The Office of Foundation Relations has identified private foundation funding opportunities of interest to the Hopkins community. While this list is not intended to be exhaustive, it provides a range of opportunities across academic disciplines.
We encourage faculty and researchers to contact us at [email protected] if interested in applying for any of the opportunities listed below. We would be happy to learn about your work and discuss potential strategies for securing foundation support. We can provide background on individual foundations, guidance on developing competitive proposals and endorsement letters, and serve as a liaison to program officers.
Please note, some foundations require that any approach for funding be made through our office and some limit the number of proposals received from Johns Hopkins University in a given grant cycle. In some cases, Johns Hopkins has maintained long-standing institutional relationships with key funders. To help identify those foundations that merit a more strategic approach, our office maintains a list of centrally managed foundations. We strongly encourage contacting our team before communicating with or submitting a proposal/letter of inquiry to those selected foundations.
| wdt_ID | Submission Deadline | Opportunity | Sponsor | Maximum Award Amount | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | |||||
| 167 | Rolling | Pioneering Ideas Grants | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | $315,031 | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneering Ideas Grants seeks proposals that are primed to impact health equity moving forward. The foundation is interested in ideas that address any of their four areas of focus: Future of Evidence; Future of Social Interaction; Future of Food; Future of Work. They may also support research outside of these areas, as long it offers a unique approach to advancing health equity and contributes to the foundation's Culture of Health. While there is not an explicit range for budget requests, the average grant during the 2019 cycle was for $315,031. |
| 184 | Varies | Benchmarking LLM Agents on Consequential Real-World Tasks | Open Philanthropy | $3,000,000 | In order to help build scientific understanding of the near-term impacts of large language models (LLM) like GTP-4, Open Philanthropy is looking to fund benchmarks that measure how close LLM agents can get to performing consequential real-world tasks. Specifically, when they will be able to replace or outperform humans in professions which account for a large share of the labor market, cause large scale economic or physical destruction, or hugely accelerate the pace of technological R&D. Grants are expected range from $300,000 to 3 million over 6 months to 2 years. |
| 196 | None | Causal Research on Community Safety and the Criminal Justice System | Arnold Ventures | $500,000 | Arnold Ventures' Criminal Justice Initiative seeks research that will build credible evidence on policies, practices, and interventions that can improve crime and justice system outcomes and grow the number of policies and practices shown to produce improvements in community safety and to make the justice system fairer and more effective. There is no deadline for submitting a letter of interest; applicants may submit a letter of interest at any time via email to [email protected]. While there is no budget ceiling, there is a median budget of $500,000. |
| 197 | Rolling | Medical Educational Grants | Bayer Corporation | Variable | Bayer Corporation is taking grant requests for medical education research on a variety of topics including Hematology, Women's Health, Cardiovascular and Renal, and Oncology. Details regarding the specifics of each opportunity, including budget, can be found through the link above. |
| 206 | Quarterly | Research Grants | Abiomed | Variable | Abiomed funds research that investigates how mechanical circulatory support with Impella® heart pumps may improve patient outcomes. Areas of interest include Best Practices in Urgent Patient Populations, Long Duration Impella Support for Heart Recovery, Cardiac Surgery, and End Organ Protection with Impella. All types of research programs will be considered, including, but not limited to: clinical studies and pre-clinical investigations. Research proposals are reviewed quarterly, and award amounts vary. |
| 263 | 04/30/2025 | Understanding and Targeting Innate Immunity in Type 1 Diabetes Pathogenesis | Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust | $300,000 | The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s (Helmsley) Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Program aims to support the discovery and development of new therapies to prevent or delay T1D and the identification and validation of biomarkers to predict disease initiation and progression. The proposed funding term can be up to three years. Requested funding amounts can range based on activities. Laboratory-based studies may be supported with a total budget of up to $300,000 per year. Clinic-based studies may be supported with a total budget of up to $500,000 per year. |
| 264 | 05/01/2025 | Grant | EMDR Research Foundation | $100,000 | The EMDR Research Foundation is supporting a one-time grant opportunity of up to $100,000 to support research focused on Children and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). This grant is open to individuals or groups conducting research that aligns with the EMDR Standard Protocol, and applicants are encouraged to aim to advance the understanding and effectiveness of EMDR in addressing the impact of trauma on children. |
| 267 | 05/15/2025 | Field Catalyst Grant Opportunities | Good Food Institute | $250,000 | The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a global nonprofit dedicated to building a sustainable, healthy, and just food system. Their Field Catalyst Grant RFP seeks research proposals aimed at tackling urgent scientific and technological challenges within the alternative protein industry. They support early to mid-stage research proposals across two priority areas: "Functionality from fermentation: ingredients for plant-based meats" and "Pathways to propel cell line development", both of which can be further explored here. Up to $250,000 may be awarded with up to $50,000 additional funding for projects partnering with researchers and/or industry stakeholders not previously engaged in alternative protein research. |
| 268 | 05/16/2025 LOI | 2025 Investigator Award | Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy | $500,000 | Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, Inc. (ACGT) funds research aimed at furthering the development of cell and gene therapy approaches for the treatment of patients with cancer. This grant award, the 2025 Investigator Award in Cell and Gene Therapy for Gynecological Cancer Research, is designed for those conducting cell and gene therapy research specifically in gynecological cancers (ovarian, endometrial, cervical) including, but not limited to, the research areas listed on the website. This award provides up to a maximum of $500,000 distributed over 2-3 years. |
Last updated: April 29, 2025
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