About the Fund
About the fund
The President’s Administrative Innovation Fund provides competitive grants to Harvard individuals and teams with innovative ideas or pilots.
Grant Goals
These grants could be used to explore a new idea or process, build a prototype, take an existing homegrown idea to the next level, bring in a subject-matter expert to design a solution, convene a ‘hackathon’, or be used in any number of creative ways.
Emphasis is placed on novel, creative, and collaborative solutions that capitalize on value-creating opportunities or address known challenges.
Ideas funded focus on:
- Academic Excellence
- Talent Development
- Service Delivery
The Fund generally provides grants of $5,000 to $15,000, with the possibility of one or two exceptional projects that could receive funding up to $25,000.
Featured Projects
#collegecalendar
During FY20 PAIF, we created the Harvard College Central Calendar as a unified, interactive resource to compile key dates and events across Harvard for undergraduate students. The College’s Central Calendar improves and streamlines the experience of undergraduates, enhances administrative processes around calendars, encourages greater collaboration in our shared interests and strengths across siloed entities as well as connects many people across the College and the Harvard University community more broadly.
#consciousharvard
An initiative that creates public spaces, both physical and virtual, for action-focused dialogue about diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging at Harvard.
#allocationinnovation
The Allocation Innovation Tool was created by Harvard University economists and computer scientists as an automated way to deal with allocation challenges such as assigning students to classes based on students' preferences; assigning work to committees based on committee members' preferences; matching teaching fellows to courses; and more.
#genderinclusive restroommapping
The Gender Inclusive Restroom Mapping Project for Harvard University project sought to ensure that all Harvard community members, including those who are transgender, gender nonbinary, and gender nonconforming, were provided an accurate and inclusive means of locating restrooms at Harvard.
FAQs
The deadline is firm, with no exceptions. There are two funding cycles per year, and we encourage you to apply in the next cycle.
Project teams will receive guidance from the organizing team for the President’s Administrative Innovation Fund and will be assigned at least two advisors who will be available for consultation and who can be helpful in making connections across the University.
Because the President’s Administrative Innovation Fund prioritizes cross-school/unit collaboration, we require that every project involves representatives from at least two schools and/or units. We encourage teams to extend to three or more schools and/or units to incorporate multiple perspectives and to position the project to have University-wide impact.
The President’s Administrative Innovation Fund will generally make awards between $5,000 and $15,000. The proposed budget should reflect what is needed to complete the scope of work within one year.
- The proposal represents an innovative approach to an administrative challenge. New and creative approaches to achieving administrative excellence will be prioritized in the selection process.
- The proposal is expected to have a measurable impact after it has been implemented.
- The proposal highlights an administrative challenge that is worth solving and is experienced across the University.
- The proposal includes the collaboration of at least three schools and units and presents the potential to be scaled.
- The proposed budget is informed, practical, and reasonable in alignment with the scope of work and the goals of the project.
- The proposal describes a project that can be completed within one year.
- The team working on the proposal is well-positioned to lead it to a successful conclusion.
If you have a question that isn’t addressed on the website, please email us at administrative_innovation@harvard.edu
Yes! There are other departments that grant funds to Harvard employees that address specific topic areas, including:
The President’s Administrative Innovation Fund was launched in 2016 to foster a culture of administrative innovation and collaboration at Harvard. The University’s administrative senior leadership knows that staff members have many creative and innovative ideas; the fund was created to provide a path for moving some of those innovative ideas to action.
Proposals will be reviewed by multiple “judges” (consisting of senior leaders, subject matter experts, and, if appropriate, technology professionals across the University) who will determine which proposals will be funded. Funding decisions will be based on the extent to which the proposal meets the stated criteria, especially its being an innovative solution to a high-priority administrative challenge.
Examples of funded projects can be found on the Funded Project page.
Applying to the President’s Administrative Innovation Fund has been a competitive process – not all proposals have received funding and we expect that will continue to be the case going forward. There is a finite amount of funding and we generally receive more good ideas than it is possible to support.
Our intention is to provide feedback on all proposals so that you can continue to strengthen your idea for future consideration.
Additionally, we encourage you to review Funded Projects and to use the resources on the President’s Administrative Innovation Fund to continue to learn more about innovation.
Yes, it is required that you share your interest in submitting a proposal with your manager. The President’s Administrative Innovation Fund does have support from the President, the Executive Vice President, and other senior leaders at the University including School Administrative Deans and Central Vice Presidents. We are hopeful that your manager will work with you to determine how best to fit this opportunity into your day-to-day work.
Yes! We’d love to keep adding to our “Resources” tab so please send your resources to administrative_innovation@harvard.edu
