Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program is a grant from the Spencer Foundation — in collaboration with the Kapor Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation — that provides emergency bridge funding to researchers whose federal education research grants have been recently cancelled or terminated.

The program specifically targets scholars whose National Science Foundation (NSF) grants have been abruptly ended. Awards of up to $25,000 support immediate needs following cancellation, including completing a wave of data collection, analyzing existing data, writing, thoughtful project closure with community partners, or preparing new grant proposals.

To be eligible, scholars must be working on STEM and education research — including AI, computer science, graduate education, MSIs, or research reducing inequality — and must have had a recently cancelled NSF grant. Early-career scholars are prioritized where possible.

Spencer Foundation: Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program – Office of the Vice President for Research Communications & Outreach From the Desk of the AVPR Internal Funding for Researchers Faculty Small Grant Program (FSGP) Faculty Fellow Awards (FFA) – Reporting Portal Distinguished Research Awards (DRA) Research Instrumentation Fund (RIF) University of Utah Research Foundation (UURF) Interdisciplinary Research Initiative 1U4U Collaborative Seed Grant Program No-Cost Extension Request Instructions Your Questions Our Research Facilities and Administrative Distribution and Usage Powered by the University of Utah Spencer Foundation: Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rapid response bridge grant opportunity for impacted scholars, in collaboration with The Kapor Foundation, The William T.

Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF.

While it is impossible for private philanthropy to close the gap left by federal funders, we can provide modest grants to mitigate some of the impact on scholars, projects, and project teams.

These $25,000 grants are for activities to address immediate needs following grant cancellations, including completing a wave of data collection, analyzing already collected data or writing, thoughtful project closure with community partners, or preparing grant proposals to continue the research.

To be eligible for these grants, scholars must: (1) be working on research on STEM and education (including AI and CS, graduate education and MSIs, and scholarship that aims to reduce inequality), and (2) have had a recently terminated or cancelled grant from NSF. Where possible, we will prioritize early-career scholars. Full proposals are due on either May 30th, 2025 or June 13th, 2025.

Details on how to apply, frequently asked questions, etc. are found HERE . Important Note: The university's Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) team is available to review proposals to this program to ensure they align with the Foundation's goals and expectations.

Shanna Futral , Associate Director of CFR, has a list of NSF grants that may have been affected by termination and has previously reached out to individuals on that list with this opportunity. Please contact Shanna with questions/requests regarding this opportunity.