The Office of Foundations Relations is pleased to share this open call for letters of intent from the Whitehall Foundation.
UCSC Contact: Samantha Forde│forde@ucsc.edu
Funder: Whitehall Foundation
Opportunity: Research Grants and Grants in Aid
LOI Deadline: October 1, 2025
The Foundation will accept only one letter of intent per twelve-month period per investigator.
Overview
The Whitehall Foundation assists scholarly research in the life sciences in dynamic areas of basic biological research. The overall goal of proposed projects should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior.
Research grants are available to established scientists working at accredited institutions in the United States. Applications will be judged on the scientific merit and the innovative aspects of the proposal as well as on the competence of the applicant. Research grants of up to three years will be provided. Research grants will not be awarded to investigators who have already received, or expect to receive, substantial support from other sources, even if it is for an unrelated purpose. The maximum budget is $100,000 per year for the two- and three-year research grants.
The Grants-in-Aid program is designed for researchers at the assistant professor level to support initial projects in an effort to secure additional funding from other sources in the future. Grants-in-Aid can also be made to senior scientists. Applications will be judged on the scientific merit and innovative aspects of the proposal, as well as on evidence of the applicant’s continued productivity. Grants-in-Aid are awarded for a one-year period and do not exceed $30,000.
Award Amount & Terms
- Research Grants: the maximum budget is $100,000 per year for the two- and three-year research grants.
- Grants-in-Aid are awarded for a one-year period and do not exceed $30,000.
- The Foundation does not fund investigators who have substantial (approximately $200,000 per year) extramural funding. The Foundation uses the following formula to determine the PIs total extramural funding: total direct per year plus total indirect per year less any PI salary taken from these grants. Startup funds and internal funding are not included in the calculation.
Eligibility
- Must be an Assistant Professor (or higher)
- Must hold Principal Investigator status.
To Apply
The Foundation will accept only one letter of intent per twelve-month period per investigator. Letters of intent should be sent as an attachment to LOI@whitehall.org. The subject line should read Letter of Intent and the message should contain only the PI contact information. Emails must be received by the close of business on the deadline date (or the following business day if appropriate).
Please consult the Whitehall Foundation page for further details on the format requirements of LOI and proposals.
To see a list of previous Whitehall Foundation grant recipients, please click here.
Note this is a quarterly call. See the full cycle of RFPs here.
Fall Timeline:
- October 1, 2025 LOI Deadline
- December 15, 2025 Issuance of Application materials
- February 15, 2026 Application deadline
- May 15, 2026 Notification of Grant awards
Special Requirements
Please notify the Office of Foundation Relations if you are interested in applying to this opportunity (fr@ucsc.edu). For support developing your proposal, please contact the Research Development Specialist assigned to your unit or send a request to resdev@ucsc.edu.
The Office of Foundation Relations is a unit of University Advancement. The FR team creates and maintains mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with private organizations, matching grant initiatives with educational and research programs and centers. FR supports faculty and staff to identify and approach these and other private foundations and corporations for funding, to assist in strategic positioning of the grant application, and to facilitate funder campus visits.
For a list of recent funding opportunities, please visit the FR website: FR Calls for Funding.