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The Greenwall Foundation

Annual Giving
$3.5M
Grant Range
$150K - $0.6M
Decision Time
5mo
Success Rate
5%

The Greenwall Foundation

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $3-4 million
  • Success Rate: Not publicly disclosed (approximately 3 Faculty Scholars selected annually; varies for Making a Difference grants)
  • Decision Time: 4-5 months
  • Grant Range: Faculty Scholars: ~$150,000-$200,000 per year for 3 years; Making a Difference: varies by cycle
  • Geographic Focus: United States (must be affiliated with U.S. tax-exempt institutions)

Contact Details

Website: https://greenwall.org/

Mailing Address: 650 Massachusetts Ave NW, Suite 60, Washington, DC 20001-3796

Contact: Contact form available at https://greenwall.org/contact

Social Media:

Overview

The Greenwall Foundation was founded in 1949 by Frank and Anna Greenwall as an independent foundation focused on bioethics. With assets of approximately $100 million, the Foundation awards $3-4 million annually to support its mission: "Making bioethics integral to decisions in health care, policy, and research." The Foundation takes a strategic approach to expanding bioethics knowledge to improve clinical, biomedical, and public health decision-making through three main grant programs: the Faculty Scholars Program (established in 2001), Making a Difference grants, and the Bridging Bioethics Research & Policymaking initiative (launched in 2022). President and CEO Michelle Groman describes the Foundation as "a special place, with a laser focus on bioethics in the real world," emphasizing the importance of translating bioethics scholarship into real-world applications that affect everyday lives.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Faculty Scholars Program: Career development awards providing 50% salary support for three years (up to NIH salary cap), plus 10% institutional costs and $5,000 annually for project support and travel. Approximately three Greenwall Faculty Scholars are selected each year. Applications accepted once annually with Letters of Intent due in mid-September and full applications due in early January.

Making a Difference in Real-World Bioethics Dilemmas: Research grants to help resolve important emerging or unanswered bioethics problems in clinical care, biomedical research, public health practice, or public policy. No formal limit on budget or duration, though smaller budgets and shorter timelines are preferred. Awards made twice yearly with rolling application cycles.

Bridging Bioethics Research & Policymaking (BBRP): Supports projects that develop novel mechanisms to bring bioethics to the table as policy is made. Does not fund bioethics research itself, but rather supports efforts to bridge the divide between research results and policymaking. RFPs typically posted in early summer.

Bernard Lo, MD Award in Bioethics: Recognizes outstanding contributions to advancing bioethics.

Priority Areas

The Foundation is particularly interested in proposals addressing:

  • Trust in science, medicine, and public health
  • Bias and discrimination in healthcare
  • Public health crises (related to emerging infectious diseases, climate change, opioid epidemic, and mental health impacts)
  • Healthcare access, costs, and resource allocation
  • Recent changes to federal health and biomedical science policy and funding landscape
  • Real-world bioethics dilemmas with practical implications for clinical care, research, or policy
  • Innovative and emerging bioethics topics

What They Don't Fund

The Foundation explicitly excludes:

  • Projects for which bioethics is not the main focus
  • Purely theoretical work that describes or analyzes bioethics issues without making practical recommendations
  • Implementation and infrastructure projects that make incremental improvements in established approaches, build institutional infrastructure, or provide bioethics education, training, or coursework
  • Advocacy projects with predetermined conclusions or positions
  • Meetings and conferences as the main goal (unless there is a well-developed plan to produce major peer-reviewed publications with consensus recommendations)
  • Projects without U.S. tax-exempt institutional affiliation (international collaborators allowed as subcontractors)
  • Individuals simultaneously receiving funding or having open applications in multiple Foundation programs

Governance and Leadership

Board of Directors

  • Ann Alpers, JD - Chair
  • Phyllis D. Meadows, PhD, MSN, RN - Vice Chair
  • Peter Goodwin, MBA - Treasurer
  • Amy Lynn McGuire, JD, PhD - Secretary
  • Michelle Groman, JD - President & CEO
  • Jason Karlawish, MD
  • Rose Marie Martinez, ScD
  • David J. Schofield, Jr., CFA
  • James A. Tulsky, MD
  • Keith Wailoo, PhD
  • Timothy M. Westmoreland, JD

Staff

  • Michelle Groman, JD - President & CEO (previously COO and Director of Bioethics Grants, Strategy, and Special Projects)
  • Bernard Lo, MD - President Emeritus (led Foundation 2012-2020, Founding Director of Faculty Scholars Program)
  • Misti Ault Anderson - Program Director (experienced in bioethics, science policy and education, human research protections; previously Senior Advisor for Public Health Education at HHS Office for Human Research Protections)
  • Beth Kalikow - Communications Manager
  • Kyle Ruempler - Program & Office Manager

Leadership Insights

Michelle Groman stated regarding the Faculty Scholars Program: "The greatest strength of the Program is the community it has built over the last two decades. The scholarship that the Program produces is impressive, but I find the community of Scholars who are willing to learn from, listen to, and support one another much more impressive."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

Faculty Scholars Program (2025-2026 cycle):

  1. Letter of Intent due September 15, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET
  2. Invited Full Applications due January 5, 2026 at 11:59 pm ET
  3. Scholars announced on or after May 19, 2026

Important limitation: Only one applicant from a university or non-profit research institute will be considered in each application cycle. Institutions must have an internal screening and selection process.

