- Intellectual openness and discernment (feeding the Mind),
- Relational capacities (nurturing the Heart), and
- Place-based historical consciousness (anchoring in Place).
- Name of PI
- Name and information re: Collaborators (ND or external, incl. role in project. Max 3 sentences)
- Project Summary (maximum of two (2) pages, single-spaced), including how the project aligns with the call’s three areas of interest.
- Website: https://www.dupontfund.org/
eoi-comprehensive
- Submission Limitation per Institution: Three (3)
- Internal Expression of Interest Deadline: 2026-02-16
- Sponsor Expression of Interest Deadline: 2026-03-06
Description: The Jessie Ball duPont Fund invites expressions of interest for grant-funded work designed to deepen a sense of belonging in your community by re-examining historic legacies of exclusion and building the skills and practices to engage across lines of difference.
A feeling of belonging emerges when individuals are intellectually respected, relationally recognized, and meaningfully situated within a community that affirms their full humanity and lived experience. With that in mind, the fund believes that building communities of belonging requires strengthening the social fabric of institutional life through the simultaneous cultivation of:
- Intellectual openness and discernment (feeding the Mind),
- Relational capacities (nurturing the Heart), and
- Place-based historical consciousness (anchoring in Place).
Across all three areas, the duPont Fund is especially interested in projects that build lasting institutional capacity rather than one-time programming; align with academic or strategic planning processes; engage students, faculty, staff collaboratively; and contribute to long-term cultures of belonging.
Project examples include, but are not limited to:
- Support training for faculty to design and facilitate courses that engage listening practices, multiple perspectives, model intellectual humility, and foster rigorous, respectful inquiry
- Developing or adapting coursework (e.g., first-year seminars, general education courses, or common learning experiences) that gives students structured opportunities to analyze differing viewpoints, evaluate evidence, and practice reasoned dialogue
- Co-curricular dialogue spaces that support facilitated conversation, perspective-taking, and respectful engagement across difference
- Embedding historical inquiry into the built environment supporting research that informs markers, exhibits, or place-based storytelling that surface previously marginalized narratives tied to campus spaces and places
- Co-creating interpretation with community partners, engaging descendant communities, local historians, and neighbors as collaborators in shaping how campus spaces tell institutional and regional histories, ensuring shared authority and sustained relationships
*Project amounts range from up to $50,000 for 1 year to up to $400,000 over 2 years
Internal Application Requirements: Upload the following information to the Google Form at https://forms.gle/
- Name of the Principal Investigator (PI)
- Names of Collaborators (ND or External):
- For each ND or external collaborator listed, include the individual’s name, department or unit, and specific role on the project. Limit each collaborator’s description to a maximum of three sentences.
- Project Summary (maximum of two (2) pages, single-spaced), including how the project aligns with the call’s three areas of interest.
Questions: Contact Suzanne DeGuilio in the Office of Foundation Relations at sdeguili@nd.edu