Women's Giving Circle

2023-2024 Request for Proposals

The OSU Women’s Giving Circle is inviting you to submit a proposal for grants that will be awarded in May 2023. The Women's Giving Circle was founded in spring 2003 by a group of OSU alumnae and friends who pooled their gifts to create a fund to support Oregon State University programs.

Grant Criteria

The Women's Giving Circle will consider proposals that meet all of the following criteria. We are looking for programs and projects that:

Enhance the OSU undergraduate student experience and improve student retention.
Directly impact as many OSU students as possible.

In addition, more serious consideration will be given to proposals that:

Are relevant but not exclusive to women.
Involve undergraduate students in the implementation of the project or program.
Have few sources of support and realize a significant impact from the Giving Circle’s grant.

The average grant amount awarded is $5,000-$10,000. Please refer to the grant recipient web page. Proposals that receive funding may apply again in the two following years but are not given special priority during the grant process. The number of grants awarded will depend on the size of the pooled fund and the number of compelling proposals submitted.

Proposals Not Eligible for Funding

Proposals that directly benefit individual research projects.
Proposals to fund travel expenses (hotel, meals, gas, car rentals, train, bus or airfare).
Proposals to fund professor stipends.
Proposals where food and beverages are a significant amount of the proposal

Submittal Requirements

Please complete all questions listed on the Grant Application. Include a detailed budget and a one paragraph summary. Each project should be submitted on a separate application. Multiple applications from a unit, department, college, etc. are encouraged for distinct projects. All materials submitted including addendums and attachments should total no more than four pages. Please use a minimum font size of 11pt. Applications may be submitted that are relevant to Oregon State University including the OSU Cascades Campus, 4-H, and Extension.

Applications are reviewed by donors to the Women’s Giving Circle fund, who are OSU alumni, faculty and staff, parents, and community members. Academic citations and references are not necessary. Please use plain language. Avoid undefined abbreviations and acronyms.

Deadline for submitting proposals has been extended to: Monday, January 9, 2023 at 9 a.m. Please e-mail proposals to Sara Dier, the Women’s Giving Circle staff liaison at sara.dier@osufoundation.org. When your proposal is received a confirmation email will be sent. If you have questions please contact Annual Giving at 541-737-4218 or 800-354-7281.

Selection Process

In February finalists will be selected for site visits. In addition to the previous criteria, the site visit team will also ask questions about the proposals that were asked during Women's Giving Circle evaluation and will explore:

What difference or impact will the grant make for OSU students?
Is the proposal viable?
What makes the proposal compelling?
Is the grant amount appropriate? Should it be increased or decreased?

The information Women’s Giving Circle members will be given for voting includes

The grant application and budget
The site reviewer’s comments
Questions asked by members during the proposal review including either recommending the amount proposed by the applicant, or a lesser amount.

If a greater number of proposals are submitted than funding is available, some of the proposals will be eliminated. In May of 2023, Women's Giving Circle members will vote to make the final grant selections and funds will be available after they are selected. Grant funding must be used in entirety by June 2024.

Grant Recipient Requirements

At the end of the funding year a two page report answering the questions provided is required. The report will be shared with the Women’s Giving Circle members. Please send the report via email by June 30, 2023. Recipients are also encouraged to attend the grant celebration event to discuss their funded project/program with Women’s Giving Circle members.