2026 Research Grant Letter of Intent
Last Updated: August 20, 2025
LOI Application Deadline: November 6, 2025
Purpose
The Sarcoma Foundation of America Research Grants support investigators conducting pre-clinical, translational, and clinical research on the etiology, molecular biology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of human sarcomas. This program supports of our overall mission to fund research and increase awareness and advocacy for sarcoma patients and their families. The goal of the SFA grant program is to encourage research that results in improved therapeutic options for sarcoma patients. The SFA encourages applications in ALL areas of sarcoma research.
Funding Availability
The total award amount is $75,000 for one year. The grants are awarded on an annual cycle from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. SFA encourages applications in ALL areas of sarcoma research from U.S. and international applicants. Some grants will be supported with special funding from our donors. For 2026, dedicated funding is available in, but not limited to, the following area: leiomyosarcoma.
For each awarded grant, funding of up to $75,000 in total cost is available to cover equipment, supplies and other expenses in support of research within the period of performance. In addition, the following funding restrictions apply:
- No more than 10% of the total cost amount can be applied to indirect cost (e.g., $7,500 indirect cost toward the $75,000 total cost of the grant)
- The SFA does not permit funds to be used for Principal Investigator (PI) salaries. However, applicants are permitted to request money for the payment of salaries for non-faculty post-docs, fellows, and technicians, if applicable. No more than 50% of total cost can be used for salaries (e.g., $37,500 for the $75,000 award). Applications requesting more than this amount for salaries will not be accepted.
Key Dates
| September 4, 2025 | Earliest LOI submission date on proposalCENTRAL |
| November 6, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET | LOI submission deadline |
| November 7, 2025 – January 9, 2026 (estimate) | SFA Medical Advisory Board scores and ranks LOIs |
| Mid-January 2025 (estimate) | Applicants notified of decision status of LOI |
| March 6, 2026 | Full applications due |
| Mid-May | Notification of Award |
| July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 | Grant Award Period of Performance (start date – end date) |
| August 31, 2027 | Final Research Report and Financial Report due in proposalCENTRAL (within two months of the end date) |
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be an MD, DO, PhD, or international equivalent, inside or outside the U.S., with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed sarcoma research;
- Each proposal must identify only one lead PI. The PI is responsible for the overall grant management, coordination and research oversight to include the deliverables;
- Applications from researchers outside of the U.S. must be able to provide a budget and accept funds in U.S. dollars;
- Returning SFA PIs and organizational grantees must be in compliance with any/all previous SFA grant deliverables
Review and Selection
The Competitive Letter of Intent is designed to identify projects with the greatest scientific potential and alignment with the program purpose without requiring applicants to submit a full application at the initial stage. A Letter of Intent is not written as correspondence to the Scientific Review Committee.
The Letter of Intent is limited to one page and must describe the proposed cancer research project, including the Specific Aims; Rationale, Preliminary Data, Methodology, and Approach; and Significance and Statement of Relevance. Relevant references must be attached and are limited to one page.
In addition to the research project description, the Letter of Intent will include:
- Lay Abstract, limited to 3,000 characters including spaces, which provides a clear, concise, and comprehensive overview of the proposed research project
- Applicant’s Biographical Sketch
Letters of Intent and full applications will be peer-reviewed by the SFA MAB which is comprised of leading researchers and physician-scientists respected for their own accomplishments in sarcoma research. A select number of applicants whose Letters of Intent are deemed most meritorious will be invited to submit full applications.
The following criteria will be considered when reviewing the letters of intent and invited full applications and determining funding decisions:
- Innovation and Significance. Is the scientific and technical merit of the proposed project of great significance? Is the proposed project of high quality, and does it provide innovative advances to an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in sarcoma research? How will successful completion of the aims change and/or change the currents concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, or preventative interventions that drive the field of sarcoma research? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to sarcoma research?
- Investigator. Is the applicant well-suited to the project? Does the applicant have appropriate experience and training to successfully complete the proposed project?
- Approach. Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well‐reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems and alternative strategies discussed? Can the aims be completed within the grant period of performance? Is the budget fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed project? (*The budget will be evaluated only for the invited full applications.)
- Institutional Environment. What institutional support, equipment, and resources are available to the applicant and are they adequate to successfully complete the proposed project? (*The institutional environment will be evaluated only for the invited full applications.)
Each LOI will be reviewed independently and confidentially by multiple reviewers. An average of the reviewers’ scores is used to determine the ranking of each proposal. Any reviewer with a conflict of interest is excused from voting on a specific proposal. The highest scoring grant applications are recommended for funding to SFA’s Board of Directors, who approve the final selection of grant awards. Selections for funding are based on scores from scientific reviewers based on the potential for the research effort to result in improved therapeutic options for sarcoma patients and available funding.
