1. Is Spencer stopping its grantmaking?
No. Spencer is not stopping or reducing its grantmaking. We will continue to make grants throughout 2027 and remain committed to distributing our full approved grantmaking budget.
From January through June 2027, we will not open new competitions under three of our core research grant programs while we undertake a strategic refresh. During this period, we will reconsider both what these programs fund and how we solicit, review, and select proposals. We expect to announce our refreshed grant programs in June 2027.
2. Which grant programs will be affected by the refresh, and which will continue?
Between January and June 2027, Spencer will not open new competitions for these three programs:
- Research Grants on Education: Small
- Research Grants on Education: Large
- Racial Equity Research Grants
During this period, we will reconsider the purposes and priorities of these programs, as well as their application and review processes.
Our Transformative Research programs, including Transformative Research Grants and Vision Grants, will continue without interruption. Our dissertation, postdoctoral, and journalism fellowships will also continue on their existing schedules.
All competitions currently underway, including the Research-Practice Partnership competitions with proposals due Oct. 28, will proceed as planned. Grants that have already been awarded will not be affected.
3. How will Spencer distribute its full grantmaking budget in 2027 while redesigning some grant programs?
We remain committed to distributing the entirety of our 2027 grantmaking budget.
Throughout the first half of 2027, we will continue awarding grants through our Transformative Research program, fellowships, and competitions already underway, including Research-Practice Partnership Grants.
We also expect to make awards through our refreshed grant programs in the second half of 2027. While we plan to announce these programs in June, competitions will open on a staggered schedule rather than all at once.
4. I am preparing an application or have already submitted one. What does the refresh mean for me?
All competitions that are currently underway will proceed as planned. Applications that have already been submitted or are under review will be evaluated through our existing processes, and funding decisions will be made according to our previously established and publicized timelines.
If you are preparing an application for a currently open competition, you may continue to do so. The refresh will not affect the eligibility requirements, review criteria, or funding decisions for these programs.
The refresh will affect future funding opportunities, not competitions that are already underway.
5. I just submitted an application to the Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) Grants program. Will the strategic refresh affect my application?
No. The current RPP competition will proceed exactly as planned. All applications submitted by the October 2026 deadline will be reviewed according to the program's established criteria and processes, and funding decisions will be made on the previously announced timeline.
The strategic refresh will not affect the review of these proposals, the funding available for this competition, or applicants' eligibility for an award. We recognize that applicants have invested considerable time and effort in preparing their proposals, and we remain fully committed to giving them the same careful consideration they would have received before the announcement.
6. Why is Spencer undergoing a strategic refresh now?
The challenges facing education research make it especially important that we consider how to use our resources most effectively. Applications to Spencer have increased dramatically, while funding rates have fallen to unacceptably low levels. Our current competitions require substantial investments of time from applicants and reviewers while offering applicants an increasingly small likelihood of receiving funding.
We believe these challenges call for more than incremental adjustments. Through the strategic refresh, we hope to develop grant programs and decision-making processes that create more meaningful opportunities for researchers, reduce unnecessary burdens, and respond more effectively to the evolving needs of the field.
7. Will Spencer continue responding to urgent needs in the field during the refresh?
Yes. Spencer remains deeply concerned about the challenges facing education research and committed to responding to the needs of the field.
Over the past two years, we have increased our grantmaking, provided emergency support to researchers whose federal funding was canceled, and contributed to collective efforts to preserve vulnerable data and protect targeted scholars.
The strategic refresh does not signal a retreat from these concerns. Rather, it is intended to help us consider how Spencer can respond most effectively to the field's evolving needs, including how we structure our future funding opportunities and deploy our resources.
8. Does this mean some existing Spencer grant programs may change or not return?
Yes. We are undertaking this process with a genuine openness to reconsidering the structure of our core research grant programs, rather than assuming that every program will return in its current form.
This could include changes to program priorities, eligibility requirements, funding amounts, application processes, review procedures, or the ways funding opportunities are organized. It could also mean combining, replacing, or substantially redesigning existing programs.
As of fall 2026, no decisions about these potential changes have been made. Our goal is to develop a grantmaking approach that better serves researchers and the field, rather than preserve existing structures for their own sake.
9. Will Spencer's core values and commitments change as part of the refresh?
No. Spencer's core values and commitments remain unchanged.
We remain unequivocally committed to supporting research that contributes to a more equitable and just world, as well as rigorous education research across the lifespan, disciplines, and methodological approaches.
The purpose of the refresh is not to retreat from these commitments, but to consider how our grantmaking structures and decision-making processes can better advance them in a changing research environment.
10. How will the refresh address the needs of early-career scholars and researchers at less-resourced institutions?
We recognize that the current funding environment is particularly challenging for early-career researchers and scholars at institutions with limited research infrastructure.
We also recognize that application requirements, review processes, and low funding rates can impose especially significant costs on scholars with fewer institutional resources.
As we reconsider our grantmaking structures, we will pay particular attention to how our processes affect researchers at different career stages and institutional settings. We want to understand what barriers exist and what changes might create more meaningful opportunities for a broader range of scholars.
We have not predetermined what those changes will be, and input from the field will be important in helping us identify promising approaches.
11. How will the field be involved in shaping the refresh?
The perspectives and experiences of researchers and other partners will be central to this process. We plan to gather input through a combination of targeted conversations and a broader survey of the field. We invite researchers and other partners to share their perspectives through our survey.
We are particularly interested in understanding what kinds of support scholars need most and where current grantmaking approaches create barriers. What we learn will inform our consideration of future funding priorities, program structures, funding mechanisms, and application and review processes.
12. When will Spencer announce its refreshed grant programs, and when will applications open?
We expect to complete the strategic refresh and announce our updated grant programs in June 2027.
As in the past, competitions will open on a staggered schedule rather than all at once. We will provide sufficient advance notice to allow researchers to plan their work, develop partnerships, and prepare submissions.
Updates will be posted on the Spencer Foundation website and shared through our regular communication channels.
