The Foundation funds research and education programs that are consistent with our mission to be the resilient resource to collaboratively support concrete as the leading sustainable building material, with goals of decarbonization and advancing resilient communities and sustainable infrastructure.  See below additional guidelines:

• Focus areas for funding include: research, including health & safety, environmental, and sustainability-related projects; recruitment, education & training; and product knowledge.
• We do not engage in proprietary research.
• We do not fund direct advocacy or promotion programs. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all programs we fund must benefit of the citizens of the U.S., in addition to the concrete industry.
• We avoid duplication of effort and would therefore not generally support replicating existing or ongoing research topics.
• Research areas must have a broad scope – with applicability on at least a large regional, if not national or international, basis.
• Partnerships are viewed very favorably by our approval bodies. When proposing research, consider other entities to partner with in performing the research, and other potential funding sources to join with the Concrete Advancement Foundation.
• We seek proposals for specific, applied research and education programs. We rarely support general requests for organizations or programs.
• We do not fund sponsorships, on-going association or industry operations, website development, traditional corporate leadership training activities, political lobbying, or other activities regularly carried out by industry-related organizations.
• The Concrete Advancement Foundation reserves the right to retain copyright ownership of work products resulting from Concrete Advancement Foundation grants.

Grant proposals will be judged according to the following criteria:

1. Is the problem or issue being addressed widely relevant and important to concrete executives?
2. Will the proposed design and methodology address the problem or issue effectively?
3. Does the proposal enhance the Concrete Advancement Foundation’s grant investment by providing other resources from foundations, corporations or agencies?
4. Does the approach being proposed appear to be cost-effective?
5. Are the proposed outcomes measurable? How will they be measured and what steps will be taken to ensure achievement of the outcome?
6. Are the qualifications of the applicant organization and project personnel sufficient to ensure that the project goals can be achieved?
7. Is the proposed evaluation plan sound and appropriate?
8. Will the dissemination plan result in a broad sharing of findings, strategies, and new techniques?
9. In cases where it would be helpful to the project’s outcomes, has the applicant established coalitions or other linkages?
10. Will the project outcomes have broad replicability or applicability within the concrete industry?