Principal Vincentian Endowment Fund Grants

All DePaul students, staff, and faculty who have a continuing relationship with the University are eligible to apply for a VEF Grant.

Students will need the support of a full-time staff or faculty member prior to applying in order to be considered for funding.

For staff and faculty, we will notify their supervisors at the time of the application being submitted and when we communicate final decisions

1. February 1, 2024 - Principal VEF Grant Application opens
2. February 7, 12, and 15 2024- Optional Information Sessions hosted on Zoom.
3. March 1, 2024 - VEF Principal Grant Application closes
4. March 6-14, 2023 - Applicants may be invited to meet individually with DMM staff to discuss their Proposal Budget
5. Late March - VEF Board meets to decide on Principal VEF Applications
6. Early April - Decisions communicated to Principal VEF Applicants
7. May/June - Principal VEF Grants established within Restricted Accounting
8. July 1 - Principal VEF Grant Funds available for awardees to begin using

Wednesday, February 7th from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Monday February 12th from 9:00-10:00 am
Thursday February 15th from 12:00-1:00 pm

Sign up here: https://depaul.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8ct68fiEo44Y4ya

• Applicant general information (name, email, etc.)
• Applicant’s supervisor contact information
• For Students, contact information for your sponsoring full-time staff or faculty member
• Project Overview, which includes:
• Project Name
• Expected End Date
• Identifying 1) the purpose of the proposal, 2) the audience, and 3) the aspects of DePaul’s Mission that the proposal addresses
• Grant Proposal, which includes:
• Proposal Abstract (up to 500 characters)
• If awarded, abstracts will be used in an announcement about the awarded VEF Grants and potentially posted on the VEF Website. This abstract should be written to be “publish ready.”
• Proposal Narrative (up to 1000 Words)
• Narratives should consider one the following sets of questions:
• What “problem” is this project attempting to solve?  Why does this “problem” need to be solved? How will the audience identified earlier in this application access, engage, or benefit from this solution? How is this solution connected to the aspects of DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian Mission identified earlier in the application? How is this project unique from or building upon other attempts to solve this “problem?”
• What program has the opportunity to be enhanced? Why should this program be enhanced? How will the audience identified earlier in this application benefit from this enhancement? How is this enhancement connected to the aspects of DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian Mission that were identified earlier in the application? How is this project unique from or building upon other attempts to enhance this program?
• What story needs to be told? Why does this story need to be told? How will the audience identified earlier in the application access, engage, or benefit from this story? How is this story connected to the aspects of DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian Mission identified earlier in the application? How is this project unique from or building upon other attempts share this story?
• Narratives should include a timeline of the development and implementation of the project.
• Supplemental Documentation (up to 10 pages in a PDF format)
• Examples of supplemental documentation are: appendices that support your proposal narrative, photographs or images that support your narrative, letters of support, a visual of the timeline of the project, or documentation of other funding for this project.
• DO NOT include a CV or Resume in Supplemental Documentation. There is no need or requirement to submit a CV or Resume.
• Budget Information, which includes
• Providing an overview on how the applicant plans on spending dollars and the rationale for those expenses (up to 1,000 characters)
• Specifying the ways an applicant intends to spend VEF Dollars
• Naming other sources of funding that have been secured for this project
• Naming other sources of funding that are pending for this project
• Identify in the application a time for an Individual Meeting about your proposal and budget
• Acknowledgement of the Terms and Conditions

• Principal VEF Grants cannot be used to pay for:
• Monetary payments to the Project Director (including student applicants)
• Scholarships for student tuition charges or fees
• Study Abroad expenses for participating students or faculty/staff leading the experiences
• Donations to a third party organization
• Principal VEF Grant can be used to modestly compensate DePaul Employees (FT or PT, Faculty or Staff) for providing their expertise or services to the VEF Project. These payments to DePaul employees must take into consideration the ramification of benefits attached to these payments.
• Principal VEF Grants can be used to compensate student employees. This will require coordination with an applicant’s local Department/College to hire the student employees through the Office of Student Employment. Students cannot begin working on the VEF Grant project until they are hired as a student employee with Office of Student Employment/Human Resources.
• Funding for food can be requested through VEF grants, but not in excess of $500. If the VEF decides to partially fund a Grant application, funding for food will be the first item cut from a proposal.
• Project Directors who seek funds to undertake case studies or site visits, particularly if distant travel is involved, must provide a theoretical framework or other justification for the number and location of sites.
• If a proposed project requires release time, special facilities, or cost-sharing by a department or college, the project director must secure a written endorsement from the appropriate chairperson/dean/director prior to submitting a proposal. This endorsement can be submitted as part of the “Supplemental Documentation” section of the application. As an alternative, directors may request contingent funding from the endowment for a project that is awaiting internal or external support. An explanation of future funding options should be included in the application.
• Project Directors who seek funds to administer a survey or conduct interviews must submit a draft questionnaire or sample interview protocol as supplementary material. Without such documentation, the Endowment Board will consider funding only the design and pre-testing portion of a survey project. For all projects involving human subject research, including for example surveys and interviews, Project Directors must follow university policies for human subject research approval.  For more information, contact the Office of Research Services’ Research Protections section.

1. Funds awarded by the Vincentian Endowment Board may be expended only for the purposes stated in accepted proposals, although Project Directors may exercise reasonable discretion in reallocating dollars among approved budget categories. Almost all changes to funding within the Internal Grants will require approval from Michael Van Dorpe before changes can be made.
2. Project Directors will be the responsible individual for managing the budget for their VEF Grants. It is highly recommended that Faculty (or students being advised by faculty) are in communication with the Grants Manager or Business Manager for their college. For staff, it is recommended that they coordinate with a Budget Manager or Director with Budget Manager status in their area.
3. Personal reimbursements of any type for the Project Director must follow the guidelines contained in the university’s Employee and University Guests Reimbursement policy.
4. Project Directors are responsible for complying with all relevant laws and regulations relating to the activities funded by the grant.
5. Grant funds are to be expended within the timeline that an award is granted, unless otherwise stated through an extension request. If, for good reason, an approved project cannot reasonably be completed within the original grant period the Project Director may petition the VEF Board Chair to consider a limited extension of the funding period.
6. Project Directors are responsible to submit all financial transaction paperwork such as reimbursement forms and voucher payment requisitions at least one month before the end date to ensure processing is completed.  Only transactions that post to the Mobius report prior to the end date will be allowed.
7. On the day following the end date or in the event that a funded project reaches completion before all authorized funds are expended, unused funds shall be returned to the Endowment for redistribution.
8. Equipment and other durable items purchased with funds from a grant become the property of DePaul University, but ordinarily may be retained for further on-campus use by the Project Director. These items should be clearly identified in the grant proposal.
9. Within thirty days after completing the funded portion of a project, the Project Director is required to submit a final written report containing a narrative and financial account of what was accomplished with grant funds.
10. Failure to submit a final report will disqualify the Project Director from any future consideration for VEF funding. In addition, the appropriate dean or department will be notified of the Project Director’s non-compliance and disqualification.
11. The Endowment Board reserves the rights to monitor and conduct an evaluation of all activities funded by the grant and to audit all grant-funded expenses.
12. Failure to adhere to the university’s policies and procedures governing the expenditure of grant funds will result in a report of non-compliance to the appropriate dean or department and the repayment of misspent funds by the college/school/department to the Endowment Board.
13. A notation, such as a footnote or an acknowledgment, should appear on all project publicity indicating that the project was funded, or assisted, by a grant from the Vincentian Endowment Fund of DePaul University. All service projects should also acknowledge VEF funding.