The Discretionary Funding Initiative (DFI), funded by the Michigan State Foundation, provides bridge funds for tenure stream faculty for additional studies needed for resubmission of an unsuccessful, but nearly fundable, grant application to the same funding agency.

To request funding from this program, faculty must submit a request to the research associate dean of their college (if the faculty member is appointed in multiple colleges, the request must be made to the lead college) using the DFI information form. Applicants will be expected to provide copies of their previous external reviews, if applicable, and describe the work that will be completed to address the comments provided in these documents.

Requests for DFI support that have been approved by the research associate deans will be forwarded in a prioritized list to the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. Note that:

• The maximum award amount is $50K. (The Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies provides half of that amount from the DFI program and the unit or college provides the other half.) 
• Funds are made available for up to two fiscal years. 
• The PIs of the recommended projects will be required to submit a KC summary proposal for the DFI application.
• Annual reports will be required at the end of the first and the second year of funding.