RWJF's Pioneer Team makes awards in response to unsolicited proposals for projects that suggest new and creative approaches to solving health and health care problems. Pioneer welcomes proposals for unsolicited grants at any time and issues awards throughout the year—there are no deadlines. We encourage you to submit your ideas to us by following the submission instructions below:

Stage One: Submit a Brief Proposal

Please use the Pioneer Brief Proposal form to submit a brief proposal outlining your project idea; the proposal form includes sections for you to describe:

• Your innovation and how it will lead to breakthroughs in health and health care
• The problem or issue your innovation addresses
• Why your organization is qualified to take on this project
• The work and activities to be done under the project
• Your definition of success for this project
• Your vision for how this project might change health and health care in the future
• Potential next steps that might follow completion of the proposed project

• Download the Pioneer Brief Proposal form

Brief proposals may be e-mailed at any time to briefproposal@rwjf.org.

You can expect to receive feedback about your brief proposal within four to six weeks of its submission. If this process is delayed for any reason, a Pioneer representative will get in touch with you with revised review timeline expectations.

Stage Two: Submit a Full Proposal

If, based on the brief proposal, the Pioneer team believes that your project is a strong candidate for funding and is interested in learning more, you will be invited to submit a full proposal. Once the full proposal is received, you can expect to receive a response within six weeks about whether or not the project is likely to be funded by the Foundation.