The recently launched AMA Community Health Impact Lab micro grants offers organizations a special opportunity to address urgent health challenges confronting local patient populations, whether it’s food insecurity, maternal health or caregiving support, among others.
The micro grants offer exciting opportunities for physician lead investigators to pursue a wide variety of project ideas. An AMA webinar shared valuable insights on the application process, eligibility requirements, what the AMA seeks in candidates, and key timelines to help you prepare.
Late last year, the AMA announced the $1 million micro grants, which will offer $50,000 in funding for up to 20 physician-led initiatives.
“We are looking for projects that will demonstrate impact on the health of communities in innovative ways,” said Emily Cleveland Manchanda, MD, MPH, during the webinar.
Dr. Cleveland Manchanda, who is a director at the AMA Center for Optimal Health Outcomes, added that, “for example, some physicians may be working to improve diabetes control for their patients or developing novel ways of reaching patients to engage them in care that they might not previously have accessed.”
The application period is open now. Physicians interested in applying can find more information and submit proposals through the AMA Community Health Impact Lab micro grants webpage, where the full webinar is available to view. Submissions are due March 1. Recipients will be notified by April 30, with an aim to start the projects by July 1.
What are the requirements?
The AMA is awarding up to 20 micro grants each totaling $50,000. Requirements for the micro grants are as follows:
- The physician principal investigator must be an actively licensed physician based in the United States or its territories.
- Micro grants will be awarded to the organizations that employ the physician principal investigator, not to individual physicians.
- Proposals must address a meaningful community health challenge that affects patient populations.
- Projects should demonstrate feasibility and measurable impact within the 12-month grant period and potential for broader application.
- Each proposal should include a CV or biosketch for all key personnel (no more than two pages long), letters of support from the submitting organization (that is, the physician’s employer), any collaborating organizations, a proposed budget and budget narrative for how the $50,000 micro grant will be used.
Free clinics and federally qualified health centers with a designated physician principal investigator are eligible for the micro grants.
Although the principal investigator (PI) needs to be an actively licensed physician, “the co-PI can be someone from the community, an organization or any collaborator that you are planning to work with on the grant,” said Hannah Seoh, the AMA’s interim lead for the Center for Optimal Health Outcomes.
A physician PI could also be on multiple submissions from different organizations, said Dr. Cleveland Manchanda, and one organization could support multiple submissions from different physician PIs.
What the application should include
The first page of the application will ask for basic background information, such as the title of the proposal, the name of the submitting organization, and the name of the physician principal investigator. The second page will ask for the content items: the abstract, a project description, a budget narrative, and a detailed budget.
The abstract should describe the project in three to four sentences and should not exceed 200 words. The project description should not exceed 1,500 words.
“This section should describe your project and its novel and unique contribution to community health,” said Dr. Cleveland Manchanda. Applicants should include organizational community partners, the purpose or goal, intervention and approach, intended audiences, core activities, projected community impact, and the project timeline.
“It should also include information about how you plan to measure success, including enhancing the capacity of those involved and insights about the scalability of the project,” said Dr. Cleveland Manchanda. Because the grant period only extends for a year, descriptions of short-term outcomes are welcome in addition to anticipated long-term impacts.
Applicants will also be asked to complete a budget narrative, which may include personnel support, contracts, equipment and supplies, travel and meetings, and any other anticipated costs.
What the grants shouldn’t be used for
The AMA webinar also specified some examples of ineligible uses for the micro grant funding.
These include:
- Political, lobbying, religious or international activities.
- Ongoing general operating expenses, capital expenses including construction or renovation, or fundraising expenses.
- Pharmaceutical supplies, loans and tuition.
- Entertainment expenses such as social activities or alcoholic beverages.
Because the AMA micro grants will go to organizations and not individuals, the project administrators will be setting up a cap of 10% for maximum indirect rates and overhead allocation. The cap ensures that vast majority of the grant funding goes to the purpose of the grant.
Applicants will be asked to include three to five keywords that reflect the core topic of the proposal.
Dr. Cleveland Manchanda concluded by encouraging physicians “to use this grant as an opportunity to incubate your strategy and create new proof of concept interventions for scalable community impact, while also leveraging the expertise and support that the AMA has to offer.”
To learn more, check out these answers to frequently asked questions about the AMA Community Health Impact Laboratory micro grants (PDF).
If you have additional questions about the micro grants, email them to [email protected] or call (888) 262-9105. Support is available during the AMA’s hours of operation: Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:45 p.m. CST.
The next informational webinar about the micro grants is Feb. 3, 2:30 p.m. CST. Learn more and register now.
