Dear Colleagues,
We are writing to share an important update about our grantmaking. Significant changes in the research funding landscape, coupled with new technologies and growing demand for support, have prompted us to reconsider whether our current grantmaking structures are serving the field as effectively as they could. In the first half of 2027, we will pause new competitions for our Research Grants on Education: Small; Research Grants on Education: Large; and Racial Equity Research Grants programs. During this period, Spencer will undertake a strategic refresh of these core grant programs and of our decision-making processes, informed by conversations with the field about where support is needed most.
We know that researchers, universities, and our field face significant challenges. Federal research funding has been drastically reduced; universities are under growing financial and political pressure; and scholars whose work focuses on equity face increasingly precarious professional and personal circumstances. At Spencer, we see the effects of these pressures in the extraordinary growth in scholars seeking support. The number of proposals Spencer receives has more than quadrupled across our programs over the past four years.
Spencer has responded to these challenges by increasing our grantmaking by 20 percent, providing emergency support to scholars whose federal grants were canceled, and supporting collective efforts to preserve vulnerable data and protect valuable scholarship. We have also adjusted our application and review processes to manage the growing volume of proposals. But these efforts, while important, cannot make up for the loss of federal research funding or address the limitations of our current grantmaking model.
We recognize that our broad programs ask too much of applicants and reviewers and take too long to get funding into the field. With applications increasing dramatically, funding rates have fallen from 9 percent a decade ago to just 2 percent last year. We believe this moment calls for a reconsideration of how we structure our grant programs and make funding decisions, with the goal of creating more meaningful opportunities for scholars and responding to the evolving needs of the field.
To inform this work, we will seek input through a combination of targeted conversations with researchers and other partners and a questionnaire to the field. We invite you to share your perspectives through this questionnaire, including what is working well and where our current approaches may not be meeting emerging needs.
Here is what will not change:
- Our core values remain unchanged. We are unequivocally committed to funding research that makes the world more equitable and just, and to funding rigorous research across the lifespan, disciplines, and methodological approaches.
- We are not reducing the amount of funding that we provide to the field for research.
- All currently open programs and those already in review will proceed according to their announced timelines. Applications submitted to these programs will continue to be reviewed and considered for funding.
- The refresh will focus on Small Grants, Large Grants, and Racial Equity Grants. Our other grant programs and fellowships will continue on their existing schedules.
Here is what will change:
- We will not hold new grant competitions for Small Grants, Large Grants, and Racial Equity Grants between January and June 2027.
- We expect to share our refreshed grantmaking approach in June 2027.
- We may change existing programs, create new programs, and redesign decision-making processes to create new opportunities and increase fund rates.
We recognize that pausing a portion of our grantmaking, even temporarily, may feel like a reduction in opportunity at precisely the moment when support is most urgently needed. We take that concern seriously. At the same time, continuing to operate programs that require substantial investments of time from thousands of applicants while offering an increasingly small likelihood of funding is not a sustainable or responsible response.
If we have learned anything through the trials of the last few years, it is that we are stronger when we face hard truths together and remain grounded in our values. Together we do the research that is critical to building the education systems and world that honors, loves, and serves young people across communities, and that moves us closer to the promise of making education a place where new futures are stewarded.
We look forward to thinking and working with you to imagine new possibilities for supporting education research.
With gratitude,
Na’ilah Suad Nasir, President
Leah Bricker, Director of Programs
