Targeted Grants to Institutes program. Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations, The Simons Foundation, Inc. reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (SFI) for consideration and funding, in which case SFI’s grant policies would apply.
The program is intended to support established institutes or centers in the mathematics and physical sciences through funding to help strengthen contacts within the international scientific community. Our aim is to enable institutes to extend and enhance their missions; this program will not provide primary support for operating or establishing an institute.
The Targeted Grants to Institutes program provides funding for up to three years and up to $250,000 per year, which includes up to 20 percent of direct costs per year in indirect costs to the institution, per the foundation’s indirect cost policy. Awards can begin no earlier than January 1, 2026, and must begin no later than July 1, 2026. For awards beginning January 1, 2026, awards will be retroactively started and grant funds available no sooner than March 2026. Awards will not be considered for renewal. Awardees can reapply to the Targeted Grants to Institutes program for new funding for a period after their current award ends.
The funding provided is flexible and based on the type of support requested by the institution in the proposal. Please see the Simons Foundation’s grant policies for further guidelines.
The foundation expects to award up to ten grants each year.
Applications must be submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM), https://sam.simonsfoundation.org/. The deadline to apply is October 2, 2025, 12 p.m. (noon) EDT.
Founded in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons, the foundation supports discovery-driven mathematics and basic science research via core programs including individual investigator grants and collaborative awards .
The prestigious Simons Investigators awards (targeting mid-career faculty) provide $150K–192K/year over five years to foster deep, sustained theoretical research and mentorship .
The Simons Collaborations are large, multidisciplinary grants (often lasting 10 years and totaling $5–12M/year) designed to foster novel, team-based research across disciplines — mathematics, life sciences, and computational neuroscience .
Programs such as Early Career Investigator Awards (e.g., in aquatic microbial ecology) help launch independent labs in emerging fields by funding early-stage faculty within their first few years on the tenure track .
Simons Investigators are mid-career, tenured faculty (typically in the U.S., Canada, U.K., or Eire), chosen through institutional nomination (up to two per subfield) .
Early career awards require independent faculty appointments within ~5 years (e.g., aquatic microbial ecology award: appointment between 2018–2023 for the 2024 cycle) .
Simons Investigator nominations come from institutions and emphasize diversity of nominees; initial LOI review is typically single-blind or blinded to reduce bias .
Grants allow usage across salaries, trainees, travel, visitors, equipment, and supplies—but explicitly exclude sabbatical/teaching relief, giving scientists freedom to allocate resources responsibly .
Submissions and budgets go through proposalCENTRAL/SAM, institutional sign-off and compliance checks, with strict deadlines and standard formatting rules for pages, fonts, biosketches, justification, etc. .
The foundation proactively encourages nominations from underrepresented groups, and maintains equity principles across all divisions.
✅ Winning Strategies: What Successful Applicants Do
Predictor | Actionable Tip |
---|---|
Appropriate career stage | Mid-career faculty aim for Investigator awards; early career faculty for specific Investigator programs. |
Institution nomination | Coordinate with your department ahead of limited internal selections. |
Bold, fundamental questions | Frame proposals as paradigm-shifting, engaging cross-disciplinary curiosity. |
Planning for long-term impact | Propose multi-year programs with mentorship and community engagement in mind. |
Institutional compliance | Ensure proposalCENTRAL/SAM submission, deadlines, and format are tightly followed. |
Equity-focused nomination | Encourage departments to nominate diverse, high-potential candidates. |
Innovative, data-driven budget | Allocate funds flexibly to advance research ambitions. |
Applications may be submitted by established U.S. and foreign public and private educational and nonprofit institutes and research centers. The program is not intended to support institutes or centers whose main purpose is to provide a focal point for research of faculty at a specific university. This program will not support national labs, or the equivalent, with a primary focus on experiments.
Simons Foundation employees who receive a W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) from the Simons Foundation, including employees of the Flatiron Institute, may not apply as a principal investigator (PI) to any Simons Foundation or Simons Foundation International requests for applications (RFAs) released by the Simons Foundation. PIs and any project personnel listed on the application who will receive funding for salary, travel, support for students, postdocs or research staff, lab equipment, computing time or other individual expenses may not be employees of the Simons Foundation, which includes the Flatiron Institute.
Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Simons Foundation
Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit
Address: 160 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor New York, New York 10010
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Oct 02, 2025
$250,000
Affiliation: Simons Foundation
Address: 160 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor New York, New York 10010
Website URL: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/targeted-grants-to-institutes/
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