Funder: Breast Cancer Alliance
Due Dates: March 31, 2025 (LOI) | July 19, 2025 (Full application, by invitation)
Funding Amounts: $100,000 total for one year (includes up to 8% indirect costs)
Summary: Supports innovative, creative, and unique breast cancer research projects by clinical doctors and research scientists at any career stage.
Key Information: Only two LOIs per institution (across all BCA research grants) are allowed; not open to for-profit institutions.
Description
The Breast Cancer Alliance Exceptional Project Grant is designed to fund creative and innovative research projects focused on breast cancer. The grant aims to improve survival rates and quality of life for those impacted by breast cancer through better prevention, early detection, treatment, and cure. This opportunity is open to clinical doctors and research scientists at any career stage, including postdoctoral fellows, whose proposals address breast cancer.
Due Dates
- Letter of Intent (LOI) deadline: March 31, 2025 (midnight)
- Notification of invitation for full application: by mid-May 2025
- Full application deadline (by invitation only): July 19, 2025 (midnight EDT)
- Notification of award decisions: by mid-February 2026
- Grant term start date: March 1, 2026
- Midterm report due: August 31, 2026
- Final report due: April 30, 2027
Funding Amount
- Total award: $100,000 for a one-year project period
- Eligible costs: Salary support and project costs
- Indirect costs: Included in the $100,000 award, capped at 8% of total direct costs
Eligibility
- Open to clinical doctors and research scientists at any career stage, including postdocs
- Applicants must be affiliated with a non-profit academic or research institution in the contiguous United States
- For-profit institutions are not eligible
- No citizenship requirement, but the research must be conducted at a US institution
- Each institution may submit a maximum of two LOIs across all BCA research grant programs (Exceptional Project or Young Investigator Grant)
- Multiple PIs are allowed; if from different institutions, each institution must provide appropriate sign-off
Application Process
Letter of Intent (LOI)
- Required before full application
- Must be submitted online by March 31, 2025
- LOI must include:
- Applicant’s name, job title, and institution
- Contact information
- Project title and hypothesis
- Outline of research aims and methods
- Brief discussion of the project’s potential impact
- NIH biosketch-format CV required (uploaded separately)
- References are not required for the LOI
Full Application (by invitation only)
- Invitations sent by mid-May 2025
- Full application due by July 19, 2025
- Applications are confidentially reviewed by an external committee and the BCA Grants Committee
- Final funding decisions by the BCA Board
Reporting and Award Management
- Awardees must sign a contract (no modifications allowed)
- Midterm and final reports required; failure to submit midterm report results in forfeiture of remaining funds
- Virtual site visit with BCA staff/supporters required
Additional Information
- Applicants may submit an LOI for either the Exceptional Project Grant or the Young Investigator Grant, but not both for the same proposal
- The proposed project must be able to stand alone; BCA will not fund components of otherwise funded projects (e.g., sequencing studies in a larger funded project)
- No hard copy submission required; all materials must be submitted electronically by the deadline
External Links
Contact Information