FAQs & POLICIES

Here you will find answers to common questions followed by our policies. Please review each of these sections carefully before applying.

Common Questions

  • We are not currently accepting applications. Please check back regularly as our application portal may re-open at any time. During a funding cycle, we accept applications on a rolling basis. We also periodically issue RFPs, which do have associated deadlines. Applications are unlikely to be funded if they fall outside our areas of focus.

  • We will consider any grant small or large. However, we do not commonly fund grants larger than $50,000 USD. You are welcome to seek co-funders and we ask that you list additional sources of funding in the application. We may also approve an application contingent on additional funding if we are unable to fully support the project or meet the funding deficit.

  • Yes, but only applications from researchers we deem qualified and with the skills needed to complete the proposed research will be considered.

  • Responses to an active RFP will be given according to the time frame listed in the RFP.

  • Grant proposals are evaluated by our trustees, a group of highly committed and experienced researchers in animal advocacy. We work to avoid any conflicts of interest and conflicted trustees will be recused.

    Occasionally, the committee may send an anonymized application to an external reviewer with subject matter expertise.

  • Our initial proposal review is anonymous, with applicant identities revealed only after an initial decision is reached. This tentative decision may then be revised based on the credentials and experience of the applicant.

  • We only fund research.

  • Proposals based on any methodology will be considered as long as the method is evidence-based, rigorous, and systematic. Do not assume the grant committee has expertise in your discipline; you should cite best-practice sources for your methodology.

Policies

  • We do fund summer salaries for academics and hourly work for independent contractors, and will consider funding salaried work for researchers employed at non-profits. For academics that are funded on a project basis and independent contractors, we require the application submission include hourly rates and number of hours requested for each investigator involved in the project.

    We do not fund equipment purchases such as computers, phones, etc.

    We do fund purchases of necessary data sets

    We can cover indirect/overhead costs up to a maximum 10% of the total grant amount if the grantee’s university requires it. If you are including indirect/overhead costs in your budget, please include supporting documentation stating any university required minimum for grants coming from non-profit organizations. See complete indirect/overhead cost policies here.

  • All research funded by the Food System Research Fund is for the public benefit. As such we encourage open access publication and wide distribution, and that work be licensed under a creative commons or similar license that would allow for derivative works

    Grantees are required to make all research results, methods, procedures, data, computer code and other materials accessible to the public for others to see, evaluate, and use for further research. Grantees must use a public repository such as the Open Science Framework under a Creative Commons (CC0 or CC-BY) license. These materials and descriptions should include enough detail to allow replication of results.

    After receiving approval of funding, projects must be preregistered with a full plan on an independent public registry such as the Open Science Framework. Preregistration must include all details of the proposed study and how any analysis will be conducted.  The preregistered analyses must then be referenced in the final report including if a different or additional analysis method was used, and why.

    Grantees must agree to interim reporting to identify progress and any potential or actual delays in completion of the work.  The nature and frequency of such reporting will be articulated on a grant by grant basis.

    Any significant changes in how the funded project is conducted, including changes in researchers, timeline, research focus, or budget must have prior written FSRF approval or further funding of the grant may be withheld, and granted funds may be required to be returned.

  • Awarded funds may only be used only for the purposes proposed in the grant application and agreed to as part of the grant.

  • FSRF strongly encourages publication of results where possible in peer-reviewed scientific or professional journals, and publication in open access journals with no paywall is ideal. If allowed by the journal, grantees must make any relevant working papers publicly available using an online repository such as SocArXiv or PsyArXiv.

  • By accepting a FSRF grant, all grantees agree to the following:

    The Grantee must comply with reasonable requests for information about research activities in a timely manner.

    The Grantee must comply with all FSRF policies and procedures.

    The Grantee must provide the complete results (including intended and unintended learnings), and allow the FSRF to disseminate results in any way FSRF sees fit.

    The Grantee must keep records and account for all use of granted funds, and submit a detailed expense report following the completion of the research.

  • FSRF reserves the right to terminate any funded research project that is not progressing in the manner agreed to in the granting application and agreement.