Tips for a Successful Proposal

Details Matter!

  • Provide a descriptive title for each proposed activity as opposed to something overly generic. "Environmental Humanities, Illustrated" is better than "Fall Lecture."
  • Outline your planned activities in some detail, including a brief description to help the review committee understand your vision.
    • If you plan to invite speakers, please list their names, titles, affiliations, and brief bios.
    • If you haven't yet identified a specific speaker, indicate who you might invite and why.
    • If your activity fits a specific purpose, identify it.
  • Be succinct, but provide some context to explain what you’re aiming to do: convey your plans and expectations for what the requested funding will help your group accomplish.
  • Specify your group's contribution to the humanities. Explain how your group's collaborative work links to the humanities.
  • Follow our Budget Tips below as you develop your ideas and when submitting your proposal.
  • Review models of working group activities (including examples of digital collaborations), and current Corridor activities for guidance or inspiration.
  • Preview the CFP questions as a group before answering the proposal form. This will minimize technical difficulties and allow for a smoother application process. Upon proposal completion, you'll receive an emailed copy (as will all listed collaborators). The confirmation email will include a link to revise and resubmit your proposal up until the deadline.

Budget Tips

Carefully Select Your Host Campus and Semester

Our funding stems from different Corridor endowments at the three partner institutions (Cornell University, Syracuse University, and the University of Rochester). Awards are tied to these endowments via the host campus and semester specified in your proposal.

  • Changing a host campus means asking for support from a different funding pool. These requests are not easily accommodated and may not be possible; money cannot “move” between the different endowments.
  • For remote-format activities, you must still identify a “host campus” due to our funding structure.

Funding Options

Public health and safety guidelines may continue to change and differ across the Corridor’s 11 campuses and the nine counties they span across upstate New York. These considerations may impact planning, collaboration, and campus protocols about hosting in person activities (or using funds to support travel). Please keep apprised of evolving public health guidelines on Corridor campuses that could affect your Working Group activities. Remote format activities allow broad engagement, support international participation and guests, and are "greener." We, therefore, encourage you to consider a mix of formats (hybrid, remote, or in person) and welcome proposals for fully remote format activities to sustain collaborations in an inclusive way for all participants.

Our funding can support your collaborations in many ways:

  • Speaker/Fees Honoraria
    • Speaker Fees/Honoraria for speakers, performers, artists, etc. from non-Corridor Institutions.
    • Individuals from Corridor institutions cannot receive honoraria from our funds.
  • IT Fees and Technical Supports (e.g., webinar license fees, remote-format collaborative platforms, recording/sound technicians, videography, etc.)
  • Scholarly materials tied to proposed Working Group activities/collaborations (e.g., books, films, musical scores, etc.)
  • Consultant or Vendor Fees
  • Catering, Meals, and Receptions
  • Accessibility Funding*
    • To support accessibility and inclusive format activities, complete the Accessibility Funding section on the proposal form. This could include real-time captioning and transcription.
  • Travel Costs
    • Air/Ground Travel for speakers, performers, artists, etc. from non-Corridor Institutions.
    • Hotel/Accommodations for speakers, performers, artists, etc. from non-Corridor Institutions.
    • Intra-Corridor Travel Supplement* reimbursements help convene Working Group members from across Corridor campuses and help faculty, academic staff, and graduate students attend Corridor activities (symposia, workshops, etc.) at other Corridor institutions.
  • *Note: Accessibility Funding and the Intra-Corridor Travel Supplement are both available, above and beyond amounts proposed/awarded via your Working Group Activity Budget(s).

Changing, Postponing, or Canceling Working Group Activities

We encourage Working Groups to think about the inclusivity of virtual or hybrid activities, and being ready to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Here’s some guidance if you need to cancel or adjust your proposed activities after your Working Group is awarded funding.

Changes to existing awards are subject to review and require approval. Changes outlined below may be requested via the Revise an Existing Award form, also available on our Resources page.

  • Postponing: If your Working Group wishes to postpone an activity from fall semester to spring semester within the same academic year, simply explain the circumstances.
  • Changing location: To request a change in host campus (e.g., from Cornell to Le Moyne), please provide a strong rationale for the change. Changing location has complex fiscal implications and cannot always be accommodated.
  • Revising a budget: If your Working Group needs to revise your approved budget's honoraria or accessibility funds allocations, you must provide a new budget outline, as the honoraria and accessibility funding amounts are fixed.
  • Shifting activity type: If the nature of your activity has changed (e.g., a public lecture shifting to a writing retreat), then please explain the rationale behind this shift.
  • Canceling: If your activity must be canceled outright, with no chance of being reworked within the current academic year, kindly notify us at CNYHumanities@syr.edu. Corridor funding cannot carry forward into another academic year.
  • If your Working Group wishes to postpone an activity to a different academic year than the one for which it was awarded you must reapply in the next funding cycle.

Once you receive an award, we'll ask you to Submit an Activity form well in advance of the event. This information feeds into the shared calendar and your Working Group page, keeping your work visible to all who explore and support the Corridor!