FUNding Friday (FF) is an annual mini-grant competition held during ESIP's July Meeting. Established in 2008 (initially at the Summer Meeting in Durham, NH), FF aims to foster new collaborations and innovative projects within the ESIP community by providing seed funding.
- Meeting Attendees: $5,000
- Students and Education Committee Workshop Participants: $3,000
The total number of awards varies annually, typically ranging from 2-4 per participant group. Projects are expected to be completed within one year, between the July Meeting of the award and the following July Meeting.
FF serves to:
- Promote and reward innovative collaborations and connections between ESIP meeting attendees, projects, and technologies, encouraging the exploration of novel outcomes.
- Support valuable small-scale projects by providing funding for essential resources such as programmer salary and travel.
- Showcase ESIP's ability to leverage member skills and current technologies to develop new services with modest funding and effort.
- Recognize and support members who are eager to explore new collaborations and ideas inspired by the activities of other ESIP members.
Interested participants are encouraged to consider the July Meeting's theme and session content when developing their project ideas; however, the competition does not have a specific thematic or topical focus.
- Registered attendees of the July Meeting are eligible to participate, including ESIP Community Fellows and participants in the Education Committee’s Teacher Workshop.
- For group projects, all members receiving funding must be listed on the project poster, and their presence during the Poster Pitch event is strongly encouraged. Participants are also encouraged to discuss project roles and budgets during their preparation.
- Eligible individual can serve as the lead person or principal investigator on only one proposed project.
- FF is awarded as a prize and is transferred to individuals not institutions. Those individuals will be taxed on the prize (see Tax Information for the FUNding Friday awards below).
- Previous year's FF awardees and individuals in ESIP leadership positions (Board and Program Committee) are ineligible to receive an award.
- Federal employees can collaborate on projects but cannot receive cash prizes or travel funding.
- Individuals from non-federal organizations are responsible for understanding and adhering to any organizational limitations regarding accepting outside funds or using official resources for external projects.
- Create a Hand-Drawn Poster: Interested participants must present a hand-drawn poster describing their project during the Poster Pitch session on Friday morning (check the July Meeting schedule for the specific time and location). Materials for the posters are provided during the FF Poster event on Thursday night (check the July Meeting schedule).
- Present a 2-Minute Pitch: The lead person/principal investigator must be present at the Poster Pitch session to deliver a maximum 2-minute pitch of the project. Proxies are not allowed. Additional project participants may contribute to the pitch. The time limit will be strictly enforced.
- Exhibit the Poster: The poster must be displayed in the designated area before the Poster Pitch session begins.
- Awards are determined by a community vote immediately following the Poster Pitch session.
- Only in-person registered attendees of the July Meeting (those with a badge) are eligible to vote and must be present during the Poster Pitch session to do so.
- Each eligible voter will receive three member ballots and three student/educator ballots, which can be allocated across different projects (e.g., all three votes for one project or one vote for three projects). Voting concludes at the end of the Poster Pitch session.
- In the event of a tie for third place, the tied winners will decide by consensus whether to split the funding and pursue both projects or flip a coin to determine the winner. For ties involving three or more projects, the ESIP Programming Committee will determine the winner(s) via a vote at their next scheduled teleconference.
- Winners will be announced during lunch on Friday (refer to the July Meeting schedule for details). While presence at the announcement is not required, the project lead should verify their contact information with ESIP staff immediately after the Poster Pitch session if they will be unavailable. Similarly, participants of awarded projects should verify their contact information with ESIP staff following the announcement.
- All decisions are final.
- Award funds are distributed in two installments:
- Half upon submission of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a statement of work to ESIP staff at the project's start after the July Meeting.
- Half following the January or July Meeting when the project results are presented via a poster session. All project work must be completed by this time. Awardees may also present their projects in a relevant session at the January Meeting but must also present a poster.
- Note that funding is not immediately disbursed; awardees should factor in the time required for drafting the MOU and ESIP staff review.
- Any deviations from the standard schedule must be requested in the initial statement of work and approved by ESIP staff. ESIP staff may revise the payment schedule under compelling circumstances.
- Project groups are responsible for allocating the awarded funds within their team to meet project goals. ESIP does not manage these internal allocations.
- All funds must be spent in accordance with current U.S. Government rules on contract expenditures.
- Overhead costs are not supported.
FF awards are granted to individuals, not institutions, and are considered taxable income. As an award recognizing special achievement, the funds are not specifically designated for particular expenditures. Individuals accepting a cash award must submit a W-9 tax form and will receive a 1099-Misc, Miscellaneous Income form, from ESIP for tax reporting purposes. Awardees will not be eligible to use the 1040EZ tax form and may wish to consider their previous year's tax rate to estimate the tax liability associated with the award.