The 2025 CCF Call for Proposals is now CLOSED. Applicants will receive notification about acceptance in August. The 2026 CCF grant funding cycle will open in February 2026. Please refer to the applications below as REFERENCE ONLY.
Each year, CCF receives over $1 million in grant requests for research and program funding related to pediatric oncology. Consideration is reserved for local researchers and projects in D.C., Maryland, and N. Virginia. All grants are one-year only, and fund a maximum of $75,000 for Research Grants, and $100,000 for NextGen Awards. Program Grant funding ranges from $5,000-20,000. The number of proposals funded and the amount they receive are directly affected by the number of proposals received and the amount of funds raised from the community that year.
*A NextGen applicant not selected to receive the Award will automatically be considered for a 2025 CCF Research Grant.
Grant Application FAQ
Each year, research grant proposals are reviewed by an independently-appointed review panel of three to four pediatric oncology researchers from institutions outside of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Northern Virginia with no connection to local applicants. The proposals are peer-reviewed by the panel and ranked considering promise, uniqueness, and established science standards. The reviewers provide a score between 1 – 5 and each application is ranked based on the average scores. At least two reviewers provide comprehensive critiques of each proposal that are then shared with applicants not selected for a grant. Proposals that receive funding are affected by the amount of funds available and the other proposals received that year. Therefore, an unfunded proposal is not necessarily an indicator of a poor proposal.
- Call for proposals – February 3- May 4, 2025 – CLOSED
- Review of proposals by committee – June 2025
- Selection of Grant awardees – July 2025
- Notification of Awards – August 2025
- Receipt of Grant Award – November- December 2025
- Poster presentation of latest findings or related work – June 2026
- Conclusion of grant period – December 2026
- Submission of final report – no later than March 2027
Local research is defined as research conducted in Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia.
Yes. If your lab is operating within the region, for example, at the Children’s National Innovation and Research Campus, you are considered “doing research within the CCF grant region.”
No. In addition to an M.D., or Ph.D., degrees such as a D.O., MBBS, MSN-NP are equally acceptable. An applicant without an advanced degree, such as a B.A. or B.S. may apply if they are currently in a doctoral program.
Yes. At the time of application, foreign national applicants must either hold either a permanent resident (I-551 or Green Card) or a USCIS-issued I-551 temporary evidence stamp in one’s passport or hold a J1 or H1B visas that extend beyond the life of the grant. All foreign nationals must submit, with the application, notarized evidence of this status. At the time of application and throughout the award, an applicant must be employed by a U.S. institution.
The proposal should be a SINGLE PDF document incorporating all attachments. The narrative must follow the NIH standard: black font, 11 points or larger, in Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface. It should be no fewer than 6 lines per inch, and margins no smaller than 0.5” (top, bottom, left and right.)
The grant can cover all direct costs including salary, research supplies and equipment. Equipment costs must be less than $5,000 and not be administrative in nature. Indirect costs are not permitted as part of the grant request, such as travel associated with the research, administrative supplies, and advertising.
We welcome applicants, particularly those earlier in their career, to include a Letter of Recommendation as part of their proposal. This is separate from the “Letter of Commitment” required as part of the NextGen Grant proposal. CCF will not accept additional materials.
Yes, but there must be clear documentation of mechanisms to avoid scientific and/or budgetary overlap.
You will be notified by e-mail regarding the outcome of the proposal by mid-August. If you have not heard from CCF by the end of August, please contact Rose Ann Verrilli at CCF.
No. Research grants are awarded for one year only.
A current awardee may wish to submit a proposal for research that is an extension of their awarded research project, or is in some way related to the currently-funded grant, but the proposal would receive no priority consideration over other submitted proposals. A one-page progress report must be included with the application.
CCF makes every effort to grant the maximum amount requested (up to $75,000 for Research/ $100,000 for NextGen). However, as funding is dependent on the amount CCF raises that calendar year, the amount of funding could be less than was requested.
Yes. If an extension is needed, please notify CCF in writing: rverrilli@childrenscancerfoundation.org or 443-436-4479 (attn.: Rose Ann Verrilli) noting the reason for the extension and the intended conclusion timeline for the grant funding to be spent.
Within 90 days of the conclusion of the grant period, grant recipients will submit a final report, submitted either as a 2-3 page Word or PDF file and should include:
- Research Title
- Principal Investigator
- Institution
- Grant Start/End date
- Initial Research Goal
- Results/Findings – Including relevant graphs, charts or images
- Ongoing/additional plans – such as intent for future research using said findings, and intent to submit abstracts on funded research to any research publications (crediting funding from CCF)
Any research funded in part by a CCF grant should include CCF in the Funding or Acknowledgment section of the published article. An example of wording could be: “Funding for this research was supported by a grant from The Children’s Cancer Foundation, Inc.” Please be sure to share article with CCF by email – info@childrenscancerfoundation.org
