NCA 2025 President’s L.I.F.T. Grant

Eligibility Requirements

1. All investigators listed on the grant must be NCA members at the time of submission.
2. Officers, directors, trustees (the Legislative Assembly and its Executive Committee), key employees, substantial contributors or employees thereof, or grant selection committee members are not eligible to be considered for or to receive grants from NCA.
3. Projects must engage one or more of the specific L.I.F.T. goals outlined in the Call: (1) imagine; (3) re-imagine; and/or (3) be forward-thinking. The specific L.I.F.T. goal(s) must be stated up front in the first paragraph of the proposal.
4. Projects must clearly pursue communication scholarship related to one or more of the L.I.F.T. grant priorities outlined in the Call and in the eligibility criteria below. One or more L.I.F.T. priorities must be stated up front in the first paragraph of the proposal.

Funding Parameters

1. Funding expenses must be directly related to the conduct of the research. Funding cannot be used for: conference travel or events, faculty salary or equivalent, computers and hardware for routine tasks like managing and tabulating data, writing or editing documents or manuscript preparation, construction and remodeling of facilities, subscriptions to journals.
2. Funds must be dispersed within one year of receiving the award.
3. NCA will pay up to 10 percent of indirect costs, but the total funding amount, including both direct and indirect costs, cannot exceed the $10,000 funding limit.
4. Funds are disbursed to identified university fiscal agents, not to individuals.
5. Undergraduate and graduate appointments must be on an hourly basis.

Applicants must indicate at the top of the application in bold letters that they are applying for a President’s L.I.F.T. Grant. For example, PRESIDENT’S L.I.F.T. GRANT PROPOSAL: [Title of Project]

Applications require the submission of a single document that includes three parts: A detailed description of the proposed project, a detailed budget, and a CV for each applicant. Applications that do not meet eligibility requirements or whose applications do not provide the following criteria will be rejected prior to review.

1. Detailed description of the proposed project written for a diverse audience of Communication scholars, no longer than 10 pages, double-spaced, which includes answers to the following questions:
   • What do you propose to investigate?
   • How does your project advance one or more of the following L.I.F.T. goals (imagine, re-imagine, or be forward-thinking) related to the pursuit of communication scholarship?
   • How is your project innovative in its focus on one or more of the following L.I.F.T. grant priorities:
     • Issues pertaining to communication and re-imagining inclusion or threats to inclusion
     • Issues pertaining to communication and re-imagining thinking local and global or threats to thinking local and global
     • Issues pertaining to communication and re-imagining communication ethics in an age of mis/disinformation or threats to communication ethics in an age of mis/disinformation
     • Issues pertaining to communication and inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (I.D.E.A.) or threats to I.D.E.A.
     • Issues pertaining to communication and academic freedom or threats to academic freedom
     • Issues pertaining to communication and freedom of speech or threats to freedom of speech
     • Issues pertaining to communication and threats to disenfranchised or marginalized groups
     • Issues of communication and identity, including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, citizenship, disability, class, religion, and other classes historically marginalized and targeted for censorship, persecution, intimidation, and/or exclusion
     • Issues pertaining to communication and authoritarianism or democratic backsliding
     • Issues pertaining to communication and censorship or the silencing of dissenting voices
     • Issues pertaining to communication and protest, activism, or advocacy
   • How clearly does the proposal articulate the goals of the project to a diverse audience of Communication scholars?
   • Why is this an important project?
   • How does this project align with NCA’s vision, mission, and strategic plan?
   • Which methods, models, theories, or frameworks inform the proposed project?
   • What deliverables will result from this project?
   • How will this grant contribute to the heuristic value of communication research?
2. Detailed budget, no more than two pages, including rationale for each expense.
3. CVs for each Principal Investigator that are no longer than three pages and includes full name, contact information, and institutional affiliation.

Help for Grant Seekers

Applicants are strongly encouraged to view and utilize NCA’s resources for composing and submitting grant proposals. Click here to view these resources.

