The University of Oregon’s IDEAL Campus Climate Matching Grants Program was created to encourage campus units to develop innovative and sustainable ways to enhance the climate and culture in their individual units, to engage in a collaborative venture with other units, and to scale-up promising practices at the university level. This Matching Grants Program is intended to seed deep change across the university. Successful initiatives will be informed by best practices that are responsive to current and anticipated challenges, as well as opportunities that will strengthen and complement larger, university-wide actions.
The Division of Equity and Inclusion (DEI) will award $350,000 in total funds for the 2024-25 academic year. While the size of awards will vary depending on the proposals received, the matching grant will not exceed $50,000 for any one award.
Applications are due Friday, May 3, 2024. Three information sessions will be held in February 2024 to share the vision for the program and answer questions (Feb. 8, 20, and 26). The same information will be shared at each information session - registration for all can be made through MyTrack here.
Watch the Matching Grant Information Session
Eligibility
All organizations within the UO are encouraged to apply for matching grants. We especially encourage collaborative proposals across schools, colleges and administrative units. Eligible organizations include the following:
- Academic and administrative units, including schools, colleges, departments, and divisions
- Faculty, staff, and graduate student employee groups, such as Strategies and Working Groups, unit-level diversity committees, and others
All applications are expected to demonstrate how the proposal deploys the concept of matching resources, either through direct funding, indirect support (e.g., labor), or through some other creative mechanism. Proposals must include a brief statement which includes a commitment to the proposed resource allocations (template provided). If the proposal includes partners, the brief statement of support should be co-signed by all relevant partners. Collaboration and consultation with employee group partners such as GTFF, OA Council, SEIU, United Academics and others is encouraged.
Key Criteria & Evaluation
Proposals are expected to execute new ideas, implement existing best practices, or scale programs and practices which have proven (or have the potential) to foster equity, inclusion and belonging among faculty, staff and graduate student employees. Successful proposals will include the following components:
- Be responsive to one or more specific issues surfaced in the IDEAL Campus Climate Survey, or from recent climate surveys implemented at the unit level;
- Seed initiatives which bring about deep change in policies, practices or workplace culture;
- Be grounded in evidence-based interventions and display an understanding of the root causes of the issues being addressed and the research on best practices with which to improve them. This includes ensuring the voices and perspectives of those employees at the center of the proposed change are involved in the proposal process;
- Pilot or scale programs which align with unit-level Diversity Action Plans; and/or
- Focus on equity, inclusion and/or belonging and be linked to IDEAL principles (inclusion, diversity, evaluation, achievement, and leadership).
A draft rubric that the selection committee will utilize to assess the proposals will be shared at the three information sessions mentioned above (Feb. 8, 20 and 26).
Application Process
Applications must be submitted online HERE no later than Friday, May 3, 2024. You will be asked to include the following:
- Proposal title
- Unit-level lead(s), project leads and contact persons
- Summary (500 words or fewer)
- Description (2 double-spaced pages or less) that addresses the eligibility and program criteria (file upload)
- Expected outcomes and metrics to evaluate success
- Budget (1 page, using template), including requested / matching resources (file upload)
- Commitment of matching resources (using template, file upload)
Timeline
Applications are due Friday, May 3, 2024. A cross-campus committee led by DEI will review all applications and make funding recommendations to VPEI by early June. Applicants will receive notice of award decisions by June 30. Funds awarded are expected to be spent in the following fiscal year, i.e., by June 30, 2025.
Application Review Committee
- Alfredo Varela, SSEM-Admissions
- Harinder Khalsa, Romance Languages
- Jay Butler, BAO-Payroll
- Mark Unno, Religious Studies
- Nanosh Lucas, History
- Sara Kutten, UO Portland
- Tim Inman, Board of Trustees
- Troy Elias, Office of the Provost
- Vivan Schmolke, University Advancement
Email vpinclusion@uoregon.edu for more information.
Additional Reading
IDEAL Campus Climate Survey Results
UO President’s Message on Creating a Culture of Belonging
IDEAL Campus Climate Survey Working Group Recommendations
UO Human Resources Employee Engagement Guide
FAQs
When does the funding become available? July 1, 2024
When do activities need to be completed? Funding should be spent by December 31, 2025.
Can you reapply? This is a one-time funding opportunity.
Who is reviewing the proposals? A committee of colleagues from across campus including Classified Staff, OAs, GEs and Faculty and an undergraduate student representative will be involved in the review process.
Will you be giving out a few large grants or many small grants? Is there a cap or a floor for dollar amounts? The funding allocation will be dependent on the proposals received. Maximum funding is $50k per project.
How does the matching work? Can current staff time count as matching? Could an exceptional application with no matching funds be funded? All applications need to include some sort of matching resources. This could take the form of financial support, but staff time or in-kind allocation can be used toward the match if well-articulated in the proposal. DEI will fund up to 50% of the total budget proposal. For example, if your budget is $50k total, the DEI match grant will provide $25k. $25k would need to be provided from other entities.
Can funds be used to engage external partners? Yes. Creative and collaborative partnerships with outside partners is possible. Consultants can be part of your budget but should be no more than 50% of your total budget.
Can this grant go towards FTE and would/could that be sustained? The IDEAL Matching Grant is currently a one-time funding opportunity. This funding cannot be used to hire new staff, though it could be used for temporary staffing of a current or new employee.
If two or three units make the same proposal, is there going to be a collaboration? The hope is to encourage collaboration across campus. However, similar proposals may have different audiences and would be considered on their own merit.
Will there be a recording of the info session? The February 20th info session will be recorded and made available on the DEI website shortly thereafter.
Could this support be directed to a student organization? No. This is a response to the IDEAL Campus Climate Survey from Spring 2022, which surveyed faculty, staff, and graduate employees. The funding is meant to address workplace climate issues.
How will success be measured? Because there is a hope for innovation and collaboration, metrics of success will be individualized to each proposal. The awardees will be asked to present their initiatives at a campus-wide symposium during spring term 2025.