• There are several advantages to working with the Foundation Relations (FR) team.
  • The FR team has extensive experience working with private funders and can provide insight and guidance about their priorities, processes, and leadership.
  • The FR team can introduce projects and facilitate communication with foundation leaders who can offer important pre-submission guidance.
  • The FR team’s assistance (e.g., setting up portals, outlining requirements, tracking down institutional information) enables the PI to focus on scientific content.
  • As experienced writers and editors, the FR team can help craft LOIs and proposals that are clear, polished, and aligned with funders’ goals.

“A heavy lift for everyone, but in the end, success! Thank you, wouldn’t have survived that submission without you.” 

—Rachel Flynn, Associate Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics

• Feel free to reach out to our office as soon as you know you want to submit a letter of intent (LOI) or proposal/application—ideally, at least one month in advance of the deadline.

• The team member who works with your department, college, or school is in regular contact with your department chair, dean, and numerous faculty members to stay abreast of research and to better match it with funding opportunities.  If a team member is not yet familiar with your research, please reach out to us.
• The FR team maintains and regularly updates a database of upcoming funding opportunities.

• Rarely. Postdocs and PhD students should visit the Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA), which provides extensive resources and support for trainees.

• Fringe supports benefits that Boston University provides to employees such as health and dental insurance and long-term disability. Fringe is always calculated as a portion of salary and included in the personnel section of a proposal budget. Current BU fringe rates can be found here.
• Indirect costs (IDC), sometimes referred to as Facilities and Administration (F&A), support the University’s costs of doing business, such as grants administration, custodial services, and utilities. More information about IDC can be found here.
• Visit the Office of Research for more budget information and resources.

• Foundations often focus their support on early career faculty, pilot projects, and high-risk/high-reward projects. They also tend to be quite mission driven, and in the biomedical fields, disease focused.
• The Foundation Relations team does not assist with federal applications. At the School of Medicine, the Proposal Development office has extensive expertise in this respect. For general assistance with federal agencies and grant funding opportunities, please visit the Federal Relations website.

• Faculty members are required to secure approval from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) before submitting applications, and must notify OSP of their intent to apply at least 10 business days ahead of a funder’s submission deadline. OSP reviews proposals for adherence to the funder’s requirements and the University’s grant policies. Applicants must submit completed application packages to OSP five business days before the funder’s deadline.
• Those applying through schools on the Charles River Campus (CRC) often work with their departmental grant administrators, while those at the School of Medicine may work with Proposal Development.

• Some funders allow a limited number of applications per institution for each funding cycle. In these cases, BU Research announces and manages internal competitions, which entail an internal review process to determine who may apply. Visit the Office of Research for more information, including a list of current LSOs.