Guide for Collaborating with EFI on Grants

This is a guide for potential collaborators, with or without previous experience with the Ecological Forecasting Initiative (EFI), for preparing a grant proposal. We value all contributions to our mission to grow a grassroots consortium aimed at building and supporting an interdisciplinary community of practice around near-term (daily to decadal) ecological forecasts that align with EFI’s Shared Values.
Note “SC” references the EFI Steering Committee.

This document includes: 

  1. Ways to collaborate with EFI on grants
  2. Definition of an “EFI Activity”
  3. Minimum Requirements for Co-Writing a Grant with EFI
  4. Current and Past Funding for EFI Activities

Collaborating with EFI on grants

  1. Request to meet an EFI representative. If you have an idea supporting one of EFI’s strategic priorities, or co-write a grant proposal, email info@ecoforecast.org to schedule a meeting, ideally one to six months before proposal submission.

    Decision process: A follow-up meeting will be scheduled as needed with the EFI SC chair, associate chair, and/or EFI Community Manager to identify next steps and other SC or EFI community members to contact.

    If you are specifically interested in a request about Forecasting Challenge support, email Quinn Thomas (rqthomas@vt.edu) to learn more.

  2. Request a letter of collaboration. Letters of collaboration or letters/notifications of intent can be provided if you are proposing activities that leverage the EFI community and our existing activities, but that do not require budgeted support in your grant proposal.

    Email info@ecoforecast.org to request a letter of collaboration. A typical request would include details of the grant, your project, and the role requested of EFI.

    Drafts of the proposal are not required at the time the request is initiated, but a copy of the submitted proposal is requested for our record-keeping, and notify us promptly of updates to the status or outcome of the proposal.

    Decision process: Requests will be reviewed and approved by the SC Chair and the Community Manager, with a follow-up notification of the request sent to the SC.
    All requests for letters of collaboration typically require at least one month’s notice, but may be eligible for an expedited review process with a two-week notice.

  3. Request a letter of support. Any proposal that requires budgeted support for the initiation of new EFI activities (workshops, short courses, cyberinfrastructure, etc), the generation of new EFI deliverables, or any other obligation of EFI time, funds, or support should be submitted as requests for a letter of support, not collaboration.

    Email info@ecoforecast.org early in the proposal writing process to allow time to schedule a meeting with the SC chair and EFI community manager and to prepare for the SC to have an informed discussion to vet the project. A typical request would include details of the grant, your project, and the role requested of EFI, and draft budget expectations.

    Decision process: Requests will be reviewed on the SC call following the email request. Additional discussions may follow, including requests for PIs to join an SC call to clarify financial or time commitment requests. Requests will also need to be approved by EFI’s fiscal sponsor, Ecologistics.

    All requests for letters of support should be sent three to six months prior to submission, but may be eligible for an expedited review process with six weeks’ notice. A copy of the submitted proposal is required for record-keeping, and notify us promptly about updates to the status or outcome of the proposal.

  4. Letters of support or collaboration with EFI’s International Chapters
    Per EFI’s Operating Principles and Procedures, the EFI International Chapters are empowered to make similar commitments regionally as long as it does not create an additional encumbrance to EFI as a whole. 

Definition of an “EFI Activity”

Simply put, anything you consider to be EFI-related or attributed to EFI should be part of the list. Something attributed to an individual who happens to be an EFI Member is not an EFI activity. 

For example, activities that create obligations (time, money, responsibility, etc.) for EFI’s working groups, community manager, etc, are EFI activities. 

  • Activities initiated by the SC members would be vetted by the full SC.
  • Activities initiated by EFI working groups are considered EFI activities and require SC permission to apply for grants. 
  • Activities initiated by EFI Chapters do not require SC approval unless they create obligations for EFI itself rather than just the chapter, given the autonomy chapters have (see the EFI Operating Principles and Procedures). 
  • Activities initiated externally that create obligations for EFI and thus generate new EFI activities require SC approval for EFI to be involved.

Minimum Requirements for Co-Writing a Grant with EFI

The Ecological Forecasting Initiative is excited to develop new projects, activities, and collaborations with its members, partner organizations, and external groups, including but not limited to workshops, courses, research projects, infrastructure development, community engagement, and (of course) forecasts following EFI’s mission, shared values, Operating Principles and Procedures, strategic priorities, and community project guidelines. In some cases, such activities will require in-kind support and/or grant funding to be successful. These projects typically require that a percentage of time be written into the grant budget to support program development, administration, and infrastructure. 

  • Timeframe: Please allow one to six months to work on a grant proposal with EFI. Expect several meetings/co-working sessions to develop the proposal narrative and budget during that time. A clearer timeline will be co-developed once a decision to move forward with writing a grant has been made.
  • Budget: EFI is a fiscally sponsored project of Ecologistics. As such, all budget proposals will include a 6% overhead on all funds received. 10% on all government grants or public-agency funds.
  • Commitments: Discussions will take place on a case-by-case basis regarding the time commitments of any EFI personnel, such as the EFI community manager or contractors working with EFI. Lastly, support to be written into a grant budget may include infrastructure, equipment, participant support, and/or travel as appropriate.

Current and Past Funding for EFI Activities

As a grassroots community of practice, the majority of activities within the EFI community are provided by volunteers sharing their time and expertise. However, there have been a few projects that have been funded. Most notably, an NSF Research Coordination Grant has supported convening the community, particularly by focusing on developing forecasting challenges. Below are additional details of current and past funded projects.

  1. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Mike Dietze (Boston University), PI. Expired in 2021
  1. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Melissa Kenney (University of Minnesota), PI. Expired in 2023
    • Provided early operational support for EFI community activities and funding to support partnerships with three Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) to expand data science education opportunities to new communities
  1. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Jason McLachlan (University of Notre Dame), PI. Expired in 2025
    • This seed grant built on the initial MSI collaborations to leverage the EFI community to develop culturally relevant educational materials and provide mentorship and research opportunities for Indigenous and other underrepresented students
  1. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Jason McLachlan (University of Notre Dame), PI. Expires in 2027
    • This implementation grant continues the previous work to expand connections between EFI and other MSIs, develop additional educational resources, host data science workshops, continue mentoring and research opportunities, and connect to a microcredentialing program
  2. NASA ROSES Grant; Jake Kritzer NERACOOS, Jake Zwart US Geological Survey. Expired in 2024 
  1. NSF: EFI Research Coordination Network; Quinn Thomas (Virginia Tech), PI. Expired in 2025
    • Supported EFI community building around the development of cyberinfrastructure, theory of ecology, educational resources using NEON data to implement the EFI NEON Forecast Challenge
  1. CSSI NSF Grant; Quinn Thomas (Virginia Tech), PI. Expires in 2026
    • Collaboration with the GeoCODES community to build on the Forecasting Standards to improve the discoverability and re-use of ecological forecasts.

Acknowledgement: Some of the material in this guideline was inspired by The Carpentries