CRE Innovation Seed Grant

The CRE Innovation Seed Grant provides small, strategic investments to help School of Education faculty experiment with new ideas, test emerging approaches, develop partnerships, and explore opportunities that could lead to larger research, evaluation, community-engaged scholarship, or external funding initiatives.

The fund supports innovative, exploratory, and forward-looking work. We encourage faculty to propose early-stage ideas that benefit from modest resources to test a concept, pilot an approach, establish a partnership, generate preliminary evidence, or explore a new opportunity.

The Innovation Seed Grant provides catalytic funding to help faculty move an idea to its next stage and creates new opportunities for the faculty member and CRE.

 

Projects may include, but are not limited to:

• Pilot or exploratory research and evaluation studies designed to test new ideas, approaches, or methodologies.
• Community-engaged scholarship and partnership development with schools, districts, nonprofits, government agencies, or other stakeholders.
• Development and testing of innovative programs, tools, resources, or services with potential to expand educational impact or CRE capacity.
• Exploration of emerging opportunities, challenges, or areas of inquiry that align with CRE's mission and strategic priorities.
• Capacity-building activities that position faculty, partners, or CRE for future research, evaluation, or engagement initiatives.
• Preliminary work that strengthens competitiveness for external funding, including planning activities, needs assessments, partnership development, and collection of pilot data.
• Creative, experimental, or high-potential projects that may generate future scholarship, partnerships, programs, services, or funding opportunities.

Innovation may take different forms. A proposal does not need to introduce an entirely new idea or technology. It may involve applying an existing approach in a new context, developing a partnership, testing a methodology, addressing an emerging need, or creating a new pathway for research, evaluation, or community engagement.

Application Requirements

1. Project Title - Provide a concise title for the proposed innovation or project.
2. Project Description

   1. The idea, problem, opportunity, or emerging need

   2. What you propose to explore, develop, test, or pilot

   3. What makes the work innovative or exploratory

   4. The activities that will be supported through the seed grant

   5. Expected products, outcomes, or learning
      

       

3. Connection to CRE and Potential Return on Investment
   1. Explain how the project could benefit CRE.
   2. Consider:
      1. What will this funding make possible for you?
      2. What new opportunity could this investment create for CRE?
         1. Examples might include:

            • Developing a new community partnership

            • Creating an opportunity for CRE to serve as an evaluation partner

            • Generating preliminary data for an external grant proposal

            • Developing a new evaluation methodology or service

            • Expanding CRE's community or institutional partnerships

            • Increasing CRE's visibility in a particular area

            • Creating opportunities for future collaborative research

            • Developing a project that could become a sustained CRE initiative

               

4. Sustainability, Scalability, Expansion, and Future Innovation
   1. Describe how you envision the work developing beyond the seed-funded period.
   2. Applicants may address:

      • How the work could be sustained

      • Opportunities to expand or scale the project
      • Potential external funding opportunities
      • Potential new partnerships
      • Opportunities to develop the work into a larger research or evaluation project
      • Potential new CRE services or initiatives
      • How the project could generate additional innovative ideas or opportunities
5. Budget and Justification

   1. Request between $1,000 and $3,000, with the amount determined by the scope of work.

       

      Applicants should provide a breakdown including:

      1. 1. Personnel/Student Support
         2. Participant Support
         3. Materials/Supplies
         4. Partnership Development
         5. Other
      2. Each with amount breakdown and brief justification - with a total requested amount
      3. The budget should be reasonable, clearly justified, and directly connected to the proposed activities and outcomes.

Apply - due by January 15, 2027

Application Form

 

Proposal Review Process

CRE will review proposals through an internal process coordinated by the CRE Director. The review will provide a fair and consistent assessment of each proposal while respecting the exploratory nature of seed funding.

Proposals will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

• Innovation & Creativity
  • Does the proposal introduce a new idea, approach, partnership, opportunity, or way of addressing a problem? Does it demonstrate experimentation or exploration?
• Potential for Impact
  • Will the proposed activities generate meaningful learning, preliminary evidence, products, partnerships, or other outcomes?
• Alignment with CRE
  • Does the project advance CRE's mission, priorities, capabilities, partnerships, visibility, or future opportunities?
• Feasability
  • Is the proposed work realistic within the available funding and timeline?
• Future Potential
  • Does the project have credible potential to be sustained, expanded, scaled, funded externally, or developed into a new opportunity?
• Strategic Use of Seed Funding
  • Does the requested funding serve as a catalytic investment that enables a meaningful next step? Is the budget reasonable?

Because the fund encourages innovation and exploration, proposals will not be expected to have the same certainty or development as fully established projects. Reviewers will consider both the promise of the idea and the value of learning from testing it.

Final funding decisions will depend on proposal quality and potential, as well as the number of applications and resources available in the funding cycle.

 

Funding Timeline

Funding Timeline

Milestone	Date
Call for Proposals	Fall 2026
Application Deadline	January 15, 2027
Proposal Review	January-March 2027
Funding Decisions/Notifications	March-April 2027
Projects Begin	After April 2027
Project Period	Approximately 6-12 months

Expectations for Awardees 

• Use funds for the approved purposes and within the approved project period.

• Keep CRE informed of major project developments.
• Participate in a brief check-in with the CRE Director during the project to share project outcomes, products, lessons learned, and emerging opportunities with CRE.
• Submit a brief end-of-project summary describing:

  • Activities completed

  • Products or outcomes
  • Findings or lessons learned
  • Partnerships developed
  • Funding opportunities pursued
  • Future directions
  • Potential opportunities for continued collaboration with CRE

The goal of the final summary is not simply to document whether activities were completed, but to capture what was learned and what new opportunities emerged from the seed investment.

Guiding Questions for Applicants

Before submitting, applicants are encouraged to consider:

• What is innovative about this idea?

• What will the seed funding allow you to try, test, develop, or explore?
• Why is this the right time to pursue this opportunity?
• What new opportunity could this create for CRE?
• What might this become beyond the seed-funded period?
• How could the work be sustained, expanded, or further innovated?

“Return on Investment” doesn't necessarily mean immediate dollars or a grant award. It can include:

• • Seed investment → New idea/experiment → Learning/preliminary evidence → New partnership/capability → Larger opportunity

What Makes a Strong Innovation Seed Grant Proposal?

Strong proposals show that seed funding enables faculty to pursue new initiatives, test innovative ideas, or seize opportunities that may not otherwise be possible.

Applicants should consider:

1. Innovation and Experimentation

   • What is new, creative, exploratory, or experimental about the proposed work?

   • What idea, approach, partnership, or opportunity are you testing or developing?
   • What will the seed funding make possible that could not easily happen without this investment?
2. Potential for CRE

   • How does the project align with CRE's mission and priorities?

   • How could the project strengthen CRE's research, evaluation, community-engagement, or partnership portfolio?
   • Could the work create opportunities for CRE to develop a new service, partnership, research collaboration, or evaluation opportunity?
   • Could the project position CRE for future external funding or other strategic opportunities?
3. Feasability

   • Is the proposed work achievable with the requested funding level?

   • Is there a clear and realistic work plan?
   • Are the proposed activities appropriate for a seed-funded project?
4. Long-Term Potential

   • What could happen after the seed-funded period?

   • How might you sustain, expand, scale, or further innovate the work?
   • Could the project lead to external funding, a larger research or evaluation project, a sustained community partnership, a new CRE service, or another opportunity?
   • What is the potential for the initial investment to generate additional value or opportunities over time?

Applicants do not need a fully developed plan for future funding or expansion. However, proposals should show that the applicant has considered how the initial investment could serve as a foundation for future development.