For everyone who’s up late or early putting the finishing touches on an Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund application, this coffee refill is for you. Those i3 applications are due at 4:30 pm Eastern time tomorrow, May 12, so if you sneak out of Summit at 3:45, we’ll know why. (Yes, the due date got moved to May 12; it used to be May 11.) All the details are at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/, though if you’re working on an application, that site is probably burned into your screen, and retinas.

But here’s a website that might be new to you: the Foundation Registry i3, at http://foundationregistryi3.org/. This website was created as a resource for organizations pursuing i3 funding.  It was set up by a group of leading foundations to simplify the process for organizations seeking the private matching funds required in i3.

Here’s a bit of background the Foundation Registry folks have provided:

Applicants who register their i3 proposal on the Foundation Registry will make their proposal accessible and viewable to participating member foundations. Member foundations will have access to applicants’ information and be able to identify potential funding opportunities. The site also has additional information and Q&A for applicants. 

The group of foundations is encouraging all grantees pursuing i3 funding to complete an application on the registry. The Foundation Registry i3 is only a registry of project proposals. There is no commitment by any of the participating foundations to contact you or fund your proposal and not all organizations that register a proposal will be contacted and/or funded. Rather the registry is intended to provide an opportunity for applicants to broaden the visibility of their proposal across a broader number of funders and for funders to identify potential partners.

There is currently no specific deadline for the Foundation Registry i3 submission, but due to the short timelines around the i3 program, it is recommended that applicants register their proposals as soon as possible on the registry to maximize review time by foundations.  Since i3 applications are due to the Department of Education by May 12th , we recommend that applicants aim to register their proposal on the Foundation i3 registry within 1-2 weeks of this deadline.

You can email your questions to: [email protected]