What you need to know
The Alumni Class Funds support projects that make a novel or creative contribution to MIT’s educational excellence. We are especially interested in proposals that test ideas about effective education, including ways in which innovative pedagogies can facilitate learning and teaching within the MIT residential educational system, demonstrate the special and specific value of a residentially based education, or improve student-faculty engagement and/or student self-efficacy. The Funds support undergraduate education projects from any discipline as well as collaborations among disciplines.
Some key points to remember:
- The Alumni Class Funds are open to MIT faculty and teaching staff.
- Student proposals are considered with the support of a supervising faculty sponsor and the appropriate department head.
- Grants typically range from $10,000 to $50,000. Larger grants may be considered for special projects.
- Proposals for multi-year projects are accepted, but grants are made on a year-by-year basis.
- If funded, you will be required to submit a report at the end of the funding cycle.
What you need to do
- Review guidelines below or download them in PDF format.
- Send your complete application in one PDF — including a cover sheet, detailed proposal narrative, project budget, and letters of support — to alumnifunds@mit.edu by February 2, 2024.
- Our staff will confirm receipt of your proposal by email.
- The review committee typically meets in the spring. You will receive a decision letter by email before the end of the term.
Proposal guidelines
A complete application includes the following:
- Cover sheet
- A proposal narrative (3-6 pages) that includes:
- A detailed description of the project that is comprehensible to people in other fields.
- A description of your educational objectives with answers to the following questions:
- How will the project enhance your teaching?
- How will it improve the students' experiences in the classroom?
- What is the potential impact of the project at MIT? Estimate number of students served now and in the future.
- Description of resources and staffing needed.
- A description of how you plan to reflect upon the efficacy of your educational innovation. Should you wish to learn more about developing an assessment plan, the Teaching + Learning Laboratory (T+LL) has resources available on their website to help you. If you are planning to enlist the services of T+LL in project assessment, please include this cost in your budget.
- Requests for additional/renewed funding must include a report on the project to date and should explicitly state the new innovation within the project for which you are requesting funding. Please contact alumnifunds@mit.edu for more information.
- If you have received other funds previously from the Alumni Class Funds, briefly describe the project(s) and how the funds helped you in your work and what was accomplished.
- A project budget including:
- a breakdown of costs for resources and staffing needed,
- other funding sources such as support from the department or school (the selection committee looks favorably upon projects that have established cost-sharing), and
- a budget narrative explaining the costs.
- Letter(s) of support from the relevant department, program, or section head which addresses departmental cost-sharing and plans to sustain the project after support from the Alumni Class Funds ends.