Fulcrum Grants

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on 
which to place it, and I shall move the world" 
- Archimedes

Open to FQxI Members only.

FQxI hosts one to two rounds of Fulcrum Grants (formerly: FQxI’s Mini-Grants)—grants of up to $15,000—for Members each year via a streamlined application process. Fulcrum Grants are suitable for travel, lecture programs, workshops, equity work, and other small projects initiated by Members.

The goals of the Fulcrum Grant are to:

• Create and sustain connections between FQxI Members and between Members and the wider community.
• Enable FQxI-consonant research by applying small amounts of funding to key areas for strategic leverage.
• Disperse small grants in a maximally efficient way to the FQxI Membership and FQxI itself.
• Address the marginalization of communities that are underrepresented in physics, cosmology, and related fields.

How Fulcrum Grantees are selected:

FQxI has a streamlined process for assessing Fulcrum Grant applications to keep administrative costs to a minimum. Our process is as follows:

1. We invite Members to apply for the Fulcrum Grant via email since this grant is not available to the public. Applicants can apply for $1,000 to $15,000 for meetings, travels, small projects, and more. 

2. We review all applications for eligibility: a) Confirm their membership status, and b) Review applications to make sure applicants follow the guideline and the project isn’t significantly flawed in some way.

3. The remaining entries are entered into the quantum lottery. Their probability of success is proportional to 1/(C+P/2), where C is the applicant’s current request, and P is the sum of the applicant’s previous Fulcrum (mini-grant) wins if any.  

4. We pick entries according to these probabilities until we have a list that exceeds the total available funding. Grantees include the 1st applicant on the list (in numerical order) until our grant funds for the round are exhausted.

We sometimes fund a bit lower or higher than our grant round allocation, depending on the amounts requested. For example, if we’ve funded the first 9 on the lottery list, and the 10th is requesting funds that would put us significantly over our grant funds, then we stop at applicant number 9 and roll the additional funds over to our next grant round. If the 10th request puts us over by a minimal amount, then it is approved based on the availability of funds.

5. Grantees are notified, and we conduct due diligence on all grantees to ensure we can send funds to their institute as per US regulations and laws governing nonprofit foundations.