Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

From the Airports By Subway Parking Entrance to the Building From the Airports:   From LaGuardia:  A taxi costs approximately $40 not including toll and tip. Travel time is usually about 35 - 40 minutes. From JFK:  A taxi costs approximately $45 not including toll and tip. Travel time around 40 – 60 minutes, longer at peak hours. From Newark Airport:  A taxi costs approximately $55 not including tolls and tips and will take about 75 minutes depending on traffic. Visit the  NYC Taxi and Limosine Commission Web site  for frequently updated information on taxi fares. By the Subway   Take the  F ,  B ,  V  or  D  trains to 47th -50th Streets-Rockefeller Center stop; or Take the  6  train to 51st Street stop (cross-street: Lexington Avenue); or Take the  1  or  9  trains to 50th Street stop (cross street: Broadway) Subway fare is $2.25 one way. For more information, consult the  MTA Web site . For point-to-point subway directions, consult  HopStop.com . Parking: Rockefeller Center Garage 25 W 48th Street New York, NY 10020-1509 Phone: (212) 698-8530   Entrance to the Building   The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is located at 630 Fifth Avenue, the entrance is on Fifth Avenue, between 50th and 51st Streets (a statue of Atlas is in front of the entrance, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral is directly opposite).  Sloan's offices are on the 25th floor, Suite 2550. Links Directions to Sloan Security Procedures Visiting for a Seminar? Nearby Hotels Google Map

Rockefeller Center security requires that all visitors to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation show photo identification before being issued a building pass.  Links Directions to Sloan Security Procedures Visiting for a Seminar? Nearby Hotels Google Map

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has no official relationship with any of the hotels listed below.  Hotels are listed solely for their proximity to the Foundation's offices.  We encourage out-of-town guests to make accomodations as far in advance as possible. Club Quarters Midtown 25 West 51st Street (212) 262-3200 Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel 569 Lexington Avenue (800) 836-6471 Hilton New York 1335 Avenue of the Americas (212) 586-7000 Hotel Elysee 60 East 54th Street (212) 753-1066 Marriott Marquis New York 1535 Broadway (800) 843-4898 Omni Berkshire 21 East 52nd Street (212) 753-1066 Warwick Hotel 65 West 54th Street (212) 753-5800 Links Directions to Sloan Security Procedures Visiting for a Seminar? Nearby Hotels Google Map

The Foundation regularly invites outside experts in to give seminars on topics of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation interest or on unique grantmaking opportunities.  Seminars run from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and are followed by a half-hour follow-up discussion over coffee and tea.  Speakers are asked to arrive at the Foundation no later that 1:15 p.m. on the day of the seminar to allow adequate time for set up.  All seminar speakers are invited to join the President and program staff for lunch prior to the seminar.  Speakers planning to join for lunch should arrive at the Foundation no later than 12:15 p.m. Speakers traveling to the Foundation from outside the New York metro area will be reimbursed for reasonable travel and lodging expenses.  Original receipts should be submitted along with a  Travel Expense Form . Links Directions to Sloan Security Procedures Visiting for a Seminar? Nearby Hotels Google Map

Council on Foundations Foundation Center Foundations.Org GrantProposal.com The Grantsmanship Center Grant Writer's Resource Links GuideStar National Endowment for the Arts Nonprofit.About.com Nonprofit Gateway Philanthropy News Network Links What We Do Not Fund The Grant Application Process Letters of Inquiry Grant Proposals Forms Tips for Writing a Successful Grant Proposal Other Web sites for Grantseekers

Read Bourne and Chalupa's concise and helpful  Ten Simple Rules for Getting Grants . Adhere to the formatting and content requirements laid out on the Web site. These requirements are inflexible. Proposals not meeting these requirements will not be considered. Avoid rhetoric and hyperbole. Illustrate with real instances or examples. For grant proposals in support of meetings or conferences, include a draft agenda, draft list of invitees, and draft letter of invitation if possible. Be specific about outputs and outcomes. The proposal should explicitly state expected practical, tangible outputs (such as number of students whose training or careers are affected, data collected, scientific papers produced) and outcomes (such as new knowledge, institutional strengthening, etc). BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT OUTPUTS OR OUTCOMES WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THE PROJECT HAD BEEN A SUCCESS (big sales of a book, a prize awarded for research, a government grant to continue the project, web traffic, high enrollments, better salaries, etc.). If the effort connects to or benefits other areas of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation interest such as DNA Barcoding, the Census of Marine Life, or the Public Understanding of Science, point this out. Be explicit about the duration of the project (e.g. 12 or 18 months). Be clear about management. Who will do what jobs and who will have what responsibilities, obligations, and powers (both carrots and sticks)? Make constructive use of milestones to the extent applicable (for example, include a schedule of events over time indicating when certain things should be accomplished or happen). Include Letters of Support if a project’s success depends crucially on support of key figures other than the PI. Keep proposal compact in terms of total megabytes and also in terms of files into which a proposal is divided. A proposal should not come in more than 3 files (such as main proposal, appendices, budget), though a single file in .pdf format is preferred. While draft files may be sent as Word files (.doc or .docx format) to make it easy for the Foundation to return comments, finals should be sent in .pdf format. Links What We Do Not Fund The Grant Application Process Letters of Inquiry Grant Proposals Forms Tips for Writing a Successful Grant Proposal Other Web sites for Grantseekers

