Institutional Challenge Grant
Forecasted
Institutional Challenge Grant supports university partnerships with public agencies or nonprofits, funding research and institutional change to reduce inequality in outcomes for U.S. youth.
Funder: William T. Grant Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): September 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $650,000 over three years; opportunity to apply for a two-year continuation
Summary: Supports sustained university–agency or nonprofit research partnerships and institutional changes to reduce inequality in U.S. youth outcomes.
Key Information: The research institution must lead the application and fund one additional full-time-equivalent mid-career fellowship year.
Description
The William T. Grant Foundation’s Institutional Challenge Grant supports university-based research institutes, schools, and centers partnering with public agencies or nonprofits. It funds joint research agendas examining programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes for young people ages 5–25 in the United States. Priority dimensions include race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, immigrant origins, and sexual or gender minority status.
The program combines research with partnership development, institutional change, and capacity building. Research institutions must address policies, practices, and incentives that discourage collaborative scholarship, while both partners strengthen their ability to produce and use rigorous, relevant evidence. Partnerships may work in education, justice, child welfare, foster care, mental health, immigration, or workforce development, with the goal of sustaining collaboration beyond individual projects.
