American seed fund - Startups

Get started

https://seedfund.nsf.gov/apply/get-started/

Learn how startups can get up to $2 million to develop deep technologies. We'll walk you through our process and timeline, how to submit a Project Pitch and what to expect along the way.

The basics

https://seedfund.nsf.gov/apply/the-basics/

Learn about the research and development work we fund, the eligibility requirements, and our technology topic area

what we fund

We help startups navigate the earliest stages of technology translation, investing roughly $200 million annually in approximately 400 startups. Each startup can receive up to $2 million to support translational research and development. From advanced manufacturing to artificial intelligence to biological technologies to environmental technologies, we fund nearly all areas of technology.

Award History

https://seedfund.nsf.gov/awardees/history/

As of 08/12/2021

This page contains startup and small business award information since 2011. For awards prior to 2011, please use the NSF award search.

Project pitch

https://seedfund.nsf.gov/apply/full-proposal/

Submit a Project Pitch to see if your idea might be a good fit for NSF funding.

Timing

We accept Project Pitches at any time (24/7) and 365 days a year. Typically, it takes about one month to get an official response from NSF staff.

Instructions

The required Project Pitch allows startups to learn if their proposed project is a good fit for funding from America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF. See four key questions you'll be asked to answer.

Submission

We recommend treating the submission window like a deadline, but you can submit anytime within a year of receiving an official invitation from NSF. (NSF uses quarterly submission windows to help gather and review proposals, but sometimes proposals are reviewed as they are received.)

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21562/nsf21562.htm

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21563/nsf21563.htm

Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS number)

https://sam.gov/content/home

Processing time: Up to five business days

A DUNS number is a unique, nine-digit number that identifies each physical location of your company. You’ll need one in order to receive government funding. Because you’re applying for a DUNS number for government funding, processing time should take about five business days.

https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

https://www.research.gov/research-web/

Proposal review & decision

Once you submit your Phase I proposal, NSF finds at least three external experts (in technology, commercialization, or both) to review it and provide feedback.

All proposals are reviewed against the NSF merit review criteria, which cover the quality of research (intellectual or technical merit), its potential impact on society (broader impacts), and the commercial potential of the project (commercial impact).

Proposal documents and status

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/

Review your submission
To review your submitted Phase I proposal, login to Fastlane and navigate to the “Proposals, Awards, and Status” tab. The proposal status is also found on this page and, once a final decision has been made, the full text of the written (anonymous) reviewer feedback is available to the Principal Investigator here.

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This checklist was developed by CalNonprofits in consultation with the California Attorney General’s Office. Although we make every effort to identify errors and fix broken links, please help us keep up-to-date by contacting us if you find errors.

https://calnonprofits.org/resources/nonprofit-compliance-checklist

Forms for all 501(c)(3) nonprofits

Annual Registration Renewal Fee Report (RRF-1 Form)

Annual Treasurer's Report (CT-TR-1 Form and Instructions)

Exempt Organization Annual Information Return (FTB Form 199) (Instructions)

Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations FTB 199N

Statement of Information (Form SI-100)

U.S. Federal Forms

Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990) (Instructions)

Short form Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-EZ) (Instructions)

Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N) –

Academic Research Grantmakers

Carnegie Science Venture Grants

Carnegie Science Venture grants are internal awards of up to $150,000 that are intended to foster entirely new directions of research by teams of scientists that ignore departmental boundaries. Up to three adventurous investigations may be funded each year. The period of the award is two years, with a starting date within three months of the announcement of the selected projects

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Ocean Acidification Research

Coral reefs are havens for marine biodiversity and underpin the economies of many coastal communities. But they are very sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry resulting from greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to pollution, warming waters, overdevelopment, and overfishing. Reefs use a mineral called aragonite, a naturally occurring form of calcium carbonate, CaCO₃, to make their skeletons. When carbon dioxide, CO₂, from the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, it forms carbonic acid—the same stuff that makes soda fizz--making the ocean more acidic and thus more difficult for many marine organisms to grow their shells and skeletons and threatening coral reefs globally.

Ken Caldeira and colleagues have looked at several aspects of coral reef decline. In one study they calculated ocean chemical conditions that would occur under different future scenarios and determined that if we continue on our current emissions path, by the end of the century there will be no areas of the ocean with the chemical properties that have supported coral reef growth in the past. In another study at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the researchers found that carbonate accumulation is 44% lower than 40 years ago and that the reef dissolves nearly three times more at night than in the 1970s. They suspect that sea cucumbers are a factor in this nightly activity as they feed.

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Marilyn Fogel Endowed Fund for Internships

Established in June of 2016 with a generous gift of $50,000 from Marilyn Fogel and Christopher Swarth, the Marilyn Fogel Endowed Fund for Internships will provide support for “very young budding scientists” who wish to “spend a summer getting their feet wet in research for the very first time.” The income from this endowed fund will enable high school students and undergraduates to conduct mentored internships at Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory and Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington, DC starting in the summer of 2017.

Marilyn Fogel’s thirty-three year career at Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory (1977-2013), followed by four years at the University of California, have been remarkably creative and highly productive. Her indefatigable spirit, extraordinary energy, training as a biogeochemist, and expertise in stable isotope chemistry has led to many breakthroughs in the fields of paleo-ecology and climate change, astrobiology, and modern ecosystem studies. She has a special talent for inspiring other scientists to step outside of their comfort zones and join her in identifying and embracing new ways of approaching and solving scientific problems.

Marilyn has an equally special talent for mentoring young scientists, be they postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates, or high school students. She challenges them to think more creatively and broadly about science than they have ever thought before, providing them with the respect, attention and support that transform them in ways they could never have anticipated.

It is in this spirit that we are asking all of those whose lives have been touched by Marilyn to make a contribution in support of this endowed fund. By supporting this fund, you will help perpetuate the mentoring of talented young people who will someday, following in Marilyn’s capacious footsteps, take daring leaps into new ways of doing science.

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Anna Michalak’s team combined sampling and satellite-based observations of Lake Erie with computer simulations and determined that the 2011 record-breaking algal bloom in the lake was triggered by long-term agricultural practices coupled with extreme precipitation, followed by weak lake circulation and warm temperatures. The bloom began in the western region in mid-July and covered an area of 230 square miles (600 km²). At its peak in October, the bloom had expanded to over 1930 square miles (5000 km²). Its peak intensity was over 3 times greater than any other bloom on record. The scientists predicted that, unless agricultural policies change, the lake will continue to experience extreme blooms. The bloom remerged in 2014 with a vengeance, and released toxins causing problems with the drinking water in Toledo, Ohio.

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resources:

https://carnegiescience.edu/CSVgrants

https://carnegiescience.edu/projects/ocean-acidification-and-ocean-carbon-cycle

https://carnegiescience.edu/projects/marilyn-fogel-endowed-fund-internships-carnegie-institution-science

https://carnegiescience.edu/projects/water-quality