Please read carefully as we have made positive changes to be more responsive and to better serve our vision community:

THE DEADLINE FOR ALL GRANT APPLICATIONS IS EXTENDED TO EARLY SPRING. Exact dates to be communicated soon.

This will benefit grantseekers in the following ways:
1. It will greatly reduce the time gap between grant applications, review, approval and payment. You will get an answer and a check sooner!
2. It will alleviate the existing time conflict between application, reporting, and program implementation. You will no longer be applying for next year's funding at the same time you are reporting on last year's funding AND starting the grant for the current year's funding!

These changes replace the previous December deadlines, and apply to ALL applications (new community outreach projects, program operating support, research bridge funding*, continuation of currently-funded grants, etc.). *Investigator-led research grants will be limited to bridge funding, for those projects currently funded through a NIH grant which are awaiting decisions on renewed NIH funding.

THE GUIDELINES AND APPLICATION PROCESS WILL BE CHANGED. We continually strive to streamline our process. We are exploring the following ways to improve your application process:
1. Moving towards an industry-standard, common grant application. For "non-research" applications, this will save you time and effort when applying to multiple funders.
2. Possibly implementing an online application.
3. Going "green" by allowing or requiring that all appendix supporting documentation be submitted as electronic files instead of paper.
3. Working with UAB leadership to mirror the information required by their Office of Sponsored Research. For those projects that qualify as contracts and/or grants at UAB, this will improve the flow of information between you the primary investigator, your administrative staff, UAB contracts/grants/accounting offices, and ESFA during the review, approval, payment, and reporting processes.

THE REPORTING PROCESS WILL BE CHANGED.
1. We are exploring ways to simplify the reporting requirements.
2. We will include those requirements up front when your grant is awarded, so that you will know what is expected towards the end of the project.
3. We will change the timing of the reports, so that the report on the current year project is submitted with your request for continued funding - one step instead of two!

We at the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama see all these changes as positive, win-win for everyone involved. We want you to spend your time "making a difference in the eyes of the world" instead of bogged down in paperwork.
• We are having one-on-one conversations with some of you as we work to make these changes.
• We will communicate with you along the way.
• We will notify you once the plans are solidified, so that you know what to expect.

In the meantime, we welcome your input, feedback, and comments regarding these efforts.

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Information from Previous Grant Cycle - note - these will be updated and simplified and are only shown for historical information.

How to Apply: Grant Application Guidelines  this document answers most questions about our funding policies and gives detailed application instructions, with separate sections for our two types of grants: Internal Review and External Review (bridge funding for investigator-led, peer-reviewed research projects).


Continuation Requests for Renewal of Current Grants - see the Continuation section of the Grant Application Guidelines for instructions on how to apply if you have a current grant and wish to apply for additional funding for the same project.


Report Instructions and Samples - this document has reporting instructions and sample reports for our two types of reports: Stewardship Reports and Research Summaries.