Related offices

Foundation Relations works with several offices at BU and is happy to help you coordinate your efforts with them.

Foundation Relations is a part of Boston University’s Development & Alumni Relations (DAR) which works to garner support for the University across all constituencies (e.g. foundations, corporations, alumni, and the general public).

When approaching a foundation connected to a company that has a planned or managed relationship with the University, we work with our colleagues in Industry Engagement. This BU office works to build strategic long-term relationships with industry, creating road maps that identify areas of mutual opportunity.

If you are a BUSM investigator, Proposal Development is a centralized pre-award service that offers a wide range of administrative support, including budget creation, sub-award setup, and component checklist creation for task management, as well as expertise in interpreting federal funder guidelines.

The Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (BU CTSI) serves as a center of expertise that provides tools, services, and resources to clinical and translational investigators to maximize the impact of their discoveries and speed the translation of their research to the bedside. In particular, it is committed to improving the health of vulnerable populations through novel discovery approaches and by engaging these populations in the research enterprise. Members of the BU CTSI Research Navigator Team (RNT) can provide guidance, linkages, resources, and concierge services to all investigators and their research teams for every stage of their translational research from planning to dissemination of findings.

In addition, our work often involves cooperation with BU’s Research Support, Federal Relations, and Sponsored Programs.

Research Support represents the University to key stakeholders in government, industry, and foundations and leads the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures to streamline and manage research. The Research Support page also provides information about useful BU resources, like a library of successful proposals written by and donated by BU faculty, for researchers and grant-seekers.

Federal Relations provides insights into federal funding trends, identifies federal grant opportunities tailored to individual investigators, and shares BU’s expertise with policymakers in Washington, DC.

Sponsored Programs supports the development and submission of proposals to all external sponsors, including federal, state, and local agencies, foundations, and corporations.

While Foundation Relations should always be contacted before soliciting a foundation, Sponsored Programs must always be contacted—and the processes it administers must be followed—when a BU investigator is submitting a grant (sponsored program or project) proposal, regardless of the nature of the funding agency. As steward of the University’s externally funded research portfolio, Sponsored Programs is responsible for ensuring that all research proposals and projects adhere to BU’s academic and research policies and meet obligations to external sponsors.