Stanford Propel Grants

Stanford Small Propel Grant

Supports Stanford faculty teams building pre-competitive evidence for major external grant submission success.

The Stanford Small Propel Grant provides up to $5,000 over six months on a rolling basis to Stanford faculty teams preparing for large-scale external funding opportunities. The programme is administered by Stanford's Vice Provost for Research (VPDoR) and is designed specifically for final-stage proposal preparation activities — it funds value-added work that strengthens an upcoming external submission rather than routine research activities. Applications are reviewed within approximately three weeks of submission, making it one of the fastest-turnaround internal funding mechanisms available to Stanford faculty. Proposals are submitted through the VPDoR Application Portal and reviewed against the standard that the target external opportunity should typically be at least 20 times larger than the Propel amount requested.

Eligibility is limited to Stanford University faculty holding Principal Investigator status; single-investigator proposals are explicitly ineligible and collaborative teams are required. School of Medicine PIs must include a co-PI from another Stanford school to satisfy the cross-school collaboration requirement. The external funding target must qualify as "beyond the usual" for the discipline — typically involving extensive multi-investigator coordination, multidisciplinary collaboration, significant sponsor deliverables, or budgets exceeding standard grants in the relevant field. Teams must have a credible plan to submit to the external funder within 12 months of the Propel award.

The six-section application covers the research idea and its "beyond the usual" rationale, proposed preparation activities with a timeline, team composition, external funding plan with contingency, and an optional appendix. The rolling review window and three-week turnaround mean applicants can time submissions to align with external funder pre-application deadlines without waiting for a fixed Propel cycle. Queries about programme eligibility and scope should be directed to rdo-funding-programs@stanford.edu. A companion Large Propel grant offers up to $50,000 over 12 months but operates on fixed autumn and spring deadlines rather than a rolling schedule.