· All grant recipients will be required to attend the NCA Annual Convention in the year following their award. Recipients will serve as panelists and provide reflections on their grant experience (to include development, process, etc.).

· All grant recipients will be expected to participate in a Virtual Learning Opportunity (VLO) scheduled in collaboration with the 2025 NCA President, the 2025 NCA Research Council Chair, and the NCA National Office. The VLO will enhance member understanding about NCA’s L.I.F.T. grant, other NCA grant opportunities, and the specific funded grant project including insights and reflections on ideation, submission, implementation, evaluation, etc.

• All grant recipients will be required to provide a final report (detailing status on articulated deliverables, financial outlays, conference paper submissions, article submissions or publications, creative/original activity, media production, and any other deliverables that may be result from the funded project) within six months of the grant completion date (See NCA’s Assessment Protocol).
• All grant recipients are expected to check with their home institution regarding the rules and regulations involved with accepting grants to be sure applicants follow acceptable practice for their institution and state. NCA recommends that you share NCA’s Assessment Protocol and NCA’s Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy with your grant officer before applying.
• All scholars funded through this grant are required to include acknowledgment of support by NCA in any publications or presentations resulting from the LIFT grant (see NCA Promotional Activities and Sponsorship Acknowledgment Policy).

• NCA must be acknowledged as a sponsor of NCA funded events and projects. The NCA
  logo must be on all official correspondence related to an NCA funded event or project as
  well as any public documents, reports, or publications.
• At the discretion of the Executive Committee, with advice from the Finance Board,
  “National Communication Association” should be incorporated into the official title of
  NCA funded events, especially when NCA is the sole or majority sponsor.
• At NCA sponsored events, NCA should be acknowledged in public remarks (e.g.,
  welcome remarks, keynote address introductions, luncheon) and the NCA logo should be
  displayed in a prominent location(s).
• NCA will work with event and project organizers to plan and execute pre- and
  postevent/project promotional plans, as appropriate, which use various NCA
  communications channels.
• NCA will place event/project information on the NCA website (http://www.natcom.org)
  if appropriate. Relevant text and graphics must be sent to NCA by event/project
  organizers in a timely fashion. If a website other than the NCA website is created or used
  for an NCA funded event or project, NCA will place the URL link on the NCA website.
  Relevant information must be provided by the event/project organizer. If a website other
  than the NCA website is created or used for an NCA funded event or project, that website
  must post the NCA logo in a prominent location as well as a link to the NCA website.
• Event registration materials should include information about NCA and how to join the
  association as well as a cover letter on NCA letterhead from the NCA President and/or
  Executive Director welcoming participants and thanking them for participating in an
  NCA funded event. Please request your letter from NCA’s National Office when you are
  putting together relevant materials.
• Event organizers must provide NCA with contact information for event participants with
  the understanding that NCA may contact them in the future to solicit a membership to
  NCA.
• Unless alternative arrangements are made in advance, all products, publications, and
  other works or results are the property of NCA and, as such, the copyright is owned by
  NCA. These items can be licensed for use by the original authors with the written
  permission of NCA.
• Event/project organizers must write a news-style article about the event/project once it is
  completed. It should be submitted to NCA’s Director of Academic and Professional
  Affairs for dissemination to members through appropriate channels.
• Somewhere in the materials for an event or a project, the following language should
  appear and should be made known to the participants:
  • • During the course of this conference, I acknowledge that I may have my voice,
      likeness and/or actions captured in photograph, video and/or audio recordings. As
      a condition of my attendance at this conference, I agree to irrevocably grant to the
      National Communication Association (“NCA”), its assigns, licensees and
      successors the right to video, photograph, publish, record, broadcast, exhibit,
      digitize, display, copyright, license, transfer, reproduce, translate, modify, edit or
      otherwise use perpetually throughout the world, in all media now and hereafter
      known or devised, in whole or in part, my image, likeness, voice, name and
      actions in audio and video recordings, photographs and materials prepared by
      and/or disseminated by NCA.