Proposals must be made using the SPF proposal form, following the instructions and guidelines on the DivCHED Strategic Projects Fund webpage. Applications must include: 

• Proposal coordinator (PC) name and contact information 
  Name and contact information of any co-coordinators or affiliated DivCHED groups
• Proposal description (limit: 1250 words, excluding any references)
• Budget (limit: $25,000)
• Disclosure declarations 

The projects and budget should be in compliance with all division policies for the use of DivCHED funds.

Proposal word and budget limits are intended to simplify proposal preparation and maximize the SPF’s ability to benefit the DivCHED membership. However, with approval of SPOC and the Chair Succession, exceptions to these limits may be possible in extraordinary circumstances. 

The proposal coordinator and any co-coordinators must be a current DivCHED member who has not received an SPF award (i.e., as coordinator or co-coordinator) within the past year. 

Proposals are accepted at any time, and reviewed three times per year based on the following submission deadlines:  

• February 1
• June 1
• October 1 

The Strategic Projects Oversight Committee (SPOC) conducts initial review of proposals and prepares a recommendation for the Chair Succession. During review, SPOC may contact the project coordinator with follow-up questions and/or requests for modest revisions. SPOC will promptly relay award notices once they are approved by the Chair Succession, no later than 30 days following each deadline.  

A description of proposal review criteria can be found in the SPF guidelines, available on the SPF webpage. 

The Project Coordinator is responsible for discussing the arrangements and processes for expending funds with the DivCHED Treasurer. 

The Coordinator will inform the SPOC chair of any substantive changes in the original timeline. If the activity is delayed more than 12 months from the original timeline, the funding allocation may be revoked. 

For supported requests, the Coordinator must submit a brief final report (detailed on the DivCHED SPF webpage) within one month of the end of the project describing how the project funds were spent and the extent to which the articulated goals or outcomes were achieved. Coordinators may be asked to provide a brief presentation of their project in broader division meetings. 

We neither encourage nor discourage the use of AI, and aim to allow ethical use of AI to assist the preparation of proposal and the execution of proposed work. We follow an approach similar to that used by the Spencer Foundation1: 

SPF proposals may be prepared with assistive, non-generative use of AI without disclosure. Assistative AI use includes use that aids with e.g., grammar, spelling, formatting, and readability of prepared materials. 

Applicants must disclose the use of generative AI to prepare SPF proposals and any intended use of generative AI in the proposed work. Generative AI use includes, e.g., prompted production of text, visualizations, and/or videos. Applicants are responsible for the accuracy of all materials involved in the proposal and proposed work, and for ensuring that any generative AI use does not contribute to exploitation or divulge private or protected information. 

Generative AI use is prohibited in proposal review and applicants should refrain from inputting proposal review comments into generative AI systems. 

All proposals must disclose if the proposed work is under consideration for funding by other sources. Proposals must also disclose if the proposed work is anticipated to receive matching or cost sharing support from any other sources, including from other DivCHED sources such as committee annual budgets. 

The disclosure should make clear what opportunities the SPF funds would make possible that would not otherwise be possible through the funds provided by any other sources. For other funding support currently under consideration, the proposal should make clear how the proposed work would change if those funds are awarded, as well any changes to the proposed plan if those funds are not awarded. 

Any potential conflicts of interest for any members of the proposed project team must be disclosed in the application. Potential conflicts of interest include but are not limited to a significant personal financial interest in the transaction or a significant role or office in any organization that may benefit from the proposed work. 

If a member of SPOC or the DivCHED Chair Succession holds a conflict of interest with a proposal, the conflict must be fully disclosed and the member must recuse themselves from participating in and influencing the review of the proposal. The member may participate in the review of other proposals, as long as the availability of funds does not limit the number of submitted applications that can receive awards in that cycle (i.e., granting one award does not influence the ability to grant others). 

The SPOC chair will provide an annual report to the Executive Committee that includes a list of the requests received, actions taken, funds allocated and expended, and the impact of the activity on advancing the Strategic Plan. 

SPOC will maintain a publically available record of funded proposals on the DivCHED website.