External Funding at the College of William & Mary

Introduction

The College of William and Mary has two offices that seek external funds for University projects: Grants and Research Administration, and University Development. Faculty should seek help from the Office of Grants and Research with their individual research and teaching projects, especially if seeking funding from federal sources. In cases where faculty wish to pursue more broad-based institutional projects, they may also contact the Office of University Development, Corporate and Foundation Relations.

The following examples of awards received in the last several years illustrate the types of projects for which each Office is responsible.

Grants & Research Administration

• Bland, Denise, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, "Post-conviction Assistance Project," funded by the Federal Correctional Institute.
• Cockrell, Dale, Department of Music, "Demons of Disorder: The Early Blackface Minstrel and His World," funded by the American Antiquarian Society.
• Hendricks, Kevin, School of Business, "Implementing Effective TQM Programs and the Financial Performance of Firms: An Empirical Investigation," funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Martin, Jack, Department of English, "Corpus and Dictionary of Muscogee (Creek) and Oklahoma Seminole," funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Rapoport, Ronald, Department of Government, "Collaborative Research on the 1992 Perot Movement and Party Change," funded by the National Science Foundation.
• Refinetti, Roberto, Department of Psychology, "Homeostasis, Circadian Rhythmicity and Behavior," funded by the National Science Foundation.
• Saha, Margaret, Department of Biology, "Determination and Patterning of the Xenopus Forebrain," funded by the Jeffress Memorial Trust.
• Thompson, David, Department of Chemistry, "Materials Research on Polymeric Films," funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• VanTassel-Baska, Joyce, School of Education, "A National Dissemination Project: Science Curriculum for High Ability Learners," funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

University Development (Donor, Amount, Purpose)

• Daily Press, $75,000, Charles Center: Journalist in Residence
• IBM, $400,000, Six RISC Computers for faculty/student use
• Jessie Ball duPont Fund, $60,000, Establish the Office of Community and Public Relations
• W.M. Keck Foundation, $100,000, Establish a program on Law & Ethics
• Norfolk Southern, $250,000, Chemistry and Toxicology Building at VIMS
• Sloan Foundation, $30,000, Public Policy: Symposium on Literacy in the Workplace

What does the Office of Grants and Research Administration do?

The Office of Grants and Research Administration (often referred to as "The Grants Office") reports to the Vice Provost for Research, Dennis Manos. Established in 1977, the Grants Office was created to administer awarded grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. From that time its services have expanded to include assisting faculty locate funding sources through workshops and newsletters, maintaining a library of most federal guidelines and applications, and reviewing and clearing all aspects of proposals before submission.

The Grants Office is the first point of contact for faculty research projects whether the prospective funding sources are federal, state, local, or private organizations. The main telephone number for the Grants Office is 221-4563. A listing of the Grants Office staff with telephone numbers and email addresses is given in Appendix I. The Office is located at 314 Jamestown Road.

When faculty seek funds from private foundations and corporations, the Grants Office collaborates with the Office of University Development to ensure proper coordination with other university projects.

What does the Office of University Development do?

Established in 1972, the Office of University Development is under the direction of the Vice President for University Development, Matthew T. Lambert. University Development staff obtain gifts from private sources, including individuals, corporations, and foundations to support broad-based University programs. While a major emphasis is on establishing endowed funds for such permanent purposes as chairs, professorships, fellowships and scholarships, University Development also solicits and receives funds for buildings, programs, conferences, symposia, visiting faculty, and art and library collections. Additionally, University Development handles gifts-in-kind, such as computer equipment, real estate, stocks and bonds, and a myriad of other gifts.

University Development staff also raise gifts from alumni through such efforts as the Annual Fund, a yearly solicitation of the University's 50,000 graduates (solicitation takes place on a fiscal year basis from July 1 to June 30). In 1995, the Annual Fund raised $2.09 million in restricted gifts and $1.75 million in unrestricted gifts for a total of $3.84 million. These funds support the most pressing general operating needs of the College. Endowments, on the other hand, are pooled into the University's permanent endowment fund which has a current market value of more than $132,000,000 up from $50,000,000 in 1987.

Before contacting the Office of University Development, faculty members must first check with their Department Chair and Dean who will determine the priority the project has within the university. Development staff and resources will be allocated accordingly. If the project is designated as a priority, faculty members will be invited to contact the Office of University Development at 221-1001. A listing of the development staff with telephone numbers and email addresses is contained in Appendix II.

However, where faculty members are planning to pursue funding that does not support their own individual research, the Development Office is available to assist in 1)identification of funding sources, and 2)review of the proposal. In such cases faculty will need to provide the Development Office with a brief project description or case statement.

The Executive Office for University Development, located in the Corner House at 402 Jamestown Road, coordinates the College's development activities. Development staff work out of the Corner House, Galt Houses/Dillard Complex, and Old Dominion Hall. Additionally, constituency development officers are housed in the Athletic Department, the Business School, the Law School, and the School of Marine Science.

Who establishes priorities for fundraising at the College?

The Office of Grants and Research is available to all faculty. The Office of University Development, however, MUST follow the academic priorities set by the President, Provost, and Deans. University Development does not establish priorities for obtaining funds. For example, the College of William and Mary Campaign for the Fourth Century was derived, for the most part, from academic priorities identified by departments and reviewed by the Provost and President. All faculty initiatives and proposals of a broad institutional nature must first be approved by the appropriate Department Chair and Dean before the proposal is submitted to the Development Office.

What if more than one person at the College of William and Mary seeks support from the same funder?

Sometimes this is a real problem, sometimes this is all right. Several faculty may submit applications to the same federal source, generally, without concern. There are, however, some programs such as the National Science Foundation MRI Program that allow a restricted number of applications from an institution. When this occurs, the Grants Office will work with the Faculty Research Committee for facilitate an internal review process to determine which proposals will be submitted.

Corporate and Foundation Relations staff coordinate corporate and foundation requests partly in order to prevent confusion on behalf of the donor. Some donors will consider only one proposal per institution per year and reject others automatically. Some, such as the W. M. Keck Foundation, will recognize only officially established contacts at the University and return proposals from anyone else.

Large requests often require months of work by many faculty members. If another faculty member submits a different proposal to a prospect for whom a major request is being prepared, the prospect may fund the smaller one simply because it came in first, thus hurting the larger proposal's chances of success. With better coordination, both may have succeeded. Coordination of proposal submissions is extremely important to institutional success in the grant seeking process. The Office of C&F Relations coordinates and provides clearance for approach on all corporate and foundation proposals. If you would like to approach a private corporation or foundation, please contact the Office of C&F Relations.

Multiple interests. Many corporations and foundations have multiple areas of interest and a given development officer's or faculty member's proposal may not be in competition with other William and Mary proposals if they are in different disciplines. The C&F Relations staff can inform you when multiple proposals may be submitted.

The size of requests plays a role in multiple request scenarios as well. For example, the C&F Relations office may negotiate a major endowment with a company's top officers and at the same time a student organization may negotiate a one-time sponsorship with that company's marketing department. The requests are separated by size and level in the company, may not conflict with each other, and are likely to originate from different budgets within the corporation.