Using the Slow Season to Get Grant Funds

But in less time than it takes to watch a drive-in movie, you can apply for funding from The Hope Foundation for Cancer Research. Our public charity has four great opportunities with summer deadlines. These grants can get you research dollars or infrastructure support. And a special call for proposals could let you launch a big idea that improves our cancer clinical trial program.

Here are the deadlines and details:

• July 1 – SWOG Early Exploration and Development (SEED) Fund.  A SEED research project can be funded up to $50,000 and spent over a one- or two-year period. SEED awards encourage preliminary research that translates to future clinical trials or trial-associated projects, such as translational medicine studies within SWOG or other groups in the NCTN. SEED awards support early-stage studies, such as gathering pre-clinical data, conducting secondary data analyses, conducting pilot and feasibility studies, or developing research methodology or technology. SEED awards should support work that can be directly applied to future SWOG research and be used to secure follow-on funding from other grant sources.

• July 1– SWOG/Hope Foundation Impact Award. This deadline is for letters of interest for awards that support one- or two-year research projects. Impact Awards encourage innovative projects that support early and conceptual stage research. Studies may involve scientific risk but potentially lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models, or applications that could have a major impact on cancer research. A metric of success will be follow-on funding from another grant source. Impact grants have supported work that has resulted in groundbreaking new SWOG trials. Final proposals are due Sept. 1.

• August 1 – VA Integration Support Program Awards. This collaboration between SWOG and Hope has funded 16 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers since it was launched four years ago. These centers use the funds to hire oncology nurses, clinical research associates or fulfill other staffing needs to offer SWOG and other NCTN cancer clinical trials to military veterans. The infrastructure grants provide $50,000 to two VA centers per year. Hope-funded centers are in 13 states, and have enrolled dozens of vets into SWOG trials, including the Lung-MAP precision medicine trial.

• August 1 – 2020 Program Proposal. This funding mechanism is truly unique to Hope. Instead of funding current research, training, travel, or committee expenses, program proposals fund any project that meets an unmet SWOG need. Past proposals have funded our grant-writing workshop, a translational medicine retreat, and a one-day session to create an NCTN plain language clinical trial template. All SWOG members – physicians, nurses, CRAs, advocates, statisticians, pharmacists, scientists – are encouraged to apply.

Bring Hope your bright ideas!  If you’ve got questions about any of these funding opportunities, contact Hope Grants and Communications Manager Morgan Cox at morgan@thehopefoundation.org.