Letters of inquiry regarding the possibility of Foundation support should include: A brief statement (two or three sentences) about the nature and purpose of the proposed project; A rough estimate of the cost of the proposed project and the amount of funds the proposer will be seeking from the Foundation; A rough estimate of the duration of the proposed project; Your title and contact information; The names and affiliations of other key members of the project, if any.  Letters of inquiry should be:  No more than one full page; Submitted by email to the program director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant program from which you wish to receive funds. Please consult the staff directory on the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Web site for contact information for each program director. If a program has more than one program director listed, please send the letter of inquiry to only one of the program directors. While we try to respond to all letters of inquiry quickly, this is not always feasible due to the large volume of inquries we receive and the time constraints faced by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation staff. If more than a month has passed since you submitted your letter of inquiry, it is appropriate to email the program director to whom you submitted your letter of inquiry and inquire about its status. Links What We Do Not Fund The Grant Application Process Letters of Inquiry Grant Proposals Forms Tips for Writing a Successful Grant Proposal Other Web sites for Grantseekers

Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. was born in New Haven, Connecticut, May 23, 1875, the first of five children of Alfred Pritchard Sloan Sr. and Katherine Mead Sloan. His father, a machinist by training, was then a partner in a small company importing coffee and tea. In 1885 the family moved to Brooklyn, where it was particularly active in the Methodist Church. (Young Alfred’s maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister.) Alfred Jr. excelled as a student both in the public schools and at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute where he completed the college-preparatory course. After some delay in being admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (which considered him too young when he first applied), he matriculated in 1892 and took a degree in electrical engineering in three years as the youngest member of his graduating class. Mr. Sloan began his career as a draftsman in a small machine shop, the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company of Newark, New Jersey. At his urging, Hyatt was soon producing new antifriction bearings for automobiles. In 1898 he married Irene Jackson of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The next year, at age 24, he became the president of Hyatt, where he supervised all aspects of the company’s business. Hyatt bearings became a standard in the automobile industry, and the company grew rapidly under his leadership. In 1916 the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company, together with a number of other manufacturers of automobile accessories, merged with the United Motors Corporation, of which Mr. Sloan became president. Two years later that company became part of the General Motors Corporation (itself established in 1908 as the General Motors Company), and Mr. Sloan was named Vice President in Charge of Accessories and a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Sloan was elected President of General Motors in 1923, succeeding Pierre S. du Pont, who said of him on that occasion: “The greater part of the successful development of the Corporation’s operations and the building of a strong manufacturing and sales organization is due to Mr. Sloan. His election to the presidency is a natural and well-merited recognition of his untiring and able efforts and successful achievement.” Mr. Sloan had developed by then his system of disciplined, professional management that provided for decentralized operations with coordinated centralized policy control. Applying it to General Motors, he set the corporation on its course of industrial leadership. The next 23 years, with Mr. Sloan as Chief Executive Officer, were years of enormous expansion for General Motors and of a steady increase in its share of the automobile market. In 1937, Mr. Sloan was elected Chairman of the Board of General Motors. He continued as Chief Executive Officer until 1946. When he resigned from the chairmanship in 1956, the General Motors Board said of him: “The Board of Directors has acceded to Mr. Sloan’s wish to retire as Chairman. He has served the Corporation long and magnificently. His analysis and grasp of the problems of corporate management, his great vision and rare good judgement, laid the solid foundation which has made possible the growth and progress of General Motors over the years.” Mr. Sloan was then named Honorary Chairman of the Board, a title he retained until his death on February 17, 1966. For many years, he had devoted the largest share of his time and energy to philanthropic activities, both as a private donor to many causes and organizations and through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which he established in 1934. Mr. Sloan, a realist as well as a humanist and philanthropist, looked upon the Foundation as an extension of his own life and work. Although he recognized the inevitability of change that might dictate a different course, he expected that the Foundation would “continue as an operating facility indefinitely in the future…to represent my accomplishments in this life.” His accomplishments during his lifetime were of the highest order, and in themselves provide the most dramatic and lasting tribute to his extraordinary talent. Through the Foundation, his accomplishments have been extended and expanded.

Too often we fail to recognize and pay tribute to the creative spirit .  It is that spirit that creates our jobs …  There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different .  (Alfred P. Sloan Jr., 1941)   The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants primarily to support original research and broad-based education related to science, technology, economic performance and the quality of American life. The Foundation is unique in its focus on science, technology, and economic institutions—and the scholars and practitioners who work in these fields—as chief drivers of the nation’s health and prosperity. The Foundation has a deep-rooted belief that carefully reasoned systematic understanding of the forces of nature and society, when applied inventively and wisely, can lead to a better world for all. The Foundation’s endowment provides the financial resources to support its activities. The investment strategy for the endowment is to invest prudently in a diversified portfolio of assets with the goal of achieving superior returns. In each of our grants programs, we seek proposals for original projects led by outstanding individuals or teams. We are interested in projects that have a high expected return to society, and for which funding from the private sector, government or other foundations is not yet widely available. The major areas in which the Foundation is currently making new grants can be found on the Foundation’s Web site, along with information about  how to apply for a grant .

The Fellow's institution is required to report annually on expenditures from the Fellowship grant. The Fellow must submit a brief scientific progress report annually, followed by a final report. Reprints or preprints of scientific papers may be submitted in lieu of such reports.