Making a Difference Grants (Spring 2026 cycle):

  1. Letter of Intent due January 5, 2026 at 11:59 pm ET
  2. Invited applicants notified approximately one month before full application deadline
  3. Invited Full Proposals due March 16, 2026 at 11:59 pm ET
  4. Funding decisions announced in late May 2026
  5. Project start date on or after July 1, 2026 (no later than October 1, 2026)

No limit on number of applications per institution for Making a Difference grants.

Bridging Bioethics Research & Policymaking: RFP typically posted in early summer. Check website for current cycle information.

Application Format: Applications submitted through the Foundation's online portal. No pre-application technical feedback provided.

Decision Timeline

Faculty Scholars Program: Approximately 8 months from Letter of Intent to final decision (September to May)

Making a Difference Grants: Approximately 4-5 months from Letter of Intent to final decision

Notification Method: Email notification of funding decisions. Applicants notified at each stage (LOI to invitation, final decision).

Post-Decision: The Foundation may request additional clarifications after reviewing full proposals (e.g., adequacy of human subjects protections, budget details).

Success Rates

The Foundation does not publicly disclose detailed success rate statistics. However:

  • Faculty Scholars Program: Approximately 3 Fellows selected annually from a competitive national pool (only one applicant per institution allowed)
  • Making a Difference Grants: Typically 3 grants awarded per cycle (twice yearly), so approximately 6 grants annually

Given the highly competitive nature and institutional limitations, applicants should expect success rates in the single digits for the Faculty Scholars Program.

Reapplication Policy

The Foundation welcomes reapplications. Unsuccessful applicants may resubmit proposals on the same topic. The Letter of Intent application form provides space where applicants should briefly explain how the submitted proposal differs from prior submissions, which may include changes in response to feedback.

Feedback available: The Foundation is able to share brief feedback from reviewers and strongly encourages applicants to submit a request for feedback soon after receiving the funding decision.

Application Success Factors

Faculty Scholars Program

Selection based on:

  • Strength of the research project
  • Applicant's commitment to the field of bioethics
  • Achievements and potential for growth as a bioethics scholar
  • Support from home institution (including after the award ends)

What makes applications stand out:

  • Published bioethics research is "given great weight" in the evaluation
  • Innovative approach to bioethics issues with clear impact on clinical/health decision-making
  • Demonstrates ability to conduct rigorous bioethics research
  • Outstanding candidates with less direct bioethics experience will be considered when their proposed work aims to advance the field

Priority given to:

  • Applicants who have not yet been considered for tenure or equivalent promotion
  • Research addressing innovative ideas and/or emerging topics
  • Research that will impact clinical, biomedical, and public health decision-making, policy, and practice

Lower priority:

  • Applicants primarily carrying out educational reform or theoretical work with limited applicability to practice, research, or policy

Making a Difference Grants

Evaluation criteria:

  • Alignment with Foundation's vision and mission
  • Innovative project approach
  • Rigor of methods
  • Likelihood of impacting policy/practice
  • Dissemination strategy beyond academic audiences
  • Research team's expertise
  • Reasonable budget and timeline (smaller budgets and shorter timelines preferred)

What makes applications stand out:

  • Addresses a real-world bioethics dilemma with practical implications
  • Involves collaboration with on-the-ground experts and stakeholders
  • Plans for dissemination beyond academic audiences to reach policymakers and practitioners
  • Demonstrates potential for practical impact and recommendations
  • Includes early-career investigators with strong mentorship
  • Empirical, conceptual, or normative approaches accepted (but must include practical recommendations)

Recent funded projects examples (Fall 2024):

  • Psychotropic medication decision-making for youth in foster care (Lauren Baker, PhD, Washington University)
  • Moving away from race-ethnicity based clinical care of early female puberty (Camilia Kamoun, MD - $240,272)
  • Restorative processes for medical racism (implementation of restorative justice in healthcare settings)

Recent BBRP grants (2024):

  • Improving long-term care facility design through bioethical peer review (Diana Anderson, MD, Boston University)
  • AI in healthcare policy (translation of bioethics for policymakers regarding AI regulation)
  • Health-related social needs in Medicaid (translating bioethics into policy for social determinants of health)

General Success Factors Across Programs

  • Real-world focus: The Foundation emphasizes "bioethics in the real world" - projects must have practical applications
  • Avoid predetermined conclusions: The Foundation does not fund advocacy projects with predetermined positions
  • Engage stakeholders: Collaboration with practitioners, policymakers, and affected communities strengthens applications
  • Clear dissemination strategy: Plans for reaching audiences beyond academia are critical
  • Alignment with priority topics: Projects addressing trust in science, healthcare equity, public health crises, and policy changes are particularly favored

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • Institutional coordination is critical for Faculty Scholars Program - only one applicant per institution per cycle, so secure internal support early
  • Published bioethics research strengthens Faculty Scholars applications significantly - the Foundation gives this "great weight" in evaluation
  • Focus on practical impact over theory - all projects must lead to actionable recommendations for resolving real-world bioethics dilemmas, not just describe or analyze issues
  • Smaller budgets and shorter timelines are preferred for Making a Difference grants - be efficient and focused in your proposal
  • Plan for broad dissemination beyond academia - the Foundation wants bioethics research to reach policymakers, practitioners, and affected communities
  • Feedback is available and reapplications are welcome - if unsuccessful, request reviewer feedback and use it to strengthen a resubmission
  • Engage with stakeholders and on-the-ground experts - collaboration strengthens applications and demonstrates commitment to real-world impact
  • The Foundation values community - as President Groman noted, the Faculty Scholars Program builds a community of scholars "willing to learn from, listen to, and support one another"

References

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