Community Sleep Health Grant

The Community Sleep Health Grant provides funds for one year and can be for up to $20,000 per grant (includes direct and indirect costs). There are no restrictions on the distribution of expenses, however, indirect costs are capped at 8%. The award is issued as a contract between the AASM Foundation and the grantee’s organization. A sample contract is available here.

The following individuals are eligible to apply:

• Leaders of a community-based organization, healthcare providers, individuals with doctoral or graduate degrees, and undergraduate, graduate, or professional students.
  Note: Grants given in response to applications from individuals will be issued as a contract with the individual’s organization, rather than directly to the individual.
• Charitable organizations (e.g., non-profit patient organizations) with tax exempt status, in collaboration with (an) individual(s) listed above, must be clearly identified in the application.
  Note: If the application is submitted by a non-profit community-based organization, there is no need to collaborate with an additional charitable organization.
• We encourage applicants to be members of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
• Applicants outside the US are eligible to apply; however, payment of grant funds must be accepted by the organization in US dollars.
• This award is designed to support new projects or initiatives or to meaningfully expand existing programs. It is not designed to support ongoing operational aspects of existing programs.

• Traditional research projects will not be considered under this grant mechanism. However, community-based participatory research projects as defined by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality will be considered under this grant mechanism.
• Individuals or organizations who have a financial conflict of interest or have the potential to incur significant financial benefit from the proposed work and beyond the work itself are not eligible to apply.
• Requests to support ongoing operational aspects of existing programs or requests for projects that do not meaningfully expand existing programs are not eligible.  Note: The project leader will be required to make a statement to this effect prior to execution of the contract.

The AASM Foundation encourages applicants to collaborate with other groups who wish to contribute to the proposed project/initiative.

This grant is a two-stage application process, in which a letter of intent (LOI) is required prior to submission of a full application. Potential applicants are required to discuss their proposals with the AASM Foundation to determine if the project is responsive to the Community Sleep Health Grant. To schedule a time to discuss your project with an AASM Foundation grant program staff, please contact foundation@aasm.org.

Once the AASM Foundation confirms you may move forward with your proposal for the Community Sleep Health Grant, a LOI may be submitted. Applicants will then be notified whether they will be invited to submit a full application. If the LOI is not approved, the applicant may not apply for the grant.

Please note that the information submitted in the LOI (e.g., key personnel) is final and those invited to submit a full application will be bound by the content of their approved LOI unless a modification was specifically requested or approved by the AASM Foundation.

For an overview on how to write an effective LOI and Application for the AASM Foundation Community Sleep Health Grant, please view the following resources:

Community Sleep Health Grant Letter of Intent Guide

Applying for the Community Sleep Health Grant Webinar

For applicants who voluntarily submit a LOI, the AASM Foundation Executive Committee will review all submitted LOIs. The following criteria will be considered in determining whether the applicant will be invited to submit a full application for consideration:

1. Responsiveness: Responsiveness to sleep health community needs and inclusion of vulnerable and/or underserved populations.
2. Strategic Alignment: Alignment of project with AASM Foundation Vision and Mission.
3. Significance: Potential impact/significance and innovation of the project.
4. Feasibility: Feasibility of the planned project.
5. Project Leaders and Organization: Demonstrated ability of the project leaders and charitable organization to carry out the proposed work.

Once LOIs are reviewed, invitations will be sent out to applicants who have a favorably reviewed LOI so a full application may be submitted. For invited applicants who submit a full application, a grant review committee, appointed by the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, will evaluate and score all submitted applications. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:

1. Significance: Strong premise of planned project in addressing sleep health need(s) in a specific community, improving sleep health, and have a prolonged impact on the community served.
2. Project Personnel: Experience, training, and record of working together/ accomplishments of project leader and key personnel.
3. Approach: Project plan is well reasoned and appropriate to achieve goals of the project, benchmarks for success are clearly defined, and plan for measuring outcome success and metrics accurately measure project impact,
4. Innovation: Project addresses an existing or emerging sleep health challenge in the community, and resources and assets are maximized to respond to an unmet sleep health need.
5. Environment: Organizational support, equipment and resources needed to carry out project are adequate, the environment will contribute to probability of success, and collaboration and shared resources between organizations/key personnel a true join effort.

Only materials submitted within the application will be used in the evaluation of applications. The AASM Foundation Executive Committee will submit funding recommendation to the AASM Foundation Board of Directors based on the Grant Review Committee scores. The AASM Foundation Board of Directors will make the final funding decisions.

If unique circumstances are explained in the budget justification of the applicant’s proposal, the Board of Directors will consider requests for an alternate payment schedule, with a maximum variance of 10%.

Note: Once awarded, reallocation of funds of <10% do not require approval.

The AASM Foundation intends the Community Sleep Health Grant to provide funding for projects that will serve a targeted population and that there will be a measure of impact of the project on sleep health within the community.

Applicants are expected to address the aims as described in the application. Major modification of the proposed aims requires AASM Foundation Board of Directors or Executive Committee approval.

The expected results and deliverables should be clearly stated in the application. The applicant must submit progress and final reports during the project period, describing project activities and results, as outlined below. Failure to meet the deliverables or submit progress or final reports may result in termination of project funding.

If the proposal is a research project using human subjects, the applicant will be responsible for obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. The IRB letter of approval for the specified project must be on file with the AASM Foundation office prior to the execution of the contract. No funds will be released for the project without receipt of written approval by an IRB. Failure to obtain IRB approval will result in retraction of the award.

Step 1: AASM Foundation Grant Request registration

To apply for this grant, you must register on AASM Foundation Grant Request. Please refer to the AASM Foundation Grant Request User Access Guide for guidance on setting-up an account.

Step 2: Complete LOI Submission

ACCESS THE 2021 Community Sleep Health Grant Letter Of intent

Step 3: Complete Application (invited applicants only)

For invited applicants, full applications must be completed and submitted through AASM Foundation Grant Request. A special link for submitting the full application will be sent to invited applicants. Instructions for required forms are available via the online submission system. The Application Checklist below shows required attachments to be uploaded.

We encourage potential applicants to contact us early in the application process with questions. Eligibility questions may need to be reviewed by a member of the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, so please allow for at least a 1-week response time for eligibility questions. For all other inquiries, please allow a minimum of two business days for a response. Please note that questions received within 48 hours of an application deadline may not be answered before the deadline.