American Medical Student Association

Local Project Grants

We are no longer accepting grant applications at this time. Please check back in the Fall for our new grant schedule.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the AMSA Local Project Grants Program (LPG) is to encourage the development of student-initiated projects that broaden students' understanding of health care needs and health care delivery. In addition, the program aims to strengthen local chapters and to get students actively involved in sharing knowledge with one another as they reach out to serve their medical school and surrounding community. Since 1977, the AMSA LPG Program has been providing funds to chapters, with more than 30 such projects funded nationally each year. During this time we have seen some previously inactive chapters reactivated, and almost all AMSA chapters become more action-oriented.

ELIGIBILITY

Any chartered AMSA medical or premedical chapter is eligible to apply. In addition, chapters that have met charter requirements but are awaiting charter classification are eligible. Each chapter is encouraged to apply for up to five (5) LPGs per cycle. No more than two (2) grant awards will be issued to any one chapter per cycle.

AWARDS

A total of $10,000 per year in funding is available for AMSA medical and premedical chapter projects. The exact number of projects will be determined by the average budget requests of funded projects and the number of applications received. Awards will range from $25 - $400 for medical and premedical chapter projects. All awarded projects are required to submit their project documentation to AMSA's Project Directory on Inspiration Exchange.

LOCAL PROJECT EVALUATION CRITERIA

Local project grants are evaluated by the following criteria:

• Relation to AMSA's national Strategic Priorities
• Demonstration of familiarity with existing AMSA resources related to the project topic
• Likelihood of creating sustainable change and opportunity for medical students and the surrounding community
• Creativity and innovation
• Quality of experience for the local project planning team

WHAT’S FUNDED AND WHAT’S NOT

LPGs will not provide funding for: alcohol or speaker honoraria.

LPG funding is unlikely to be provided for: food, speaker travel expenses, chapter fundraisers, raffle prizes, or member parties. Funding for these would be awarded only if you provide compelling reasoning (ie, while we’re unlikely to fund pizza for a lunchtime talk, we would likely fund healthy food for a Halloween trick-or-treat event for children with diabetes).

LPG funding is provided for specific expenses, thus you must itemize your budget and indicate which expenses are being requested as part of LPG.

Chapters that have used LPG funding for a project they feel to be very successful may resubmit for a second grant, provided the proposal demonstrates an expansion of the project, such as the creation of a 'How-to-guide' for other AMSA chapters. The guide is expected to be included with the application for the grant.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES FOR GRANTS

Applications are available online  and must be submitted by the appropriate deadline for consideration. The budgetary needs related to the project must be fully itemized and then totaled to a request not exceeding $400 (medical and premedical). Furthermore, we request that you demonstrate other sources of funding being sought and we look favorably upon applications involving collaboration with other community and school groups. Finally, all applications must be approved by the AMSA chapter president.

DEADLINES

• Cycle I applications must be submitted online by September 2, 2012. Applicants will be notified by September 21, 2012.

• Cycle II applications must be submitted online by November 4, 2012. Applicants will be notified by November 23, 2012.

• Cycle III applications must be submitted online by February 3, 2013. Applicants will be notified by February 22, 2013.