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Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations

Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations

OCFR helps ASU faculty find resources to advance their work and builds meaningful philanthropic relationships with corporate and foundation benefactors of ASU. We’re here to support your needs to find funding, develop your proposal, execute gift and charitable grant agreements, and improve your grant-writing skills.

The Role of the ASU Foundation’s Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations

The Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (OCFR) works to advance, through philanthropy from organizational funders, the success of Arizona State University as A New American University. To that end, we collaborate externally with representatives from corporations and foundation around the world to identify engagement opportunities that promise to further shared interests and commitments. Internally, we assist university leadership and faculty in identifying funding for their work and provide assistance throughout the proposal process.

OCFR works in a number of ways:

  • Manages ongoing cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of corporations and community, corporate, family and independent foundations
  • Establishes and maintains administrative practices that ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to corporate and foundation funding
  • Works with the units to identify and develop promising programs and match them with corporate and foundation funders
  • Responds to requests from our university colleagues for assistance with other activities related to corporate and foundation funding such as program development and proposal writing and editing

Our highest priority is to increase corporate and foundation funding for the academic programs that are most promising in terms of their ability to raise ASU’s level of excellence in teaching, research, and service and to build ASU’s reputation within the national corporate and foundation world and those communities it influences.  OCFR’s overall goal is to continue to increase the number and quality of proposals submitted on behalf of the University, thereby resulting in an increase in foundation and corporate funding, and enhanced relationships with organizational partners.

If you represent a corporation or foundation interested in partnering with ASU, or are a member of the ASU faculty or staff, please contact OCFRgrants@asu.edu.

OCFR Team

Shaun Brenton
Associate Vice President
shaun.brenton@asu.edu

Jenny Bickford
Senior Director
jenny.bickford@asu.edu

Paco Madden
Grant Writer
paco.madden@asu.edu

Kristin Travagline
Assistant Director
kmtravag@asu.edu

Molly Pino, Grants Manager and Evaluator
molly.pino@asu.edu

Find Funding

Sign up to receive the OCFR RFP Alert.

Contact OCFR prospect research services to let us help you identify potential funders.

Visit OKED's funding.asu.edu to browse philanthropic opportunities.

Resources for prospect and proposal research:

Network with other faculty:

  • Free online subscription; personalized funding and collaborator search

SciVal Experts: Find faculty collaborators at ASU, UA, and NAU

Develop a proposal

Ready to develop your proposal? Before you begin, make sure to review the following: 

When you’re ready to advance your proposal...

Remember, the applicant organization for all charitable grant applications should always be the ASU Foundation for A New American University. To ensure ASU’s strategic coordination and management of funding applications, prior to preparing your application, you should take the following steps:

  1. Reach out to your Research Advancement Specialist
  2. In your email to your RA, include a cc to OCFRgrants@asu.edu
  3. If applicable, include a cc to your unit-assigned 

Institutional and financial information frequently requested by grant makers:

Facts about ASU for inclusion in your proposal:

Templates and tools for proposal writing and budgeting:

Execute gift and charitable grant agreements

Follow these steps when an organizational funder has agreed to make a charitable grant:

Step 1: Contact OCFRgrants@asu.edu

Step 2: Provide OCFR with relevant documentation, including the proposal, budget, and letter of award or gift/grant agreement

Step 3: Secure University approval from dean or director: University Acceptance of Gift Agreement

Learn more about how OCFR executes gift and grant agreements:

Please contact Michael Kohmescher or Melissa Gray when executing gift agreements for individuals.

Improve your grant writing skills

Obtaining corporate and foundation funding is different from obtaining federal funding. This guide will introduce you to the basics: A Guide to the Basics of Corporate and Foundation Philanthropy

You can also reach out to us directly.

Grantspace provides sample proposals, letters of intent, and budgets.

Hosted by the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, the ASU Research Academy provides ASU faculty, students and staff with a robust suite of resources to help you succeed in securing research funding.