OVERVIEW: The Russell Sage Foundation funds social science research projects concerning behavioral economics, labor, race, immigration, poverty, inequality and the future of work in the U.S.
IP TAKE: The Russell Sage Foundation is one of the oldest foundations in the U.S. and an accessible source of support for researchers in the social sciences, although funding is limited to scholars working in the foundation’s priority areas. Except for one journalism fellowship, support is strictly limited to scholars conducting research in the social sciences at U.S.-based universities. Each program page provides detailed information about eligibility, application guidelines and due dates, so be sure to check these carefully. This is an approachable foundation, so reach out with questions if you aren’t sure which program is right for you. This funder does not support direct interventions or services.
PROFILE: Established by Margaret Olivia Sage in the early 1900s, the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF)’s work involves “strengthening the methods, data, and theoretical core of the social sciences.” This funder supports research in four thematic areas: Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context; Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality.
Foundation grants support researchers at various stages in their careers or with varying goals and needs.
- Core Research Grants support social science research projects with funding intended “primarily for analyzing data and writing up results.” Grants are awarded in two main categories:
- Trustee grants are awarded in amounts of up to $200,000 over two years, “including 15% indirect costs.”
- Presidential grants are awarded in amounts of up to $75,000 over two years, “including 15% indirect costs.”
- Dissertation Research Grants offer up to $15,000 in support to early-career scholars for “innovative and high-quality dissertation research projects that address questions relevant to RSF’s priority areas.”
- The Pipeline Grants Competition promotes “diversity in the social sciences, including racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity” The program supports early career scholars working in the foundation’s priority areas.
The Russell Sage Foundation also offers Visiting Fellowships programs:
- The Visiting Scholars program is a ten-month fellowship for between 15 to 17 scholars each year who are “at least two years beyond the Ph.D.” and pursuing work areas related to the foundation’s stated funding priorities.
- The Visiting Researcher program consists of short-term fellowships for scholars conducting research that falls within the foundation’s priority areas. These residencies are awarded on an “as space permits basis” and are not accompanied by financial support.
- The Margaret Olivia Sage Scholars program invites “distinguished social scientists to spend brief periods in residence at the Russell Sage Foundation” to conduct research and “participate in the intellectual activities of the Foundation.”
- Additionally, the Russell Sage Foundation publishes books and the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.
Grants for Economic Development and Democracy
The Sage Foundation’s grants and fellowship programs support research in the social sciences to better understand economic, social, and political factors:
- Sage’s Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context priority area supports research that aims “to further our understanding of economic, social, political, and psychological decision-making processes, attitudes, behaviors, and institutional practices in public and private contexts such as policing/criminal legal systems, employment, housing, politics, racial/ethnic relations, and immigration.” Relevant disciplines include but are not limited to economics, psychology, political science, sociology, law and public policy.
- The Future of Work program supports research that “examines the causes and consequences of the deteriorating quality of low-wage jobs in the United States.” Topics of interest have included technology, labor union decline, immigration, the outsourcing of jobs to other countries and minimum wage.
Grants for Immigrants, Racial Justice and Equity
The foundation’s grants and fellowships support racial equity and immigrants through two funding areas, as well as two special initiatives.
- Grants focused on Social, Political, and Economic Inequality support research examining “the factors that contribute to social, political, and economic inequalities in the U.S., and the extent to which those inequalities affect social, political, psychological, and economic outcomes.”
- The Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration program’s grants support research addressing “questions stemming from the significant changes in the racial, ethnic, and immigrant-origin composition of the U.S. population.” This program prioritizes multi-disciplinary “perspectives and methods” and aims to “foster an understanding of how we might better achieve the American ideals of a pluralist society.”
- Immigration and Immigrant Integration is a special initiative funded in collaboration with the Carnegie Corporation. These grants prioritize “innovative research on the effects of race, citizenship, legal status and politics, political culture and public policy on outcomes for immigrants and for the native-born of different racial and ethnic groups and generations.”
- Race-Conscious College Admissions Ban is a special initiative operated in collaboration with the Hewlett, Spencer, and William T. Grant foundations that is focused on the impact of the 2023 Supreme Court decision to ban race-conscious admissions in higher education. It supports research into the ban’s “downstream effects,” such as “whether and how the decision alters the college-to-career pipeline” and public perception of race-conscious policies.
Grants for Criminal Justice
The foundation’s primary opportunity in criminal justice is the Causal Research on the Criminal Justice System grant program, which awards funding up to $100,000. This program for early-career scholars seeks to “cultivate a pipeline of researchers conducting causal research on the criminal justice system,” including “the work of police, courts, jails, prisons, probation and parole, and immigration detention.”
Grants for Journalism
The Visiting Journalists fellowship program aims to “provide journalists the time and resources needed to carry out an original project” and to provide journalists with the opportunity to interact “with resident visiting scholars who might help inform the development of these projects.” Applications should have five to seven years of experience reporting in one of the foundation’s priority areas.
Important Grant Details:
The Russell Sage Foundation’s grants are awarded in amounts set by its individual grantmaking programs and generally range from $1,000 to $200,000. Its largest grants don’t go much above that. It awards between $15-20 million annually and has more than $456 million in assets.
- Grantmaking is limited to support for research and writing in various disciplines of the social sciences. This funder does not support direct interventions or services.
- Grantmaking is also strictly limited to work that relates to the foundation’s stated funding priorities.
- Multidisciplinary and collaborative work is welcome.
- The foundation accepts letters of inquiry and/or applications for all of its grant and fellowship programs and links detailed application information to each program page.
- Eligibility, guidelines and due dates vary significantly by program.
- Grants are mainly limited to researchers and teams working at universities in the U.S, and, with only a few exceptions, research grant applicants must hold doctoral degrees.
- Sage accepts letters of interest through its application portal for three annual grantmaking cycles, with due dates that change each year, but generally fall in spring, summer and fall. After peer review, approximately 15% of applicants will be invited to submit full proposals.
- Information about past recipients is generally linked to each grant or fellowship program page.
- Direct questions to the foundation’s staff at programs@rsage.org or by telephone at (212) 750-6000.
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