Making a Difference Grants

The request for proposals for the Spring 2024 application cycle is now closed. We will announce the Fall 2024 cycle in Summer 2024.

Previous RFP

What are Making a Difference Grants?

The Greenwall Foundation’s bioethics grants program, Making a Difference in Real-World Bioethics Dilemmas, supports research to help resolve an important emerging or unanswered bioethics problem in clinical, biomedical, or public health decision-making, policy, or practice. Our aim is to fund projects that promote the Foundation’s vision and mission through innovative bioethics research that will have a real-world, practical impactProjects may be empirical, conceptual, or normative. Successful teams commonly involve a bioethics scholar and persons with on-the-ground experience with the bioethics dilemma, for example, in clinical care; biomedical research; biotechnology, pharmaceutical, big data, and artificial intelligence companies; or public service.

Projects with the following characteristics will not be funded under this program:

  • Projects for which bioethics is not the main focus.
  • Projects that simply describe or analyze bioethics issues or provide a conceptual framework, without making practical recommendations for resolving the issues.
  • Projects that implement or make incremental improvements in established approaches to bioethics problems, build institutional infrastructure, or provide bioethics education, training, or coursework.
  • Projects that have predetermined conclusions or advocate for predetermined positions.
  • Projects whose main goal is to convene or enhance a meeting, unless there is a well-developed plan to produce a major peer-reviewed publication with consensus recommendations, guidelines, or best practices that have a strong likelihood of real-world implementation. The applicant must have a strong record in convening similar successful impactful meetings.
  • Projects to support or extend ongoing or core activities of an organization.
  • Projects with a principal investigator who does not have a PhD, JD, MD, or an equivalent doctoral-level degree.
  • Applications from unaffiliated individuals, or from institutions that do not have tax-exempt status in the United States.

The Greenwall Foundation only makes awards to affiliated individuals at institutions with tax-exempt status in the United States. In addition, an individual cannot simultaneously receive Making a Difference and Faculty Scholars Program funding from The Greenwall Foundation.

Questions about the Making a Difference grants program should be directed to Kyle Ruempler at [email protected].

Request for Proposals

The Spring 2024 Making a Difference Request for Proposals has closed. You may review the request for proposals to learn more about the application process, in preparation for a future cycle.

Our Making a Difference Grants

Grant Type
Making a Difference
Grant Cycle
spring 2019
Grant Type
Making a Difference
Grant Cycle
fall 2018

Frequently Asked Questions

  • When does the Foundation post the request for proposals for Making a Difference grants?
  • Is there a limit on the budget or duration of a Making a Difference grant?
  • Does the Foundation award grants to institutions outside the United States?
  • Does the Foundation award grants to individuals who are unaffiliated with an institution?
  • Can I get feedback about a potential project from the Foundation before I submit a grant application?
  • Does the Foundation award no-cost extensions? How do I apply for one?

The Greenwall Foundation is dedicated to the integrity and impartiality of the grantmaking process and wishes to dispel even perceptions of conflicts of interest. Relationships that are conflicts of interest, which require Directors and Committee members to recuse themselves from voting on grant proposals, include an affiliation with a grantee institution, a current mentoring or collaborative relationship with an applicant, or a personal relationship with an applicant. To review the Foundation's Conflict of Interest Policy with respect to grants, please click here.