2025 Request for Proposals
Last Updated: October 10, 2024
Application Deadline: February 3, 2025
Purpose
The Sarcoma Foundation of America is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for pre-clinical, translational, and clinical research on the etiology, molecular biology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of human sarcomas. This RFP is in support 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 June 2, 2025, to June 1, 2026. 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 2025, 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
Review and Selection
SFA’s grant review process is based on the peer review system utilized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Applications are reviewed by the SFA Medical Advisory Board, composed of leading academic scientific sarcoma experts. Each application is assigned to three reviewers for independent and confidential review. An average of the reviewers’ scores is used to determine the final 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.
Report Deliverables
Grantees/PIs are required to submit a Final Report (research outcomes and impact) and Financial Report (list of cumulative expenditures) no later than two months after the end date of the period of performance. Please be aware that failure to provide these deliverables may adversely affect future funding to the organization and/or awards to the same PI. Instructions for the Final Report and Financial Report will be made available to awardees through our grant website: proposalCENTRAL.
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;
Application and Submission Information
Completed applications must be submitted by Monday, February 3, 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 4) – This section allows PIs to edit and existing profile as well as indicate expertise.
Institution & Contacts (section 5) – 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 6) – List Personnel and Collaborators who will be involved in the project performance.
Facilities Disclosure (Section 7) – Identify the project location, hospital space, institutional equipment. Briefly comment on whether/how the scientific work environment contributes to the probability of success and whether the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators is adequate for the project proposed.
Lay Abstract (section 8) – In addition to choosing a primary sarcoma subtype (and additional keywords if applicable), PIs need to give 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. Note: Instruction on the full proposal can be found under the Attachments section below.
Budget Period Detail and Summary (sections 9 & 10): Enter the allowable cost necessary and reasonable to complete the work described in the proposal during the period of performance.
- SFA grants are for a one-year period. Please use June 2, 2025, as the start date and June 1, 2026 as the end date of the project.
- The SFA does not permit funds to be used for 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 of the grant 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.
- Applicants are required to provide a written justification for the purchase of any permanent equipment items over $500. This justification is limited to 500 characters (including spaces).
- No more than 10% of the total cost amount of the grant can be applied to indirect cost (e.g., $7,500 indirect cost toward the $75,000 total cost of the grant).
- Where possible, please provide specific descriptions for each line-item cost and how the amount was determined. Please use multiple line items under a budget category to identify specific costs, rather than combine all costs into a single line-item. If more room is needed, the budget justification box at the bottom may be used.
Other Support (section 11) – Please add all of your existing and pending Support.
- To add your entries, please click the “+” link and all entries previously saved in your Professional Profile will show. Please select the applicable support, and save. If the program allows for Key Personnel and they have granted you at least View access to their profile, you can select Other Support from their profile as well.
- To add new Other Support entries, click the “Create New Other Support” button. By default, this entry will be added to your profile, unless the option “Add to Profile” is not selected. If you have Edit or Admin access to your Key Personnel’s profile, you can add new Other Support entries on their behalf to this application and update their profile as well.
Organization Assurances (section 12) – 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 vertebrate animal use, is the institution assured by the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) and is there an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval date?
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 13)
Biosketch Attachment
The Biosketch attachment is limited to two (2) pages, which means quantity or length may need to be limited (e.g., shorten biosketch for experience most relevant to application or supply biosketch for PI only). Do not submit manuscripts or journal articles. Biosketches, not CVs, are specifically requested to minimize submission length; the biosketch should describe individual expertise as it contributes to the application.
Research Proposal Attachment
The Research Proposal attachment is limited to four (4) pages. Applications with a Research Proposal attachment exceeding four 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:
- Significance/Relevance:
- Explain how the successful completion of the aims will change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field, now or in the future.
- Explain how the project addresses an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field.
- Include any preliminary data?
- Innovation:
- 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 and Timeline:
- Be sure the specific aims are well-defined.
- Ensure that expected outcomes for each aim are clearly described.
- Be sure the aims are able to be completed within the grant period of performance.
- Describe how the aims will be measure.
- 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.
- 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.
- References: Upload a bibliography of any references cited in the Research Proposal. The Reference list has no page limit.
Signature Page (section 15) – 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
Acknowledgement and Publicity
Proper acknowledgment is critical for our ability to continue supporting sarcoma advocacy, awareness and research. Publications, press releases and other documents that cite results/outcomes from SFA grant-supported research is expected to include an acknowledgement of SFA grant support such as “The research described was supported by grant # [sample format] 2025 SFA XX-24 from the Sarcoma Foundation of America.”
Given the typical delay in publishing in medical journals, we encourage other accessible and timely publishing options which describe/discuss the research and accomplishments to include: press releases, website content, publications, presentations, interviews, posters, abstracts, articles, or other communications with the appropriate SFA acknowledgement.
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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