VPDoR $7,500 Propel Grant FY27

Updated: September 28, 2026

Propel Grants are proposal development awards. They fund activities that make a submittable proposal stronger, not activities that make it submittable. If you could not submit without the proposed activities, your project is at an earlier stage than the program supports.

This award

Up to $7,500 in direct costs, paid as a reimbursement, for a period of up to 6 months. Most awards are $5,000 or less.

A request above $5,000 is considered when a single activity costs more than usual. Identify that cost in your list of expenses and explain why it exceeds what $5,000 would cover. Adding further activities does not justify a higher request.

Total Propel support for one project may not exceed $50,000 across all awards. The targeted external budget should be at least 20 times the total Propel support requested.

Timing

Decisions are typically announced within two weeks, though applications that go to peer review take longer. Apply early enough that the funded work can be completed before your sponsor's deadline. We recommend applying at least four months ahead.

Before you start, all of these should be true

• You are Stanford faculty who meets the University's PI eligibility requirements. School of Medicine applicants include at least one co-PI whose home department is in another Stanford school.

• Your project is collaborative. Single-investigator or narrowly focused projects are not eligible.

• The external funding mechanism you are targeting is “beyond the usual” for your discipline: unusually large-scale or ambitious in team complexity, integrated structure, scale, or sponsor requirements.

• You plan to submit the external proposal within 12 months.

What to submit

One PDF. Three pages maximum, including figures. Minimum 11-point font, 1-inch margins. Appendices do not count toward the page limit.

1. Research idea for the external proposal. The problem and your proposed solution in non-technical terms, and the completed work that shows the team is ready to submit.

2. Show fit and scale. Why the targeted opportunity is unusually large, complex, or resource-intensive for your discipline, and what the sponsor requires that a standard grant does not.

3. Propel Grant activities. The concrete activities Propel will fund, how each one improves the competitiveness of the external proposal, and a timeline with milestones and expected outcomes.

4. Team composition. Names, titles, and departments or institutions; the lead PI and any co-PIs; and evidence that the team is coordinated and capable of executing both the Propel activities and the external project.

5. External funding plan. Sponsor name, program name or identifier, deadline, expected budget request, and solicitation URL. Include a contingency plan in case the opportunity, timeline, or submission plan changes.

6. List of expenses and associated costs. Small applications do not need the full Budget and Justification section. Add a brief note if your request exceeds $5,000.

7. Appendices (optional). References or works cited, a list of current and pending support, and a PDF of the targeted solicitation.

What reviewers look for

• Strategic Proposed Activities

• Ambition of the Targeted Opportunity

• Readiness to Submit

• Appropriate Budget

• Feasibility

• Potential for External Funding

The strongest applications spend most of their narrative on the Propel Grant activities, how those activities will make the external proposal more competitive, and establishing alignment, not on the research project itself. To stay within the page limit, use concise language, short paragraphs, and tables or bullet points where appropriate, and include only information essential for reviewers to evaluate your application against the review criteria.

More detail

The RFA has the full instructions.

The FAQs cover allowable costs, examples of funded activities, budget guidance, and eligibility questions, and we highly encourage reading them before you apply.