Institutional Impact Grants

Institutional Impact Grants of between $100,000 and $1,000,000 will be awarded to institutions who wish to undertake a substantial and sustained effort to educate character in undergraduate populations across their institution. Organizations should align the size of the request with the impact of the proposed project and their expertise and capacity to steward the funds efficiently and effectively. Since funds are limited, please design projects that will have the maximum impact using the fewest resources.  

These three-year grants will provide support to enable institutional leaders, faculty, and staff to infuse character in undergraduate curricula and programming in ways that align organically with their college or university mission, context, and culture. Institutional Impact Grants may be especially useful for institutions that have already begun educating character in their context and/or that have faculty and staff who have the relevant expertise to undertake a major initiative dedicated to character. We imagine these grants will be focused primarily on coherent implementation rather than initial exploration, though we welcome innovative ideas that have not been fully tested.  

We welcome applications from two- and four-year U.S. colleges and universities—both public and private, secular and religious— including but not limited to research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, military academies, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, single-gender colleges, and tribal colleges. We would also welcome applications from cross-institutional networks of colleges, universities, and organizations that wish to collaborate on a shared project or initiative. 

Potential project activities could include, but are not limited to, some or all of the following: 

• The launch of a new major, minor, certificate program, or curricular requirement and/or a co-curricular center, institute, or program related to character
• Course or time buyouts, salary replacement, and/or summer funding for faculty or staff to devote time to develop a program, initiative, or course at their institution 
• Support for new faculty, staff, or postdoctoral fellows
• Credit-bearing courses and/or co-curricular programming, such as speaker events, discussion groups, retreats, and/or workshops for students, faculty, and/or staff
• A faculty/staff seminar that brings together key partners across the institution to discuss the opportunities and challenges of character education and how they might pursue it 
• Honoraria for visiting scholars, educators, or experts to generate interest in character education, lead a faculty workshop on character or strategies to educate it, and/or provide insight on how it might be integrated at their institution (Note: Individual workshops and consulting are available for free from the staff and fellows of the Educating Character Initiative.)
• Books and materials for faculty/staff seminars, reading groups, and research on character education 
• Student assistants to contribute to literature reviews, data collection, or other tasks 
• Survey administration and participant incentives to collect data from students, faculty, and staff related to the impact or viability of projects or initiatives 
• Professional development support, such as travel and registration for relevant workshops that focus on character or character education.

We encourage institutions to be creative in how they might design, implement, and integrate character education organically in their distinctive contexts. 

Application Instructions

The application for Institutional Impact Grants will be a two-step process. 

STEP 1. All accredited U.S. colleges and universities that are interested in educating character in undergraduates are invited to submit an initial application through the ECI Grant Portal. You must provide:

• Contact Information for Principal Investigator(s) and Administrative Assistant(s) (if applicable)
• Contact Information for Institutional Grant Approval and Payment
• Project Name and Abstract (500-word maximum)
• Amount Requested
• Proposal Narrative addressing the following (10-page maximum):
  • A brief overview of the academic institution – its mission, vision, and the alignment of character education to its overall culture, orientation, or tradition.
  • A description of work already undertaken at the institution toward the education of character in undergraduate students and any relevant outcomes.
  • A description of the character approach that applicants intend to use for the project, noting the applicants’ relevant expertise and/or experience with this approach.  
  • A description of the core goals of the project.
  • A description of the project activities, including a general timeline for completion (a more detailed timeline will be requested at the full proposal stage). Grant activities may not extend beyond three years. 
  • A description of the target impact and outcomes for the project. Identify who will be impacted, how the impact will be achieved, and the place of intentional character formation in achieving this impact. Articulate proposed outcomes, including plans for assessment and measurement of those outcomes. 
  • A plan for sustaining this work beyond the initial grant period.
• Curriculum vitae for the project leader(s)
• A signed letter of support from the head of the institution, such as the president, chancellor, or vice-chancellor
• A broad budget outline (a more detailed budget will be requested in the full proposal stage). Please note that, due to limited funding, general overhead or indirect costs may not be included in the request; however, direct costs for administration, equipment, and consumable items may be included. Applicants are encouraged to determine how best to use grant funds and to show institutional support through cost-sharing or donor-matching where appropriate.
• Optional Appendices:
  • Statements of support from other institutional leaders, such as a provost, dean, or department chair. 
  • Additional artifacts that support the narrative of the initial application, such as course syllabi; program descriptions; published or on-going research; descriptions of character-focused conferences, workshops, or convenings; or examples of other character-focused grants and awards. 

