CORPORATE & FOUNDATION RELATIONS
Faculty/Staff Resources
ABOUT CORPORATE & FOUNDATION RELATIONS:
The mission of the NIU Foundation’s Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations (CFR) is to advance the institution’s mission by catalyzing game-changing collaborations. We manage philanthropic partnerships with companies and private foundations on behalf of NIU.
The CFR team can assist with strategic project planning and ideation; identifying potential funding partners; cultivating relationships with funders; supporting grant writing and submission; securing internal approvals; gathering required documentation; and post-award reporting and stewardship.
For assistance, please email us at cfr@niu.edu.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:
Funding Digest – Corporate & Foundation Opportunities: The CFR staff will update this list on a monthly basis; please be sure to check back monthly to ensure you’re gathering information from the most up-to-date list. Please note, this link will automatically download the most up-to-date listing.
Managed Corporate & Foundation Partnerships: For this list of companies and foundations, we require that you contact and obtain approval from our team at CFR@niu.edu prior to any contact. Entities may appear on this list due to existing institutional strategy, preferences of the company/foundation leadership, and/or limitations on the number of applications that the institution can submit. The CFR staff will review and update this list regularly; the list is subject to change.
Halo: Halo is a platform where corporate research and development professionals post sponsored research and other partnership opportunities.
SPIN: Grants search engine available through the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships; see instructions in the Core Databases tab on The Office of Research Development’s (ORD) Find Funding page.
Funding Institutional: Grants search database available through University Libraries that provides targeted funding recommendations and alerts based on a pre-populated research profile. It is available with your NIU credentials; see instructions on how to register.
GRANT WRITING RESOURCES:
The CFR team has developed templates that include commonly requested information for grant applications, along with a guide to using AI for grant writing. Most funders provide a specific grant application for you to complete (typically through an online portal) and/or provide formatting requirements. Keep in mind that with corporations and foundations, it is critical to individualize the request to match your work with the funder’s specific program area and funding guidelines. Click on the name of the template(s) you wish to download, and the PDF(s) will automatically download.
• Letter of Inquiry Template
• Grant Narrative Template
• Grant Budget Template
• Using AI for Grant Writing Guide
STAFF:
Luke Sebby, Executive Director of Strategic Development
Erin Smith, Sr. Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations
Sam Guerrero, Director of Advancement, Institutional & Regional Initiatives
Meagan Trilnick, Asst. Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations
Jacob DaSilva, Prospect Researcher