LOI Application and Submission Information
Completed applications must be submitted by November 6, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET. Researchers must submit proposals electronically at proposalCENTRAL, an e-grantmaking website shared by many government, non-profit, and private grant-making organizations. The SFA does not accept applications via e-mail or paper applications.
First-time users are required to register and complete a professional profile in order to apply for an SFA research grant. If you have any questions about registration, how to apply, or other logistical application questions, please contact the proposalCENTRAL customer support at 800 875 2562 (Toll-free U.S. and Canada), or +1 703 964 5840 (Direct Dial International) or by email at pcsupport@altum.com.
The online SFA application consists of the following components:
Title Page (section 1) – Enter title of proposal/application and choose from one of the following research areas:
- Immunotherapy
- Omic characterization of sarcomas and definition of novel targets
- Omic patterns of sensitivity and resistance to existing agents
- Systemic therapy combinations
- Gene Therapy
- Other
Applicant/PI professional profile (section 2) – This section allows PIs to edit and existing profile as well as indicate expertise.
Institution & Contacts (section 3) – Applicant’s institution is pre-loaded as Lead Institution. To change, select from list. Applicants are asked to select an Institutional Financial Officer/Signing Official.
Key Personnel (section 4) – List Personnel and Collaborators who will be involved in the project performance.
Lay Abstract (section 5) – In addition to choosing a primary sarcoma subtype (and additional keywords if applicable), PIs need to provide a summary, in 3,000 characters or less (including spaces), of the written research proposal. Applicants should prepare their abstract in language accessible to a general scientific audience and avoid jargon. Be sure to include all important objectives/aims as well as a brief description of the methods to achieve them. The relevance, significance and innovation of the proposal as it applies to the treatment of sarcoma should be included.
Organization Assurances (section 6) – It is the responsibility of the PI/grantee to obtain all necessary IRB and IACUC approvals prior to engagement in human subjects and vertebrate animal research, respectively.
If the project involves human participant clinical research with prospective enrollment, collection of samples/data or use of samples/data with access to identifiers, does the institution have an FWA and is there an IRB approval date? Optional guidance to assess your project can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm?
Attachments (section 7)
Letter of Intent Template Attachment
The Letter of Intent Template is limited to two (2) pages (one page for the Narrative and one page for References). Applications with an LOI attachment exceeding two pages will not be accepted. Please identify the specific aims, research activities, outcomes and contributions of the proposed research, including the innovative components that will advance the field. Specifically describe the relevance of the research to addressing human sarcoma therapies, and the potential to make significant advances. Items to consider include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Innovation and Significance:
- Explain how the project addresses an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field.
- Explain how the successful completion of the aims will change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive the field of sarcoma research, now or in the future.
- Include any preliminary data.
- Explain how the application seeks to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions.
- Approach:
- Describe the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses in a well-reasoned manner and how they are appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project.
- Describe any potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success.
- Be sure the specific aims are well-defined; Ensure that expected outcomes for each aim are clearly described.
- Be sure the aims can be completed within the grant period of performance.
- Describe how the aims will be measured.
- Explain how the rationale and timing of the measurements are defined and are appropriate.
- Describe how relevant outcomes/data from the project will be disseminated/shared.
- References:
- Include a bibliography of any references cited in the Research Proposal. The Reference list has a one (1) page limit.
Signature Page (section 8)
E-Signatures must be provided by the Applicant/PI and Signing Official at the Applicant/PI’s Institution. The Signing Official must be added in the Institution & Contacts section of this application. The person selected in this section of the application will be the required signatory for the proposal to validate and be successfully submitted. The Signing Official must log into ProposalCentral using their own credentials to access and e-sign the application. After the signing official logs into the Applications portal, they will see the proposal listed on their Home tab. The Signing Official can access the application, review and complete the signing requirement.
Complete online application instructions can also be found at the following links:
How to Register your Institution with proposalCENTRAL (Grants and Contracts Officials Only)
How to Register as a proposalCENTRAL user
How to Create an Application using proposalCENTRAL
Contacts Related Notices
Questions about SFA research grants can be sent to sfagrants@curesarcoma.org.
Questions about registration, how to register/apply, error or system problems or other logistical application questions should contact the proposalCENTRAL customer support at 800 875 2562 (Toll-free U.S. and Canada), or +1 703 964 5840 (Direct Dial International) or by email at pcsupport@altum.com.
Please refer to our Grants FAQ for additional information.
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