant
Type: Small Grant
You will be prompted to attach the required documents (pdf format) to the online application, including a signed copy of the Grant Information Form, the Proposal Narrative & Budget, and an Institutional Letter of Support.
A Wabash Center Small Project grant proposal consists of 3 parts:
1. Grant Information Form
The Grant Information Form requests information necessary for the consideration of your proposal (including contact information, grant project dates, amount of the grant, and 150 word proposal abstract).
The Grant Type to select is “Small Project”
This form requires contact information and signature for:
- The Project Director(s) (the person(s) responsible for providing narrative report on grants, typically the person(s) overseeing the administration of the grant and writing the project proposal to apply for the grant).
- The Financial Contact (the person responsible for receiving the check and providing financial reports of expenditures for the institution). This should be a different person than the project director.
- The Authorization Contact (the person authorized to sign grant requests for the institution).
In 1000 words or less, please address:
- The pedagogical question or problem that the small grant project will specifically address
- A set of goals for the project
- A description of the challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning that this grant would address
- A description and timeline of the proposed activities during the grant period
- A statement about how teaching and student learning will be impacted by the work of this grant project
- A plan for evaluation of the project both during and at the conclusion of the grant period
- A list of everyone directly involved with the project
- A plan for dissemination of what you discover through the grant project
- On final page: Provide a line item and narrative budget that indicates the main expense categories for the project and how the costs for each item were determined. Institutional indirect costs are not permitted for small grant project grants.
- Click HERE for more detailed information and instruction.
3. Institutional Letter of Support
A letter of support from the applicant’s dean or department chair indicating their support of the project and what they hope will happen at the school or within the department as a consequence of the grant. The letter should be signed on the institution’s letterhead. It can be scanned and attached to the online application.
The Wabash Center understands our grants program as a part of our overall teaching and learning mission. We are interested in not only awarding grants to excellent proposals, but also in enabling faculty members to develop and hone their skills as grant writers. Therefore we offer grant coaching for all faculty interested in submitting a Wabash Center Project Grant proposal.
Sarah Farmer, Ph.D
Associate Director, Wabash Center
farmers@wabash.edu
(800) 655-7117
Grant funds can be spent on items and activities such as:
- Childcare, elder care, house sitting to support attendance to group gatherings
- Meals or groceries for gatherings
- Travel, meals, lodging (retreat center, hotel, conference center, rented house)
- Stipends (meager) for participation in the group
- Equipment, supplies, materials to support group meeting and discussions
- Honorariums for guest resource persons with group
- Entrance fees or tickets for cultural events, museums, concerts, etc.
- Germane services (e.g., coaching, gym memberships, spa, spiritual direction, workshop registrations, etc.)
Activities and items NOT Funded:
The Wabash Center generally does not fund:
- Research
- International travel
- Travel for attendance to disciplinary conferences
- The preparation of textbooks
- Research focused primarily on field content and only secondarily on teaching
- Publication of conference papers or books, or production costs of other media
- Stipends for writing the grant proposal or making application for the grant
- Home utilities should group convene online
- Items designated as gifts, presents, offerings or donations
- Travel, meals, lodging expenses should family or friends accompany participant on an extended conversation
Please note that the grants of the Wabash Center are not intended for the use of underwriting the ordinary, ongoing work of the professorate, much of which is already supported by the home institution or department. The grants funds are meant to be used to support and strengthen teaching and the teaching life. The above lists are not exhaustive. All projects and budget expenditures must be in alignment with the Wabash Center mission.