Skip to content

How to Apply for a Grant

 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ARBITRATORS

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION GUIDELINES

FOR FILING APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS

The National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA) is a professional association of labor and employment arbitrators in the United States and Canada.

The NAA’s Research and Education Foundation (NAA-REF) supports research and education relevant to labor and employment arbitration and dispute resolution.   The following guidelines detail the purposes for which grants will be made and the procedures for filing a grant application.  All applications must first meet one or more of the NAA-REF purposes.

There are two types of grants – mini grants seeking up to $4,999 and major grants, between $5,000 and $50,000.  The review of these two types of grants is described below.

Applications may be submitted at any time during the year.  Submit proposals in either Word or PDF with contact information to: researchandeducationfoundation@gmail.com and copy NAA-REF President Rosemary Pye (pye.arbitrator@gmail.com).  The NAA-REF Board of Directors has quarterly meetings in March, June, September, and December.  Applications for major grants should be submitted at least a month prior to the meetings to allow review by a committee of reviewers and the full NAA-REF Board.

PURPOSES

The NAA-REF will consider applications for research and education grants seeking to foster one or more of the following purposes:

  1. The study and understanding of grievance procedures, the arbitration process, and other forms of labor and employment dispute resolution and the impact of law on these processes.
  2. The education and training of persons engaged in the resolution of labor-management and employment disputes.  Included is the funding of lecture programs, symposiums, conferences and training seminars.
  3. The preparation and publication of books, symposium materials, articles, and audio-visual materials (e.g., videos, websites, CDs) designed to enhance the competence of persons engaged in the arbitration and mediation of labor-management and employment disputes.
  4. Projects that foster the highest standards of integrity, competence, honor, and character of persons engaged in arbitration and other forms of labor and employment dispute resolution.
  5. The preparation of material designed to keep arbitrators and students of labor-management and employment relations abreast of current research into the arbitration process, and the development of procedures or techniques for the resolution of labor and employment disputes in this and other countries.

MINI GRANTS (up to $4,999)

Proposals in this category are intended to fund smaller projects that meet one or more of the NAA-REF purposes.   Mini grants are particularly appropriate for discrete projects such as funding for student writing competitions, short courses/training programs, and similar projects.

Proposals for mini grants will be reviewed by the NAA-REF Executive Committee (the President and Vice Presidents or their delegees) on an on-going basis throughout the year.

      To apply for a mini grant, complete the application with the following information:

  1. Name, contact information, and institutional affiliation of applicant
  2. Identification of the appropriate REF purpose
  3. Amount requested, specific budget items, and expected use
  4. Brief description of project

MAJOR GRANTS ( $5,000 to $50,000)

Content and Format of Major Grant Applications

Major grant applications are divided into research proposals and training or educational proposals.  All applications must have certain basic information.  In addition, there are specific requirements for research proposals and for training or educational proposals.

Information Required in All Major Grant Applications

  1. Contact information for the applicant or applicants: The names, affiliation, mailing address, email addresses, and telephone numbers of the applicant(s) and any collaborators, along with a resume or curriculum vitae of the applicant(s).
  2. Identification of NAA-REF purpose: The threshold requirement is to identify a NAA-REF purpose or purposes, enumerated above, which the proposal meets.
  3. Budget: Provide a budget for the project showing specific expenditures. Specify exactly what you seek to have the NAA-REF fund and, if applicable, describe where it fits into any larger proposal.
  4. Other sources of funding: Specify the amount of the budget to be supplied by the applicant.  The NAA-REF expects that applicants will be supplying as much of their own funding as possible.  Specify any other sources that will be used to fund the proposed project and the approximate amount provided by each other source.  If there are no other sources of funding, describe the efforts made to secure other funding and the reasons for the absence of other funding.  Applicants should not expect to receive full funding from the REF, which is a small foundation.
  5. 200-word Summary of the Project: Provide a 200-word summary of the project, stating its objective, the significance of the proposed project, and how the end product will be used.
  6. Full Description of the Project: Provide a full explanation of the project, providing reviewers with a complete picture of the proposed research design. The application should include the proposal’s purpose, value, what will be done, how it will be done, who will do it, when it will be done, what the end product will be, the target audience, marketing plans, and the procedure to be followed in disseminating the results.
  7. Timeline: If approved for a REF grant, the REF releases money based on the reports of the grantee to the REF at each stage of the proposal. Therefore, it is necessary in the grant application to have a proposed timeline for each stage of the proposal and a tentative completion date for each stage and the end product.

