We establish new program areas through an extended discussion process. In the earliest stages of thinking about a program possibility, we do research on the general area that interests us: we read relevant literatures, consult informally with colleagues working in the area, and talk with our Board of Directors. When we have a sense of what is at stake, but before we have identified a specific focus for our work, we generally convene a Listening to help us decide how or whether to move forward. These guided but informal discussions generally bring together scholar-teachers, academic administrators and others to think through the issue with us from a variety of perspectives. Toward the end of our discussion, we ask those participating in the Listening what a foundation initiative in the area at hand might look like, if one were to be forthcoming, and then—with that feedback, plus the knowledge gained through the other methods described—we craft a Request for Proposals (RFP).

The next step is to decide where we should send the RFP, and here we are guided by a number of principles. Our primary focus is liberal arts education and we consistently seek to strengthen teaching and learning in undergraduate education. Many of our initiatives foster or even demand institutional collaboration, and we reach out mainly—but not exclusively—to private liberal arts colleges.

Institutions of particular interest to us are those that:

1. explicitly put engaged student learning in the liberal arts at the center of their mission;
2. allocate their resources to sustain this mission;
3. have stable enrollments and finances;
4. achieve good graduation rates, typically 65% or more after six years,
5. systematically assess student progress.

If your institution meets these criteria and has not received an RFP from us in the past three years, we will welcome a brief email stating how it fits these criteria and sketching current institutional priorities. We do not typically respond to these emails, but over time and as resources become available, we try to expand our institutional outreach.

If your institution does not meet these criteria but you are still interested in working with us, or if your institution does meet these criteria and you would nonetheless like to be part of a significant multi-institutional project, we encourage you to stay apprised of the work of national college associations (such as the Council of Independent Colleges, the Association of American Colleges and Universities) and regional college consortia (such as the Appalachian College Association, the Associated Colleges of the South, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, the Great Lakes College Association). We have made and will continue to make grants to organizations like these, through which we will be able to support many more institutions than those to which we can make direct grants.

For our current Requests for Proposals, click here.

Most proposals the Foundation receives are in response to a specific RFPs, which for the past few years have been focused especially on projects to assess learning outcomes and projects to encourage fresh thinking about teaching and learning in undergraduate education. As noted above, our consistent and overall goal is to strengthen undergraduate engagement and learning in the liberal arts and sciences.

We are also open to proposals from colleges, universities, associations and other organizations devoted to higher education, even if no RFP has been issued, so long as the project proposed aligns with the general priorities described in the previous paragraph. That is, we will consider proposals that:

• Clearly and demonstrably help increase student engagement and learning in the liberal arts and sciences;


• Increase the knowledge base about how to improve student learning;


• Will have effects beyond a single campus.

Again, the foundation encourages (though it does not require) collaborations, especially between research universities and liberal arts colleges. Grants can be used only for expenses directly related to the project, and not for indirect expenses such as overhead. We also expect significant cost sharing.

If you have a project that you would like us to consider funding, first consult our website (http://www.teaglefoundation.org/grantmaking/grantees.aspx) to learn more about projects we have funded in the past. While we will be most open to projects that relate to our current funding priorities, we are at the same time unlikely to fund a project that too closely replicates one we have supported in the past.

Then, if it still seems appropriate, please submit a project summary of no more than 500 words to proposals@teaglefoundation.org, along with contact information (name, affiliation, title, e-mail address and phone number) for the person in charge of developing the project, and an estimate of your grant request. If we are interested in pursuing it, we will contact you to explore the possibility of developing a full proposal.

All proposals are subject to review and approval by the Foundation's Board of Directors, which meets in February, May, and November of each year.