2019-2020 Investment Fund Report

The President’s Cabinet has set aside Investment Funds to provide one-time, temporary funding for a variety of campus projects. Any person or unit, academic or administrative, can apply for Investment Funds. Successful applications will meet clearly documented needs, have identifiable outcomes, and include implementation and assessment plans. Investment Funds may not be used to fund faculty lines of any sort or to fund permanent staff lines. However, they may be used to fund undergraduate or graduate student workers.

The 2019-20 Investment Funds differ in significant ways from those established in prior years. Both the number and type of funds have changed, as well as the competitive process to apply for funds.

The following are all the proposals being funded July 1, 2019. Across the three funds (Strategic Priorities, CNFA, and Venture), 32 full proposals were submitted, of which 16 proposals were funded, totaling $467,750, as follows:

Strategic Priorities Fund

Core Needs, Facilities & Alterations Fund (CNFA)

Venture Fund

  • None funded

The President’s Cabinet, in consultation with the college-wide Joint Planning and Budget Committee (JPBC), is pleased to announce the availability of three Investment Funds for fiscal year 2019-20, as listed below.

A new, streamlined application process has been developed for the 2019-20 funding cycle that differs from prior years. Applications go through a two-step competitive process involving the submission of a short Letter of Intent, and after careful review of these, select applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

  • The Strategic Priorities Fund — To provide one-time temporary funds for projects that directly address a measure of success in the strategic plan that have been identified as funding priorities by Goal Groups for the 2019-20 funding cycle. Applications for Strategic Priorities funds must directly address one (and only one) of the measures of success listed below. A full description of each measure can be found in the College’s Strategic & Operational Plans.
  • Core Needs, Facilities & Alterations Fund — To provide one-time funds to support pressing unbudgeted or under-supported academic/operational/administrative needs, facilities and alterations, and initiatives that build long-term capacity, such as staff development (but not lines), investment in infrastructure, and risk management initiatives.
  • Venture Fund — To temporarily fund new pilot projects, including new academic offerings or delivery systems, that respond to student demand or promise to increase new student enrollment; retention efforts; and/or other new projects that will serve as demonstration or “proof of concept” projects. These funds are not intended to fund new academic programs. New academic programs require significant research and development and entail separate approval activities, placing them well outside the definition of “pilot projects” to which this fund is aimed.

Any person or unit, academic or non-academic, can submit Investment Fund proposals for review for funding in 2019-20. The application guidelines and timeline are attached, and also available online.

Important deadlines to note include Monday, October 1, 2018 for submitting initial Letters of Intent and, for those invited to submit full proposals, Friday, November 30, 2018.

The Cabinet, informed by JPBC review, will make final funding decisions. The target date for final award notification is late February, 2019.

For questions about the Investment fund proposal process, how to develop a Letter of Intent, or about the three specific types of funds available, please contact Denise Copelton or Rey Sia.

For MachForm functional questions, please contact Pat Maxwell.

Links

Call Letter
Guidelines
Timeline
Letter of Intent

RESOURCE DOCUMENTS

Internal Loan Fund
Dean’s Council Policy on Stipend Requests
Budget Template
Scoring Template