Open call: Spencer Foundation – Racial Equity Research Grants

Mar 18, 2026 | Awards & Funding, Faculty, Research

To: Science Faculty and Researchers
From: Office of Foundation Relations
Subject: Funding Opportunity

The Office of Foundation Relations is pleased to share this open call for funding from the Spencer Foundation.  

 

 

Overview 

The Racial Equity Research Grants program supports education research projects that will contribute to understanding and disrupting racial inequality in education and work to reimagine generative possibilities to advance educational equity.

 

Spencer believes that educational research can play an important role in developing new forms of education that are humane, equitable, and just. As such, there is a pressing need for robust approaches to scholarship that can contribute consequentially to achieving equity in education. 

 

The goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious, and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in relation to racial equity in education. The Spencer Foundation will continue to fund scholarship focused on a range of communities and issues with respect to equity. Spencer encourages proposals from across the methodological spectrum, including qualitative methods, mixed-methods, and quantitative methods. 

 

Racial Equity proposals that focus on the following areas are encouraged:

  1. Youth and educator mental health that explores possibilities that promote resilience, center healing, and foster well-being
  2. Innovative and community-based approaches to workforce development
  3. Innovative approaches at the intersections of quantitative methods and racial equity

 

Award Amount & Terms

$75,000; no indirect costs, per Spencer’s policy.

 

Eligibility 

  • Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Racial Equity Research Grant must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field, or appropriate experience in an education research-related profession. While graduate students may be part of the research team, they may not be named the PI or Co-PI on the proposal
  • Proposals must be for academic research projects
  • Proposals for activities other than research are not eligible (e.g., program evaluations, professional development, curriculum development, scholarships, capital projects). Additionally, proposals for research studies focused on areas other than education are not eligible

 

Timeline

  • May 4, 2026 Intent to Apply
  • July 1, 2026 Full Proposal Deadline

 

Special Instructions

Please notify the Office of Foundation Relations if you are interested in applying to this opportunity (fr@ucsc.edu). Please submit a proposal intake form prior to UCSC’s internal Institutional Deadlines. For support developing your proposal, please send a request to the Office of Research Development, resdev@ucsc.edu. Within the Division of Social Sciences, please contact Ashlee Tews (ashleeac@ucsc.edu), and within the Arts, please contact Hannah Jasper (hannahjasper@ucsc.edu) to initiate notification and proposal support.

 

Call sent: March 18, 2026

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 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.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact caroline@ucsc.edu
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