Call for Proposals
Deadline: November 22, 2024
Click here to submit an application
Our approach
We seek to maximize the impact of our resources on reducing suffering. Our goal is to reduce suffering by enabling high-impact, highly cost-effective activities which otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Proposals will be judged on the expected return per dollar of the grant; we encourage proposals to limit the amount requested. This will increase their probability of acceptance.
To assist us in evaluating this, we are requesting that applicants articulate the proposed project’s impact on outcomes, relative to the counterfactual, along the lines of the framework below.
We are willing to fund risky projects that may not succeed which other donors would not support, so long as the expected value (probability of success multiplied by the impact if successful) is sufficiently high.
Please see our General Information page for more information about our evaluation criteria.
Proposal narrative
Proposals should answer the questions below. For research proposals, please include a full and detailed study design document in addition to the main proposal. If you believe some questions are not relevant to your approach, please explain.
Executive summary (less than 250 words): Please state the objective of the proposal, and an overview of the proposal content below.
Issue background (less than 250 words): Briefly, please explain the importance of the problem your proposal seeks to address. Please include estimates of the scope of the problem in the areas where your proposal will focus, as well as a global estimate, if feasible.
What and how:
What are the goals of this proposal? What actions will you take to achieve these goals? How will those actions be implemented? Please be as specific as possible, including location, duration, and mechanisms for implementing each set of activities. For example, please include services provided to each beneficiary, number of beneficiaries served, and cost per beneficiary served.
Please discuss how you define success of the proposed work, how and when you will evaluate progress, and what would cause you to drop or revise the proposed project.
What evidence gives you confidence in your proposed approach? This can be academic literature, internal data, or other supportive material. For research proposals, please include information on the specific knowledge gaps your research will fill, and why your research will add value for future decision makers.
What are the biggest risks for the success of your project, and how likely do you think these are?
Impact, measurement and intervention cost-effectiveness: We are particularly interested in work which is highly cost-effective in improving outcomes related to human suffering. Please provide information on the expected impact on outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of this proposal, using quantitative measures where possible.
What are the primary individual-level outcomes (not outputs or inputs) you seek to improve through your project? (A non-exhaustive list of examples could include increased income, deaths averted, DALYs averted.)
What is the counterfactual? How do you expect the outcomes would change without your intervention?
Please describe any indirect effects, positive and negative spillover effects, leverage factors, and/or potential paths to scale, over 3- to 10-year periods and estimate their magnitudes. Research proposals should also include the intended audience for the research, and your best estimate of the likelihood that your proposal contributes to change at scale.
What is your outcome measurement strategy? What (indicators/proxies) will you measure, how and when will you measure it, and will there be a control group? Please also explain if and how you will measure spillovers.
Please give your best projection of the impact your project will have on the outcomes you identified in 4.1. If possible, provide your confidence interval around this estimate. If applicable, consider the number of people reached and the share of those that you realistically expect to experience improvements as a result of your work. Explain how you are estimating these numbers.
Budget
Please provide a detailed proposal budget, using this template.
Please also provide budget information on the full project, including other sources of funding for which you have applied. Please note if you are using separate, unrestricted funding to support this work. If your organization has unrestricted funding, why is it not being used to support this work?
Please provide a budget narrative, justifying key line items. Why is this amount necessary for the success of the project (and to reduce suffering)?
What will you do if this proposal is not selected for funding? What additional funding sources will you apply for, or what alternative project will you or your organization pursue instead?
Team and organization. Please provide a brief capabilities statement and/or resumes of key personnel.
Research proposals: study plan – no word limitation. Researchers should include a full study plan, including detailed descriptions of the following.
Methods and identification strategy
Outcome variables and their measurement.
Data. (For original survey data collection and if otherwise appropriate, please include information on how you will conduct data quality checks.)
Power calculations, randomization, and sample stratification approach.
Randomized trials which are not stratified should explain why stratification is not suitable.
If there is no control group, please explain why.
If your approach relies on time discontinuities, please explain how you are measuring time effects.
Spillover effects
How will your intervention affect the control group?
Survey instruments or questionnaires, if available
Budget and indirect costs policy
For universities and colleges, WAM Foundation does not allow indirect costs (e.g., a percentage for overhead). Instead, directly-attributable costs necessary for the success of the project should be itemized and included in the proposed budget.
Formatting and readability
The submission form allows “rich text” formatting (e.g. bold/italics, numbering, indentation, paragraphs). Please ensure that your form text is legible.
For any lists, please use numbers rather than bullet points, as this will make it easier for us to reference specific points.
We encourage you to first prepare your answers in a Word document to avoid data loss. You may upload the Word document separately; this is entirely optional.
Submission information
We encourage you to prepare your answers in a Word document and copy them into the form.
Please answer all questions directly in the form. Submissions must be in English.
Your final submission should include the following attachments:
The completed application form.
A PDF of the detailed proposal budget (please ensure that the PDF budget is legible).
An Excel sheet containing your detailed proposal budget.
Operating organizations:
Your operating budgets from the previous two fiscal years, including sources of income; and two most recent IRS filings.
Your organization’s current IRS determination letter indicating tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.
For organizations more than 3 years old, your most recent audited financial statements, including the auditor’s letter.
Research proposals:
CVs of the Principal Investigator and, optionally, other key investigators
A full study plan.
(Optional, for all proposals:) Suggested experts to offer an anonymous peer review of your work.
We anticipate 1-2 additional rounds of questions, tailored to each applicant, before funding decisions are made. We expect to make funding decisions by Q2 2024.
Note: Once you successfully submit your application, you’ll see a confirmation screen. This indicates that your submission has been received; our system can’t automatically send confirmations via email.
By submitting an application, you agree that we can share your application materials with our reviewers and with likeminded peer organizations.