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Home Student Philanthropy and Grants Opportunities Student Impact Grant

Student Impact Grant

Student Impact Grants provide funding for a variety of University of Iowa undergraduate and graduate student activities outside the classroom, such as research, travel, and service projects. The goal is to enable students to pursue opportunities that might not otherwise be possible without financial assistance.

The President's Office has generously allocated $7,000 per semester to help enhance the student experience through these grants. The designated funds come from generous philanthropic gifts made by alumni and friends who have chosen to provide unrestricted support to the university.

Grants are awarded twice a year. Applications are typically accepted for the summer/fall semester beginning in January and for the winter/spring semester beginning in September.

Read the stories of previous recipients.

The grants are made possible by a partnership between the Office of the President and Student Advancement Network (SAN).

GRANT GUIDELINES

Award Application Process

Applications will be considered for funding based on the timeline below. An online form will be available for students and student groups to use when the application period opens. A maximum of $7,000 in total grants will be awarded. Grant amounts will range from $100-$1,000 awards.

Summer and Fall 2025 Semester Award Grant Cycle

  • January 27: Application opens
  • February 21: Application deadline (5 p.m.)
  • April 11: Grant recipients will be notified about funding requests for winter or spring semester.
  • April 21: Signed recipient agreement form due
  • April 29: Winter/Spring 2024 grant recipient presentations detailing how the funds were used and how the grant enhanced the recipient’s Iowa experience. This event is open to the public.
  • May 19: Award transfers/payments for summer projects
  • August 25: Award transfers/payments for fall projects
  • December 2: Summer/Fall 2025 grant recipient presentations detailing how the funds were used and how the grant enhanced the recipient's Iowa experience. This event is open to the public.

Student Eligibility Requirements

  • Applicants must be enrolled full time as a University of Iowa undergraduate or graduate student for the fall 2025 semester and be in good standing as defined in the University of Iowa Code of Student Life.
  • Student groups or organizations must be recognized by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership or by a University of Iowa department.
  • If your program is funded in full by other programs or funding methods your program is not eligible.
  • Program/experience must abide by all university guidelines. Grant funding does not permit activities that conflict with these guidelines.
  • Program/experience must abide by all university research guidelines. Grant funding does not permit activities that conflict with Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines. Funding does not provide IRB permission for the project.
  • Funding requests must be shown to improve or enhance the student experience and may not be used to reimburse research subjects. Recipients will share about this outcome during a biannual Student Impact Grant Presentation event.
  • Once a student receives a grant, they are not eligible for another University of Iowa Center for Advancement student grant within the next three years.
  • Grants are not renewable.
  • Recipients must present during the Summer/Fall grant recipient presentation detailing how the funds were used and how your Iowa experience was enhanced because of this award. Presentations will be held on Dec. 2, 2025.

Review Process

Members of the University of Iowa Student Advancement Network will review all submissions and make a recommendation. A University of Iowa Center for Advancement employee will oversee the scoring and review process. After review, recommendations will be sent to the Office of the President, which will make the final decision on all grant awards.

Awardees will then be notified of their selection to receive a grant, and payment will be provided by the Office of the President through a transfer to the student's U-Bill or student organization's account. The University of Iowa Office of Student Financial Aid will be consulted to ensure that funding does not affect other financial aid that a student may receive.

If you have questions, please contact Hannah McClintock at hannah.mcclintock@foriowa.org.

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Hear audio recordings of Fannie Lou Hamer, Stokely Carmichael, and other pioneering activists from the Special Collections archive. Editor's note: In Old Gold, University Archivist David McCartney looks back at the UI's history and tradition through materials housed in University Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries. Photo from Eric Morton Civil Rights Papers. Eric Morton in Jackson, Mississippi, 1964. Countless stories reside in the archives' collections. Sometimes the stories, significant and timeless, take on even more urgency in the wake of tragic events. The Eric Morton Civil Rights Papers, for example, tell stories from nearly 60 years ago that resonate strongly today following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Old Gold first noted Eric Morton's papers in this column in 2018, three years after they arrived in the UI Libraries' Department of Special Collections. Since then, newly unearthed sound recordings in the collection reveal human experiences that all of us must hear and understand. First, though, some background about this intriguing man. During Freedom Summer in the South in 1964, Eric Morton had an important job to do. As materials coordinator for the voter registration project in Mississippi, he oversaw delivery of?information flyers, registration forms, and other materials?across the state, a risky and dangerous undertaking. At the time,?less than 10 percent of Mississippi's adult Black residents were registered to vote, and attempting to do so meant intimidation, physical threats, and even violence perpetrated by white?segregationists. An African American man from Detroit, Morton?(1934?2015)?knew racism all too well in the country that he served as an enlisted member of the U.S. Armed Forces during the Korean War in the early 1950s. He joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in 1962, and for the next several years was on the front lines in the Deep South, participating in voter registration drives and other civil rights-related activity. His papers bring to us the exhilaration and pain that the long civil rights movement meant to those who fought bravely for rights that, by any measure, should never have been denied in the first place. One example is a letter Morton received from a family friend whom we know only as "Mrs. Roche," a letter written soon after Morton and UI student Steve Smith were detained by a posse near Canton, Mississippi, the night of July 15, 1964, while delivering materials to Greenwood,?Mississippi: Friday [July 17, 1964] Dear Eric, Please excuse this writing paper, but I am sure you will understand. My ears have been glued to the radio listening to news and when I heard of trucks being stopped and workers being arrested on such ridiculous trumped up charges, my fears for you mounted. Then when Kathleen called and told us of your misfortune, my fears became a reality. It just doesn't seem possible that such conditions could exist in a so-called civilized country. I hope and pray your work will become a reality very soon, not weeks, months, or years from now. Do be careful, cautious, take care of yourself. If you need anything, please let me know. I will try to do what I can. I realize you are very busy, but I would like to hear from you. Lovingly, Mrs. Roche? Along with Mrs. Roche's letter in the collection are spoken words?words on audio recording tape?that bring to life the pain and courage of those advocating for change. In 1963 and 1964, New York attorney Bob Zellner recorded a series of interviews with eight activists in Mississippi and Alabama on behalf of SNCC in an effort to document their experiences. After the SNCC national office in Atlanta closed in 1966, Morton rescued the recording tapes, keeping them in his possession for decades until donating them to the UI Libraries in 2015. Included are interviews with Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and a young Stokely Carmichael, whose interview at age 22 may be the earliest known recording of him. Both recount the violence and threats they had recently experienced. The Hamer, Carmichael, and other interviews are now online. Old Gold was honored to meet Mr. Morton and receive his papers on behalf of the UI Libraries. That act of faith?entrusting one's papers to an institution?allows us to remember and reflect and?renew. Especially now. Read more University of Iowa history stories in our Old Gold archive.

Alumni Affinity Groups and Affiliated Alumni Networks

Iowa alumni with shared connections are invited to join an affinity group. Some of these organizations are an extension of student interests, like Alumni Band or Dance Marathon Alumni Group.

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