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Proposal Development and Resources

We assist faculty with finding funding opportunities to sponsor their research, as well as institutional staff looking to increase the College’s resources.

Explore Current Funding Opportunities

Finding Funding

The first step of the process is to research funding opportunities that meet your criteria. The goal is to identify a funding source whose interests best align with the topic of your proposed project. During this step, we recommend that you use the tools provided on this website to explore and to familiarize yourself with the grant opportunities available worldwide.

Please use the information and resources below to help you identify funding opportunities.

Internal Funding

The Office of Foundation Relations and Sponsored Programs works closely with the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculty regarding internal faculty funding. Internal funding sources include start-up funds for junior faculty, Faculty Instructional Technology (FIT) Fellowship funding, and travel funding.

These funds, the products of generous gifts to the College and Colby’s dedication to faculty development, allow faculty to develop their skills and disseminate their research both on- and off-campus.

Faculty Instructional Technology (FIT) Fellowship Funding is available from the Provost’s Office for faculty seeking to incorporate digital technologies into new and existing courses.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Denise Bruesewitz was awarded FIT Fellowship Funding in 2016 for the Senior Capstone course she conducted.

To see how Professor Bruesewitz incorporated this technology into her course, we invite you to click the link below to learn about the instructional videos Professor Bruesewitz produced for her students to help them operate research technologies and devices.

For more detailed information, please follow the link below:

FIT Fellow Showcase: Denise Bruesewitz

The Provost’s Office provides start-up grant funding for junior faculty in the first several years of their appointment at Colby, as well as for continuing term faculty. 

Per the Start-Up Funding Policies, “…funding is provided as a catalyst for a faculty member’s career at Colby, assisting with career development, enabling scholarship and teaching innovations, and ensuring that faculty receive support at crucial early stages of their careers.”

Start-up funds may be used for:

  • Research costs:
    • Travel
    • Lodging
    • Meals
    • Registration fees for attendance at professional conferences and association meetings for which the faculty member is not being reimbursed by the hosting organization
  • Dues for professional associations and discipline-specific academic organizations
  • Books and journal subscriptions

Allowable start-up expenditures may also include:

  • Purchasing data sets
  • Acquiring laboratory or studio materials and equipment
  • Traveling to archives or other research sites

In addition, funds may be used for travel and lodging in order to meet with scholarly collaborators outside of Colby.

For more information about start-up funding, please refer to the complete description of policies on the Provost’s website.

The Provost’s Office has an application process in place to assist faculty with travel costs associated with their research. The College encourages the attendance of its faculty at professional meetings by providing funds in support of travel, lodging, registration fees, and meals.

Faculty in continuing appointments (categories I, II, and III) are able to receive up to $2,000 per fiscal year. Other faculty members (category IV) are eligible for funding of up to $1,000 if funds permit, and the professional meeting must take place prior to June 1.

Applications for travel grants should be submitted to the Office of the Provost in advance of your travel.

For more information about travel grants, please refer to the travel grant application on the Provost’s website.

External Funding

The office of Foundation Relations and Sponsored Programs serves as a critical resource for faculty and staff seeking external funding opportunities. Our office serves as the College’s liaison for corporate entities, foundations, and government agencies and their respective grants programs. As such, our office proudly seeks to maintain relationships with each grantmaker in order to provide our faculty and staff with a plethora of grant opportunities.

In order to support these efforts, our office compiles a monthly Grants Digest for short-term and long-term funding opportunities available to faculty and staff. This resource is available by visiting our Grants Digest page and logging in with your Colby account. Additionally, the Grants and Sponsored Programs Office uses Pivot, a searchable funding database, to expand access to the breadth of funding possibilities that are available.

For faculty who have identified potential funding sources, we encourage you to refer to our Institutional Information page, which provides information about the College, its institutions, programs, and resources.

To learn more about Pivot, the Grants Digest, and our tailored services, please contact our office at [email protected].