Engaged Opportunity Grants support campus-community partnerships that create community-engaged learning activities for undergraduate students. Grants can fund a project or a network–building effort addressing an issue of public concern.

Project Engaged Opportunity Grants fund teams to collaboratively produce a program or product on a specific timeline. Project Grants can, among other things:

• Produce and disseminate “public products” in support of and/or celebrating community-engaged learning
• Present and document community-engaged events
• Evaluate a community-engaged learning project

Network Engaged Opportunity Grants connect undergraduates with networks of people and programs collaborating around an issue of public concern. Students, faculty, staff, community partners and alumni are dedicated to addressing public issues and creating social change, and many could be working on the same issues and not even know it. We stand to learn more and generate more impact together, in conversation and collaboration with different groups. Successful teams will design a process for healthy collaboration to coordinate and expand resources, deepen impacts and create more effective agents of change. Network Engaged Opportunity Grants can, among other things:

• Raise awareness and visibility about a public issue and the university-community work being done to address it;
• Deepen and broaden university-community partnerships to better approach community issues in an interdisciplinary way;
• Increase positive impact on communities around the issue being addressed.

Engaged Opportunity Grants are not intended for projects that serve one individual undergraduate. 

Do you have an idea not listed here? Contact the Einhorn Center Grants and Awards Coordinator Whitney Tassie to discuss your project.

This grant is available to faculty and staff from schools, colleges and other central units (SCL, HR, Facilities, etc.), along with select community partners.

Due to the funding already provided via the Engaged College Initiative, single applicants from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning; College of Human Ecology; Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; and School of Industrial and Labor Relations are not eligible for this grant and should apply for community-engaged learning funding directly through their college. However, applicants from existing Engaged Colleges may apply when in collaboration with individuals from another college (e.g. ILR/CAS, CALS/JCB, etc. joint proposals). 

Eligible community partners include Cornell affiliate organizations (e.g., Cornell Cooperative Extension, Center for Transformative Action) and community-based coalitions in active partnership with Cornell with proposals impacting New York state. Community partners should consult Einhorn Center Grants and Awards Coordinator Whitney Tassie to determine eligibility.

Temporary staff, students and alumni are encouraged to be team members but cannot serve as team leads, who play the primary role in leading the grant team, communicating with the Einhorn Center and receiving grant funds. 

Projects that have already received an Engaged Opportunity Grant may only apply for a Network Engaged Opportunity Grant.

Funding for grants will not exceed $5,000, and grantees might not receive their full budget request. 

Project Engaged Opportunity Grants have a 1-year term. Network Engaged Opportunity Grants may request a no-cost extension.

Engaged Opportunity Grants are not renewable. At the end of the approved grant period, grantholders will return remaining funds to the Einhorn Center.

Engaged Opportunity Grants are not retroactive and can only support programs or networking that take place after posted notification dates.

All budget lines must be justified. Applicants should make their case for the use of funds most appropriate to their need.

Please note that funding for conference travel will be limited to $500 per traveler.

The following are examples of allowable expenses; however, Network Grants should not direct funds toward project activities.

• Faculty and/or staff support:
  • Travel, meals and lodging associated community-engaged learning conducted off campus
  • Project planning, development, assessment and dissemination
  • Reservation of space
  • Materials that support the project
• Student support:
  • Travel, meals and lodging associated with community-engaged learning conducted off campus
  • Direct costs incurred by students involved in the project (e.g., conference registration)
  • Costs of publication
  • Systems that support the student work experience (graphics, software, enrollment in online training, etc.)
  • Wages for students (work study, other).
    • Information about Cornell student employment and federal work-study is available at studentemployment.cornell.edu/policies
• Partner support:
  • Funds that support the participation of the off-campus community in the experience and/or documentation, including expenses necessary to build capacity for partner participation
  • Honoraria for outside speakers and/or consultants to complement project planning and student learning
  • Speaker travel costs

The following expenses cannot be supported by Einhorn Center grant funds:

• Overhead and indirect costs (IDC)
• Tuition
• Capital projects
• Faculty or staff salaries
• Post-graduation wages or travel costs for students.

There are three application cycles per year. Prospective applicants are encouraged to consult the Einhorn Center at any time during the application process.

Proposals must be submitted using the online application form, and include the following information, within the space limits described on the form. Forms will differ slightly from the text below, depending on the nature of the funding request.

• Project title
• Team leadership contact information
• Signed endorsements from the supervisors of team leads
• Letter(s) of community partner collaboration
• Letters of support from collaborators (optional)
• Succinct summary, to be shared publicly, describing the context, purpose and activities of the team
• Short narratives describing:
  • For Project grants: How the project will address a community-identified need.
  • For Network grants: How the team will work together to address a clearly-defined public issue. 
  • Goals and intended outcomes
  • Clearly identified community partner(s), their role and the benefit of the work to the partner(s)
  • Role of undergraduate students, anticipated student learning outcomes and how they will be assessed
  • Estimated timeline for important milestones during grant period
  • How the proposed work will meet the four criteria for community-engaged learning
  • How the work advances a discipline, promotes positive civic/social impact and/or contributes to the field of community-engaged learning
  • Methods the team will use to assess impact and evaluate progress, growth and effectiveness
  • Potential to sustain impact beyond the grant period

• Additional project information (e.g., course prerequisites, project completion date, conference abstract), as appropriate
• Estimated number of Cornell undergraduate students targeted by the proposal
• Budget and budget justification

Grantees are required to submit a final report using a template provided. Via the annual report, grantees will provide:

• Summary of activities
• Evaluations of impact
• Description of use of funds
• Future plans for sustained impact 
• Documentation of student participation
• Evaluation of student learning outcomes. Grantees may use an assessment tool of their own devising or one of those provided by the Einhorn Center.
• Documentation of partner participation
• Evaluation of the partnership, including community partner voice and feedback. Grantees may use a Partnership Assessment Tool of their own devising or one of those provided by the Einhorn Center. 

Additional follow-up may be requested depending on the nature of the funding request.

Einhorn Center staff and leadership will review proposals, with selections being made by applying the following criteria, as appropriate:

• Potential to increase opportunities for Cornell undergraduates to participate in high-quality community-engaged learning opportunities
• For Project grants: Evidence of community-identified need. Letters of support from community partners and collaborators are especially valuable.
• For Network grants: Clear articulation of the public issue that the network will address
• For Network grants: Potential of network to involve multiple stakeholder groups, including faculty, staff, students, community partners and alumni. Letters of support from community partners and collaborators are especially valuable.
• Feasibility
• Potential for sustaining the work beyond the life of the grant

Given the competitive funding environment, the Einhorn Center prioritizes projects that amplify people and projects on the margins, cultivating partnerships where gaps exist, such as with historically marginalized communities and projects that connect urban and rural communities.