Focus Grants
Focus Grants support experienced investigators conducting innovative suicide-prevention research to better understand causes and risk factors and test treatments and interventions designed to save lives.
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Funder: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Due Dates: August 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EDT (Required LOI) | December 7, 2026 (Full application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $500,000 per year for up to three years (maximum $1,500,000)
Summary: Supports innovative, high-risk, potentially high-yield research addressing annually designated areas of suicide prevention.
Key Information: Only investigators invited after a Letter of Intent may submit a full application.
Description
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) administers Focus Grants through a special Request for Applications process. AFSP and its Scientific Council determine the specific suicide-prevention focus areas and review them annually. The program supports innovative, high-risk, potentially high-yield studies that deepen understanding of suicide causes and risk factors or test treatments and other interventions designed to save lives.
Both basic science and applied research are considered, including treatment-feasibility studies and projects adding a suicide-related population or treatment component to an existing funded study. Focus Grants support experienced investigators pursuing new research directions. Shared AFSP priorities for 2024–2026 complement the annual focus areas, emphasizing ethnic and racial diversity, disparities and inequities, understudied populations or settings with elevated suicide rates, and survivors of suicide loss.
