Funding Opportunities
Direct Action Visionary Grants
The APF Direct Action Visionary Grants seek to fund innovative interventions, based on psychological knowledge, that directly address pressing needs of communities.
The APF Direct Action Visionary Grants seek to fund innovative interventions, based on psychological knowledge, that directly address pressing needs of communities.
Research is critical to advancing the field of psychology, but communities also need care right now. APF is uniquely positioned to accomplish both. Through APF Direct Action Visionary Grants, we are particularly interested in supporting communities and populations dealing with prejudice, bias, intolerance, and all forms of bigotry including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and misogyny.
Projects should support APF’s four Visionary Priorities:
Serve Marginalized Communities
End Prejudice & Stigma
Prevent Violence
Explore Mind-Body Health Connections
Eligibility
APF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds with respect to age, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, ability, sexual orientation, gender, and geography.
Projects must:
- be clearly supported by evidence-based psychological principle
- have demonstrated competence and capacity to execute the proposed work
Additional eligibility information:
- Project applicants may be individuals or organizations and are not required to be psychologists or mental health professionals. However, an expert in the relevant evidence-based foundation used for the project must be centrally involved throughout the funding timeline.
- Projects are not limited to clinical or academic settings.
Below are examples of the types of projects this grant aims to support. APF encourages innovative projects that utilize evidence-based psychological principles in new and impactful ways to reach those in need. These examples are meant to be informative, not limiting.
Example Projects
- Evaluation of the implementation of an evidence-based intervention in a specific community.
- Bridging the gap to bring an evidence-based intervention to a community in need. (e.g. funding for a community outreach program)
- Translation of psychological knowledge into a form that can be easily distributed to and understood by a community in need. (e.g. development of a fact sheet on recognizing risks of suicide among LGBTQIA+ youth; translating an evidence-based resource into another language)
Application Process
APF will accept Letters of Intent on a rolling basis throughout the year. Submitted LOIs will be evaluated quarterly after the deadlines of January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31, 2025.
Based on submitted LOIs, the review committee will invite full applications for qualified projects. Upon notification, full application criteria will be provided. Full applications may be submitted at any time after invitation, but will be evaluated by the review committee after the deadlines of March 31 and September 8, 2025. Below are additional details on the submission process.
Letter of Intent
Letters of intent should include the following:
- project purpose and alignment with APF Visionary Priorities
- project goals
- project methods (including psychological evidence base)
- commitment to project
- evaluation plan to assess/monitor outcomes
Evaluation Criteria
Letters of intent will be evaluated on:
- innovative and potential impact qualities (introduction of proven interventions in a similar setting, minor extensions of established theory or work that has little chance of replication or use beyond the proposed setting do not qualify as innovative or impactful)
- quality, viability, and promise of proposed work
- criticality of proposed funding for proposed work
- clear and comprehensive methodology
Please be advised that APF does not provide feedback to applicants on their proposals.
Please review our Program FAQs for important details on the application process.