Institutional Impact Grant applicants should be mindful of the following when determining the size of the grant request:

• The number of students impacted by the proposed project
• The number of faculty/staff impacted by the proposed project
• The unit(s) impacted by the proposed project (departments, divisions, schools, colleges, or university-wide) 
• Whether the project involves collaboration across institutions
• The expected development of educational resources that can be adopted or adapted by other institutions
• The expected development of scholarly research that can inform the larger community
• The extent to which existing expertise, programs, and operational frameworks at the institution can scaffold a project of the requested size.

The Program for Leadership and Character will provide multiple opportunities for colleges and universities to convene in person and virtually to discuss topics of common interest. Since the Educating Character Initiative will be organizing major conferences and convenings for the entire network, funding to host conferences may not be included in these requests, unless plans are coordinated in advance with the staff of the Educating Character Initiative. Staff from the Educating Character Initiative will also be available to provide individualized coaching and support for faculty, staff, and student development and/or assessment, so those costs need not be included within the grant. Applicants are encouraged to determine how to show institutional support through cost-sharing and/or donor-matching where appropriate.

Initial applications (Letters of Inquiry) are due by February 29, 2024, at 5:00 PM ET through the ECI Grant Portal. The portal will accept completed applications beginning December 29. Responses to the initial application will be shared with applicants no later than May 1.  

We will hold optional, one-hour online Q&A sessions regarding Institutional Impact applications at 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm ET on November 30 and December 11, 2023, as well as January 10, 2024.

All inquiries should be directed toward ECI@wfu.edu.

STEP 2. Up to 20 institutions will be invited to submit a full and final proposal by July 1, 2024. Grant decisions will be announced by August 1, with the term of the grant to begin September 1.

Grant Eligibility and Expectations for Funded Proposals 

The project leader(s) must be in or contracted to a long-term faculty or staff position at an accredited college or university in the United States. All applicants must register as community members of the Educating Character Initiative.

Colleges and universities may apply for an Institutional Impact or Capacity-Building Grant, but not both. Individuals may not be awarded a Teacher-Scholar or Professional Development Grant if they are part of a team which is awarded a Capacity-Building Grant or if they are part of team that makes it to the final round of Institutional-Impact Grant consideration. Funds may not be used for capital projects.  

Funded projects and project leaders will commit to the following:

• Submit interim and final reports, including assessments of outcomes on students, faculty, and/or staff, as well as interim and final expenditure reports 
• Attend at least one gathering sponsored by the Program for Leadership and Character
• Attend and present key results at a convening where they will be required to:
  • provide feedback to others and receive feedback on their own project
  • suggest avenues for future research, integration, and/or implementation
  • share the results and findings of their projects

• Consent to have their presentation(s) recorded
• For all project outputs that arise from work supported by the grant, awardees must notify the Educating Character Initiative of any significant events, presentations, or awards; submit copies of all published work or other public products to the Educating Character Initiative; and acknowledge the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University and Lilly Endowment Inc. in project publications.
• Follow stipulations of the grant award as communicated and determined by the Educating Character Initiative.

Dates to Remember

Info Sessions	November 30, December 11, 2023 & January 10 2024 12 – 1 p.m. & 4 – 5 p.m. ET on Zoom Register here
Initial Application	February 29, 2024; portal accepting submissions beginning December 29, 2023
Decisions about Initial Application	May 1, 2024
Full Proposal Date	July 1, 2024
Grant Decisions	August 1, 2024
Grant Start Date	September 1, 2024 or as decided by grant agreement