Each year, researchers and practitioners across disciplines submit thousands of proposals for grants and fellowships. Each proposal represents hours of labor and contains details about research plans, collaborators, biblographies, and past work. To make the funding process more transparent and to share the valuable contents of these proposals, an increasing number of researchers are sharing their grant proposals openly. An open repository of funding proposals will elevate their recognition as scholarly products, improve access for the public and other grant seekers, and bring transparency to this facet of the research process. This site documents efforts toward this goal, including documentation of current planning activities and a prototype database.
With generous funding from IMLS, over the next 18 months we will be undertaking a series of planning activities to explore requirements and feasibility of an open grants repository. Advisors will receive a stipend and will commit to attend one in-person meeting and several virtual meetings through the planning phase.