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Searching for Funding with the Pivot Database

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Fellowship Advisor

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By Fellowship Advisor 

In addition to GradFund’s Fellowships and Grants database, Rutgers maintains a subscription to a powerful tool from ProQuest called Pivot. As you seek to identify awards to fund your studies and research, Pivot has much to offer. 

First, to set up an account, go to pivot.proquest.com, and click “Sign Up.” Then select the “Use Email Address/Create Password” option. Follow the instructions provided to create a profile, including adding keywords that are pertinent to your work and the funding opportunities you are interested in. These could include fields of study, methods, research sites, etc. Consider starting with between eight and ten keywords. Then see the “Funding Matches” that Pivot identifies on the basis of your keywords. To expand the range of potential matches, keep adding keywords to your profile. 

To view a complete list of the funding opportunities that Pivot has matched to your profile, click on the “Advisor” tab. Here, for each award, Pivot lists the award name, the administrator and funder of the award, the deadline, and the award amount. Click on the award name for additional information. At the top of this page, also make sure the “Weekly Advisor Alert Email” box is checked. This will ensure that you receive weekly emails from Pivot with any new funding opportunities matched to your profile. 

Pivot has additional features that will benefit you in the near- and long-term as you craft your funding plan. Navigating from the home screen, the menu on the left links to some of these. “Active” and “Tracked” catalog the awards that you, from your matched funding opportunities list, have marked respectively: “active” for those awards with upcoming deadlines that you wish to monitor closely and “track” for those you wish to make note of for the future. 

Pivot is not all-encompassing, so along with the list Pivot curates, you can conduct your own searches inside and outside of pivot. Within Pivot, if you click on the “Funding” tab, you will be directed to a page with a search box and interactive chart. The search box allows you to conduct an award search by text, sponsor, or keyword, while the chart allows you to navigate awards by color-coded keyword. 

To explore Pivot further, consider reviewing its online tutorials. Advisors at GradFund can also help you navigate Pivot during a Planning Meeting, which you may schedule at any time via WCOnline. 

Filed Under: Advice, Announcements, Cross Stage Support, Proposal Writing Advice Tagged With: individual funding plan

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