Corporate & Foundation Relations

You're looking for private funding and we're here to help! By working with our department early on, you can benefit in all stages of the fundraising process. The College of Arts & Sciences' Corporate and Foundation Relations team can help you build fruitful relationships with companies and foundations. Working with private funders is different than interacting with public funding agencies. Our team can answer questions, introduce you to foundation staff, support site visits, and help you explore partnerships with companies.

We can help you to; 

• Evaluate if corporate or foundation funding is the right fit to support your work.
• Identify potential corporate and foundation funders and partners.
• Connect with the right people and make your best case for support.
• Sustain positive, productive relationships with your corporate and foundation partners.

Contact Us - Explore our resources, and feel free to reach out to cascfr@uw.edu with any questions, or comments that you have. The earlier we hear about your interest in finding private funding for a project, the more we can do to help. This includes helping you find funding opportunities you might not know about and meeting the criteria, which may not be clearly explained online, for those opportunities.

There are many types of funding available to faculty at the University of Washington. Please feel free to reach out to us (cascfr@uw.edu) if you need help finding opportunities. 

Sponsored Programs (Grants and Contracts) - Company sponsors work directly with faculty to define custom projects. Each project requires a statement of work that describes the project scope, schedule, budget, and how the work is divided if it will be a collaborative effort. This plan must be submitted via an eGC1 so that it is approved by the department chair and dean, and then by UW's Office of Sponsored Programs. Company-sponsored projects are subject to indirect costs at the same rate that applies to federal grants. Refer to the Office of Sponsored Programs for more information. 

Gifts - Some companies and foundations support the UW through gifts to departments, labs, and programs doing work that is of company interest. Our team will work with the company to document the gift. Since a gift is philanthropic, there are no contractual deliverables or intellectual property access. The UW does not assess indirect costs for gift support, and gifts may be tax deductible. 

In-Kind Donation - Companies may also provide gift support through in-kind donations of equipment or software or through below-market discounts on its products. In-kind donations may be tax deductible. 

How do I know what type of funding I'm receiving? GIM 34 affects how an award is processed and whether it is considered a gift, grant, or contract. The distinction may not be clear. UW's Office of Sponsored Programs, the central Endowment Services team, and the Corporate and Foundation Relations teams review award agreements and submitted proposals to determine classification. 

The below links are resources to find funding as well as lists of current funding opportunities. 

Find foundation support - Search tools, available resources, people, and how to assess fit. 

Central Corporate & Foundation Relations Funding Opportunities - this list is updated weekly with current opportunities for a wide range of interest areas. Please read the descriptions carefully as UW does not qualify for all of these opportunities. 

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities - Some funders limit the number of proposals an institution may submit within a particular funding round. In order to provide all interested parties an opportunity to present their ideas and increase the UW's chances of succeeding in such limited submission opportunities, the Office of Research has established a procedure to review pre-proposals and select concepts to advance to submission. The above link will show you all open opportunities as well as past awardees. 

Internal Funding Opportunities 

• EarthLab Innovation Grants
• Office of Global Affairs
• Population Health
• Provost Bridge Funding
• Royalty Research Fund (RRF) 
• Simpson Center Funding

Use the below resources to draft your proposal, keeping in mind the goals and guidelines of the organization you are submitting your proposal to. Corporate & Foundation Relations staff is available to help with final edits on your proposal draft. 

Building Your Case - A guide on how to build your case for your proposal. 

About Foundation Funding: Foundations fill an important niche, often leveraging their resources to make catalytic impact where other funders won't venture. 

Working with Companies

Proposal Submission Guidance

CFR Stewardship - Corporate & Foundation Relations staff is available to help set up site visits with foundation and company representatives. Many grants and awards require periodic evaluations and reports. Corporate & Foundation Relations staff can assist with tracking those deadlines and getting reports submitted on time. 

NDAs and CDAs - Companies often want to put a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) in place ahead of in-depth discussions about a project opportunity. It is usually best to have an initial meeting or two with the company before starting work on an NDA. You want to first assess that the company's interests are a good fit for a project in your lab and that the company can work with UW policies on publications and intellectual property. If you are presented with an NDA or CDA, do not sign it yourself. Entering into an NDA always carries the risk of "intellectual property contamination," where you learn something from the company that intersects with something you were thinking of doing but haven't yet documented. In this case, the NDA could prevent you from exploring a new research area for several years. The UW routinely completes NDAs and CDAs with companies, but only certain people at the UW are authorized to sign them. NDAs and CDAs for research project discussions are reviewed and signed by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). When presented with an NDA or CDA, you should submit it for review with an eGC1. The CAS Corporate and Foundation Relations team can work with you and OSP to navigate the agreement process. 

Intellectual Property and Licensing - Intellectual property (IP) rights and ownership are important to consider for projects with commercial applications or non-UW partners. CoMotion handles IP issues, and faculty are strongly encouraged to disclose inventions to CoMotion and consult with them before discussing UW inventions or IP rights with anyone outside of the UW. In most cases, the UW retains ownership of inventions and discoveries that arise solely from UW-conducted research, whether patentable or not. Sponsors are routinely granted a first right to negotiate with the UW to obtain a fee-bearing exclusive or nonexclusive commercial license for project IP on commercially reasonable terms. Faculty are encouraged to consult with the Central Corporate Relations team, CoMotion, or the Office of Sponsored Programs before discussing IP or other contractual matters with companies to avoid misunderstandings. Faculty may direct companies to CoMotion's quick guide with basic information about IP and other sponsored research terms. The Washington Innovation Advantage Program gives companies that sponsor research an opportunity to pay an additional up-front fee to fix financial terms for commercial rights to IP resulting from the project they fund. The UW, the faculty involved, and the company must all opt in to the program. 

Service Agreements - this is the standard operating procedures for all service agreements within the College of Arts and Sciences. 

 Please contact the Corporate & Foundation Relations team anytime with questions or for more information.

Liz Exell, Executive Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations

Lori White, Assistant Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations