Pilot Program Targets the Impact of Changing Priorities

Posted on August 8, 2025August 8, 2025 by AZAdvances

Your project has been canceled.

In 2025, some researchers in the United States were shocked to receive notice that their NIH grants were canceled or that their research direction was no longer a priority. Previously-funded scientific goals were no longer within administrative research priorities. In some cases, fixes were possible and made. In other cases, no modification of the project could align the project with the revised agency priorities.

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report on August 5, 2025 entitled Department of Health and Human Services—National Institutes of Health—Application of Impoundment Control Act to Availability of Funds for Grants. In the report, the GAO estimates that “Beginning on January 20, 2025, President Trump began issuing executive orders directing the termination of equity-related grants, contracts, and other assistance. Following these directives, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated over 1,800 grants between February 2025 and June 2025. “

Some of these changes in administrative research priorities are directly impacting the work of Arizona researchers. In some cases, multi-year grants, some that have been in process for several years and still had time left until completion are affected. The result, the scientific process that was previously peer-reviewed and approved has slowed or stopped. It does not just affect the research process. It also eliminates learning opportunities for student volunteers, paid interns, and graduate students working towards a thesis or dissertation that are involved in the affected research project.

What can we do?

Researchers, university leaders, students and others are left to wonder. What can we do?

Leaders at the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation (OTEF) were pondering this same question. OTEF is a comparatively small public charity without the resources of a state university or major grant making foundation. It has also never funded university research before.

After exploring what was being done or tried, OTEF’s leaders decided that perhaps it was time to approach the challenge like a researcher would.

OTEF would establish a pilot program under OTEF’s AZAdvances initiative that could leverage the resources and skills of not just OTEF’s team but the Arizona community too. It is a strategy that has worked for OTEF in the past and it is worth trying now.

Laying out the plan

Premise:

Changes in federal funding of scientific research at universities as well as at the NIH, NSF, BARDA, and other agencies is negatively impacting both the progress of long running programs as well as new ones.

University Research Labs do more than just science. They are training grounds for the next generation of scientists. As labs or projects shut down, these hands-on learning opportunities are lost.

Hypothesis to test:

OTEF’s 501c3 public charity structure can be an efficient and effective way to crowdsource financial support for labs and projects in Arizona that have been negatively impacted by changing federal funding priorities and help to keep important work progressing.

Pilot Proposal:

For the pilot, OTEF will select one project that has been impacted by the change in administrative priorities and meets the following criteria.

The lab/project was previously funded by a peer-reviewed NIH grant award and is no longer supported in the area of study due to the change in administrative priorities.
The lab/project must be at an Arizona public university.
The project funding plan must fall within OTEF’s support capacity and have clearly defined milestones and decision points.
The PI and the university must agree that 100% of the funds provided by OTEF will be used to pay for the pre-identified 3rd party expenses defined in the project and that no funds provided by OTEF to the university can be applied to university labor costs, facilities or administrative costs, foundation assessments, or other expenses not directly attributed to pre approved expenses.
The Principal Investigator (PI) and lab team must commit to actively participate with the OTEF team to support the crowdfunding process.

OTEF grants will be negotiated with the relevant university as a direct expenditure grant solely focused on specific expenses identified in the grant that are related to direct expenses charged by a 3rd party and that are necessary to complete the project. Examples may include supplies, contracted 3rd party research services, or other expense items not available elsewhere inside the institution.

The Process:

OTEF Team Members and the Project PI will work together to identify the pre-approved expenses that are aligned with specific project milestones and deliverables.
OTEF will provide a mutually agreed amount of seed funding to kick off the pilot project. The funding is to help the project re-start quickly.
The PI and OTEF team will work together to set up a dedicated fundraising page using OTEF’s existing fundraising platform.
OTEF team members will work with the PI and Lab Team to engage community support and donations.
Donations generated from the dedicated fundraising page, or otherwise collected and designated by the donor, shall be maintained in a separate account at OTEF for the purpose of disbursing funds against documented pre-approved expenses. (Funds will be net of any related 3rd party processing fees charged to OTEF.)
OTEF will not pre-approve any expenses beyond OTEF’s initial seed grant commitment unless funds have been raised and are available in the designed project account.

Benefits to the Community

Keeping the lab open and the students learning as they work in the lab supports OTEF’s commitment to workforce development .
Supporting scientific research that would otherwise be delayed or stopped supports OTEF’s commitment to advance the progress of Arizona-based health innovations.
Identifying community priorities as demonstrated by the level of donor support.

Beyond the Pilot:

If the hypothesis is supported and OTEF’s 501c3 public charity structure is an efficient and effective way to crowdsource financial support for labs and projects in Arizona that have been negatively impacted by changing federal funding priorities, the program could be expanded to include other projects that have been similarly impacted by these funding cuts.