The Tinker Foundation: Institution Grants for Improving Lives of Latin Americans
The Tinker Foundation’s Institutional Grants program provides project funding to organizations working to improve the lives of Latin Americans, with an emphasis on support for organizations in the region. The Foundation funds research and advocacy, experimentation, scaling up of interventaion, and exchange of knowledge and models relating to the following three priority program areas:
- Democratic Governance
- Education
- Sustainable Resource Management
Education funding priorities for 2023
Given the ongoing pandemic and the varying educational conditions across the region, the Foundation will maintain an intentionally broad funding strategy for 2023. Tinker welcomes promising projects from across the region that:
- Promote foundational learning recovery and acceleration. After extended school closures and inconsistent access to remote learning, many students have fallen well below grade-level standards. We welcome projects that seek to address these gaps.
- Secure student re-enrollment and retention. School closures have caused lower registration rates in some educational communities, and experts fear many more students may drop out in the coming months and years because of academic and other pandemic-related challenges. We seek projects that address this challenge, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable students.
- Evolve curricula and teaching approaches. There is a window of opportunity to introduce new practices and shift educational priorities. We invite projects that involve work with school systems, educational leaders, and families to promote basic learning and implement evidence-based pedagogical approaches that increase educational equity and quality moving forward.
The education program will provide grants to civil society organizations in Latin America aiming to achieve these objectives. Some examples of interventions to be prioritized may include:
- Diagnostics and accelerated learning plans
- Teacher training and coaching
- Tutoring and complementary activities
- Interventions that support student socio-emotional wellbeing and learning as part of broader educational initiatives
The project must be focused on the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, including:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Submission Dates
Cycle 1
9 January 2023: Applications open for LoI
18 January 2023: RIC Internal deadline for review of application and compliance (10 days before submission deadline – this service is optional).
25 January: External LoI deadline
8 March 2023: RIC Internal deadline for review of full application and compliance (10 days before submission deadline – this service is optional)
15 March 2023: Final submission 5 days before submission deadline – must engage RIC for final submission
22 March 2023: External deadline for full proposals (invitation only)
June 2023: Final decisionsion
Submission Guidelines
2023 Request for Applications available here. Principal investigators must hold a primary academic faculty position of assistant professor or higher.
LoI followed by invitation to submit full proposal. Submissions via Online Grants Portal.
Internal review by RIC is not required for applications to the Tinker Foundation. Applications should be submitted directly via the online system as per sponsor guidelines. Sign off/declaration by an authorised representative of the University is required for full (invited) proposals. Relevant contacts required for the application process can be found here. RIC requires an email from your Head of Department supporting your application to be sent to ric-international@unimelb.edu.au prior to submission.
Please ensure that following submission, a Themis Submission is entered. Please also include a completed Costing and Pricing tool.
Contact ric-international@unimelb.edu.au for further information.
Please contact MERI Grants team if you are considering applying for this grant.