Additional Information Required for Research Proposals

  1. A literature review with a complete bibliography that examines the prior research in the proposal’s subject area, including any previous relevant research conducted by the applicant.
  2. A description of the research questions to be investigated, connecting these questions, where possible, to the findings from the prior research in this area and specifying how the answers to these research questions will be useful to the ADR community — why these questions justify an investment of REF funds.
  3. A description of what kinds of data will be collected to answer the research questions, demonstrating how these data will provide useful answers and the steps that have or will be taken to obtain access to the data. For example, research may include examination of arbitration awards, union and/or employer records of grievances filed and resolved, and court rulings and opinions; interviews with relevant individuals; questionnaires submitted to relevant individuals; and direct observations of the phenomena being studied, such as observing mediators at work.   This full explanation should provide reviewers with a complete picture of the proposed research design.
  4. A description of how the data will be analyzed, including a description of the statistical procedures or qualitative analytical tools to be used in the data analysis.
  5. Assurance of research ethics approval from any applicable Institutional Research Board, where applicable.

Additional Information Required for Educational or Training Proposals

  1. A detailed description of the education program and/or materials being developed.
  2. The need that the program and/or material will fill.
  3. The commitments obtained or to be obtained from authors, speakers, partners, collaborators, or co-sponsors.
  4. The target audience for the project.
  5. The marketing plan to publicize the education program and/or educational materials to the intended audience.

Conditions  for Receiving Funding

  1. Written report. In addition to progress reports required by the REF to receive funding installments,  grantees will be required to provide a written report to the NAA-REF at the conclusion of the project. For research projects, the report should include the research’s main findings.  For educational projects, the report should include a description of the project activities and accomplishments.
  2. Summary for NAA-REF Website. Grantees must also agree to provide an abstract/ executive summary of any publication resulting from the grant and allow the REF to use the abstract/executive summary as an example of a successful grant for NAA-REF marketing purposes and to  include it on the NAA-REF webpages.  Grantees who produce training or educational materials must also provide a brief summary of the project for the same purposes.
  3. Acknowledgement of NAA-REF Grant. Any publications  and any program or conference handouts, publications, videos, PowerPoints, or other materials resulting from the research or project must prominently acknowledge the funding provided by the NAA-REF.
  4. Publication by the NAA-REF. The NAA-REF reserves the right to publish all or parts of each research report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Arbitrators’ Annual Meeting and to include links to the paper or video on the REF webpages.
  5. NAA Meeting. If appropriate, grantees may be asked to present their projects at the annual spring meeting of the NAA or at NAA regional meetings.
  6. Unspent Funds. Any unspent funds received from the NAA-REF as part of the grant for authorized expenditures must be returned to the NAA-REF.

 Permissible and Impermissible Grant Expenditures

 Permissible Expenditures. Grant funds can be used for the following and related purposes: stipends for research assistants working on the project and expenses incurred in carrying out the project, such as travel, materials, clerical services, data analysis, and survey costs.

  1. Permissible travel costs.  Airfare will only be funded at coach class (not business or first class), absent special circumstances or medical requirements.
  2. Permissible hotel costs.  When an overnight stay is reasonably necessary, as for a speaker at a conference, the NAA-REF will ordinarily only pay for the hotel for one night before or after the event for domestic travel and up to three nights before or after the presentation for international travel.
  3. Impermissible Expenditures. Grant funds cannot be used for the following purposes:  salaries of the applicant(s) or professors and other professionals, individual overhead costs, and overhead costs to institutions with whom the applicant(s) are affiliated.  Purchase of computers and other equipment will not be permitted unless the applicants can provide strong justification linking the equipment to the grant proposal.  The NAA-REF does not fund registration costs at conferences or programs – either NAA or other organizations.

Special attention is drawn to the NAA-REF’s inability to fund overhead costs for individuals and institutions.  As a non-profit foundation whose funding relies on small individual donations by members and friends of the NAA, the NAA-REF is not in a position to offer overhead costs to universities or other organizations.  In special circumstances, where a successful applicant establishes that he or she would be unable to accept the NAA-REF grant without some overhead support, the NAA-REF may pay up to a maximum of 5 percent of the grant amount, if there is required overhead.  Before approaching the NAA-REF for overhead costs, a successful applicant must demonstrate that a bona fide attempt has been made to have usual overhead charges waived.

 Considerations in Reviewing the Grant Proposals

 In reviewing the grant application, the NAA-REF considers the factors listed above and the following:

  1. The clarity of the project’s objectives.
  2. The adherence to one or more of the purposes of the NAA-REF.
  3. The methodology and research design (in the case of research proposals).
  4. The potential contribution of the project to the field of arbitration and dispute resolution.
  5. The experience and qualifications of the applicant(s).
  6. The track record of the applicant(s) in completing funded projects.
  7. The project’s duration and the reasonableness of its timelines.
  8. The availability of other funding sources and the evidence that the applicant is contributing to the costs and has secured other funding sources or has, at least, made a diligent effort to secure other sources.
  9. The proposed amount of the budget, the reasonableness of the budget items, and the significance of the project to justify the grant request.

Effective as of: December 14, 2024