About the Flinn Foundation

Grantmaking Guidelines

Given its highly targeted focus, the Foundation rarely funds unsolicited grant requests, preferring to invite requests for proposals that contribute to the Foundation’s strategic goals and show evidence of promoting institutional collaborations and funding partnerships. The Foundation is committed to building organizational capacities, consistent with the objectives described in Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap.

The Foundation makes three-to-five new grant commitments per year. Those grants are intended to build the core organizational capacity of Arizona’s universities, research institutes, and related organizations to collaborate in efforts to strengthen the state’s biomedical research infrastructure.

The Foundation’s grants are project-specific, e.g., limited to the scope of a defined activity with explicit benchmarks tied to a specified timeframe. The Foundation does not award grants for ongoing support of university-based centers or research institutes, support graduate or post-doctoral stipends or fellowships, travel or other expenses to national or international scientific conferences, or the publication of a book, video or similar product (unless the report or book derives from work funded by the Foundation).

Furthermore, the Foundation does not make grants to underwrite or sponsor charitable functions, museum exhibitions or artistic performances, meetings or conferences of scientific or professional organizations or associations, nor provide charitable donations to individuals, support legislative or political advocacy, or sectarian or ideological activities. The Foundation’s educational interests are constrained by financial limitations to the Flinn Scholars Program, and those in the arts to support of the Metro Phoenix Partnership for Arts and Culture.

By making a limited number of direct investments in partnerships or program-related investments (PRIs) that encourage the clinical application of discoveries emerging from Arizona’s bioscience research programs, the Foundation hopes to advance the practice of medicine and facilitate the emergence of a robust bioscience commercial sector in Arizona. The Foundation does not invest directly in specific research discoveries or commercial products.