Community Foundations Small awards are often not available to universities. These foundations are usually established to reflect the personal interest of the donor. They can be an outstanding opportunity if faculty or college interest coincides with the foundation because most have a history of repeat funding to favored recipients. The first step is usually a letter to the foundation to determine if there is interest in specific areas. Since industry often seeks senior faculty with a notable reputation, teaming with a senior faculty member may be good strategy.
Personal contacts are very important in industrial initiatives.
Many professional associations provide support for sponsored programs. Generally, individuals or the University must be a member of the association to be eligible and often the level of support is small. Internal University Support Clemson University supports a small internal grants program known as University Research Grants. Proposals are ranked using criteria that may vary between colleges. However, general criteria include support both for excellent scholarly research that may not have access to other external support funds, and for technical research that may be necessary before submitting requests for sustaining support from external funding agencies.