Yesterday, ORDE offered our final Know Your Agency Lunch of the semester on the American Cancer Society (ACS). Dr. Alison Bauer, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and recent ACS awardee, spoke to us about her experience applying to and working with the ACS. We also had Dr. Arthur Gutierrez-Hartmann, Professor in Molecular Biology, long-time ACS reviewer and former ACS council member participating in our discussion.
During the talk Drs. Bauer and Gutierrez-Hartmann shared some insights on the ACS based on their experience, outlined below.
It's important to work with the ACS Scientific Directors
The ACS encourages applicants to work with the Scientific Director in their program area. These Scientific Directors work very much like Program Officers, and are easy and eager to work with PI's as they develop their grants. Dr. Bauer attested to how important and useful it was to work with her Scientific Director throughout the process. Dr. Gutierrez-Hartmann recommended that if you're not funded the first time you apply, but receive good reviews, to continue working with your Scientific Director and they are likely to shepherd you through the process so that you're more likely to be funded in future submissions.
The ACS looks for on-going involvement from PI's
The ACS has a large philanthropic arm, including big fundraising events like their Relay for Life. Thus, ACS values their funded researchers' involvement in their community events. This includes encouraging funded researchers to get involved/volunteer, as well as favoring those grant applicants who have a history of volunteering and supporting ACS through their various outreach and fundraising programs.
ACS's "Pay If" Category
The funding rate for ACS is highly competitive, although they do not report success rates directly. In their review process, there are more projects that the reviewers recommend for funding than can be funded by the ACS immediately. These high-scoring grants are put into a "Pay If" category. These grants are not funded immediately; however, they are projects that are offered to ACS individual donors for funding if and when they are a good fit. In addition, if a PI that has been funded must turn down that funding (for instance, when they are offered funding by another source and choose to go with that one), then the ACS will go to those projects in the "Pay If" category to find a replacement project to fund. Learn more about this in the ACS grant application process or in this ACS press release (in the second to the last paragraph).
The ACS is a premiere sponsor, and if you think your research may be a good fit, then make sure to familiarize yourself with the ACS through their website: www.cancer.org and see the ORDE Know Your Agency Brief on the ACS to get started.
Resources
ORDE Know Your Agency Brief: American Cancer Society
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