Funder: Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics
Due Dates: November 1, 2026 (Rolling cycle) | February 1, 2027 (Rolling cycle) | May 1, 2027 (Rolling cycle)
Funding Amounts: Travel typically up to $15,000; pilots up to $25,000; undergraduate and master’s awards typically up to $5,000
Summary: Supports exploratory travel, research collaborations, and field pilots developing research to improve poor people’s lives in developing countries.
Key Information: Research in developed countries is ineligible, including research on low-income populations within them.
Description
The Weiss Fund’s Travel and Piloting Grants support exploratory work that lays the groundwork for research benefiting poor people in poor countries. Administered at the University of Chicago and funded by the CRI Foundation, the program finances visits to potential nonprofit, business, and government partners, other exploratory work, and field pilots. Proposed collaborations should have potential to qualify for further Weiss Fund support.
The Fund welcomes cross-disciplinary research, policy-relevant replication, studies testing earlier findings in new contexts, investigations of negative results, and research challenging conventional wisdom. Its goal is evidence that helps donors, governments, and NGOs improve policies and programming. Expected impact per dollar spent is the overriding selection criterion; potential benefits may be long term.
