Fund Database Searching

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that CU Denver | AMC faculty were welcome to contact ORDE to have us conduct a personalized fund search, but for those of you who are not part of our faculty or those who want to do their own fund search anyway, this blog is intended to give you some fund searching tips.

To get started, you need to identify a fund database to search. ORDE relies most heavily on the InfoEdGlobal database: SPIN. If you are on a CU campus, you can access and search the database from any computer, or if you are part of the CU system you can VPN in from off campus to conduct a search.

Use Filters
The first thing you want to do in SPIN is set your filters appropriately. Filters range from choosing a specific applicant type, including whether you are a junior or senior faculty member, to being able to sort opportunities based on eligibility around citizenship. Using filters is a good way to cut down on the number of funding opportunities that are returned for which you may be ineligible or that are not applicable to you.

Use Google Principles
SPIN's search function is really quite intuitive and you can search the database using the same search strategies as you're used to with google. If you don't consider yourself a google search pro, you can quickly access the search tips by clicking help in SPIN

Consider Sponsor Speak
Most disciplines have their own language for things, but to make your search as comprehensive as possible, you want to spend some time finding different ways to describe your research in your search. Some potential sponsors may be looking to fund the type of research you're doing, but they use different language or come at it from a slightly different perspective.  By rethinking the language you're using in your search, sometimes you can find new sponsors and opportunities.

Follow Through
Certainly, SPIN is an excellent fund database, but always staying on top of every sponsor's changes and updates is impossible, even for the most vigilant organization. Because of this, once you've found an opportunity, you're work is not yet done.  You need to go directly to the sponsor's website to double check that you are indeed eligible for the program, that there are no new updates to the program announcement that you need to consider, and last but not least it's important to begin familiarizing yourself with the agency to which you think you'll apply. Unless you've worked with the agency before, you likely need to do some digging on the agency to make sure your eventual grant is well-aligned with their goals.

Resources:
SPIN page - InfoEdGlobal