Services

We provide support and coordinating services for all private foundation-bound proposals.

Menu of Services

Pre-submission assistance

  • Program development brainstorming
  • Prospect research and guidance to identify aligned funders
  • Assessment of your funder portfolio to help create a funding strategy
  • Liaising with private funders to qualify proposed projects and obtain answers to questions
  • Planning your proposal development and submission timeline
  • Coordinating the internal review process with the Office of Pre-Award Services (OPAS) and other internal stakeholders
  • Identifying complementary internal proposal development resources
  • Coordinating, prioritizing, and facilitating campus-wide applications (when funder mandated)
  • Managing limited submissions and coordinating the internal review process

For larger funding proposals, we also:

  • Assist with the conceptual framing of letters of intent (LOIs) and proposals to ensure maximum alignment with the funder's mission and the stated goals of specific requests for proposals (RFPs)
  • Review proposal narratives and offer recommendations, paying attention both to overall style and alignment with specific foundation criteria
    • Please allow 2 weeks for intensive rewrite assistance
    • Please allow 4-5 days for simple edits
  • Help with proposal production and final assembly of supporting institutional documents 
  • Ensure all institutional and funder requirements are met prior to proposal submission

NOTE: While the vast majority of private foundations are able to send their grants directly to the University, there are some that require their financial support to be routed through an intermediary with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation from the IRS. In such cases, our office works with the system-wide UMass Foundation in Boston (which has such a designation) to coordinate the proposal review and submission processes both with that entity and relevant units on the UMass campus.

Our occasional role as liaison with the central UMass Foundation has led some on our campus to the incorrect assumption that our services are limited only to those philanthropies that require the fiscal agency of that 501(c)(3) entity.

Our mission is to support faculty wishing to engage with all private foundations, regardless of whether those foundations route their grants directly through the University or via our 501(c)(3) intermediary.