Corporate and Foundation Relations

More Information on Gifts, Funding, and Proposals

Purpose

The purpose of the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) is to advance public understanding and philanthropic support of the School’s educational mission by producing both unrestricted and designated gifts to CSM.

Within OIA, the Corporate and Foundation Relations staff works to secure philanthropic funding from private foundations and corporations.

Restricted Research Funding vs. Philanthropic Support of Research

Philanthropic gifts in support of research are distinguished from restricted funds (grants and contracts) in the following way: If the source of funds is unrestricted, and if all the work, results, reports, theses and presentations are open to the general public, i.e., are not proprietary to the funding organization, then the funding arrangement is philanthropic support of research.

All philanthropic gifts made in support of CSM are received and stewarded by the CSM Foundation, which is a non-profit organization.

The Foundation charges an annual management and program fee of 1% of the fund balance on all endowment funds. For current, non-endowed gifts, a one-time administrative fee of 8.5% is assessed upon receipt of the gift. Gifts for scholarships, graduate fellowships or student organization accounts are exempted from the fee. Administrative fees are used by Colorado School of Mines Foundation to help fund the annual unrestricted budget requested by Colorado School of Mines.

Services to Faculty

OIA staff maintains strong ties and has developed relationships with key contacts in a wide range of industries, corporations and private foundations.

Information regarding past interactions with corporations and foundations is available, and researchers are encouraged to consult OIA staff before approaching these organizations.

OIA staff also has access to databases and e-mail alert services, and can assist researchers by performing searches for funding sources.

OIA keeps on file the guidelines and application procedures for many of the private foundations, which are available for review.

Submitting a Proposal to a Private Foundation

The Foundation Center defines a private foundation as a non-governmental, nonprofit organization having a principal fund that is managed by its own trustees and directors, and that maintains or aids charitable, educational, religious, or other activities serving the public good, primarily by making grants to other nonprofit organizations.

Agencies such as NSF, ONR, etc. do not fall into this category, and requests for funding from these agencies should be processed through the Office of Research Services.

All proposals to private foundations must be submitted through OIA

In many cases, private foundations will accept only one proposal annually from an institution, and often have very specific requirements for submission.

OIA staff will serve as the point of coordination and will work with researchers to tailor a proposal to a foundation’s guidelines. In addition, all proposals submitted by OIA include a cover letter of endorsement signed by either the President or appropriate Vice President, adding additional strength to the proposal.

Please contact an OIA staff member before submitting a proposal to a private foundation.

Research Funding from Corporations

Corporations are often approached to support multiple research and program-related projects within the School.

Each year, department heads and the Vice President of academic affairs, in consultation with the OIA staff, set philanthropic priorities for the school and develop a list that identifies companies and projects to target for funding.

While philanthropic support of research activity is normally derived from different fund sources within a corporation than the funding targeted by OIA, researchers are encouraged to consult with their department heads or the OIA staff before seeking corporate funding, to avoid any potential conflicts.