Microgrant Program Application
Research IS Care for patients with rare conditions as standard medical approaches and research precedent simply do not exist. Therefore, the Rare Disease Foundation, in collaboration with our partner, B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation (BCCHF) is proud to provide microgrants of up to $5,000 CAD to researchers and clinicians in order to expedite the exploration of new ideas for understanding rare diseases and improve patient care.
Research Project Criteria
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Must involve a rare disease or rare sub-type of disease (lifetime prevalence < 1 in 2000)
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Must directly impact patient care for one or more patients
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Must be scientifically valid and feasible
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Must have ethics approval (microgrant activation requires an ethics approval certificate, where applicable)
Application Process
1. Applicants must prepare a 1-page research proposal clearly outlining:
- How this study will improve patient care
- A scientific summary: background, hypothesis, methods, brief budget justifications (see what Rare Disease Foundation considers eligible project expenses), and lay summary addressing a non-medical, non-scientific audience.
2. Submit your proposal here.
Important: Applications may be submitted by anyone as long as they have a collaborator to receive funds who is associated with a Canadian institution or a Registered Institution listed here. One investigator may apply for multiple awards.
3. Applications will be de-identified and reviewed by multiple scientific and parent / patient (lay) reviewers for their impact on care, scientific validity and for their adherence to the priorities of patients and their families.
Please note: Our microgrant program is currently under review. Therefore, we are currently not accepting any NEW applications. For questions on existing grants, please contact our Research Program Coordinator, Chloe Lim at chloe.lim@rarediseasefoundation.org.
What Successful Applicants Should Expect:
Funded projects are expected to lead to dissemination of results through publication or meeting presentation, and/or generate preliminary data for larger studies directed at improving patient care. If funding is readily available elsewhere, the rationale for requesting it from this program should be provided.- Successful applicants are expected to provide a 1 paragraph lay summary describing their results upon project completion and describe how their work improved patient care.
- Awards will be in effect for 1 year from the proposed project start date.
- We request that publications containing data supported by microgrants acknowledge the support of the Rare Disease Foundation and BC Children’s Hospital Foundation (BCCHF).
We love to receive feedback on the longer-term impact of the work we fund so please reach out and let us know if something awesome happens down the road with your project.
See summaries of previously funded projects.
Further Information
For program inquiries please contact Chloe Lim, Program Coordinator at chloe.lim@rarediseasefoundation.org or our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Millan Patel at millanpatel@rarediseasefoundation.org.
For website submission difficulties, please contact Joeline Norgaard, Project Manager at joeline.norgaard@rarediseasefoundation.org