SciRise News & Insights
Perspectives on research development, strategy, and AI for academic leaders.
Funding Follows Networks, Not Keywords
I spent months building a foundation prospecting tool with keyword matching. Then I analyzed co-funding networks and found a signal 12.8x stronger. A clear pattern emerged across 1,000,000+ grants, 15,000 foundations, and 300,000 nonprofits.
Nonprofits That Double Their Foundation Funders Don't Double Their Funding. They Triple It.
We analyzed foundation grant data from 106,000 nonprofits and found that the relationship between funder count and total funding is not linear. It accelerates. Even after controlling for nonprofit size, each additional funder is associated with disproportionately more total funding.
We Analyzed $182 Billion in Foundation Giving. Here's Where the Money Goes.
The foundation giving landscape is roughly $196B per year across 16,000+ funders, and most nonprofits are still competing like only 50 of them matter. From our analysis of recent IRS filings, the next funding advantage comes from treating the long tail like a portfolio, not a scavenger hunt.
Introducing SciRise: Foundation Intelligence for Research Institutions
After a period of quiet building and testing, I'm excited to officially launch SciRise — a new category of Foundation Intelligence for research institutions.
Research Funding in 2026: Expect Whiplash and Sustained Uncertainty
Two stories from last weekend illustrate the kind of year to expect for research funding: Congress pushing back on cuts, while senior NIH leaders resign citing political interference.
NIH Announces Hundreds of New Awards, Moving Forward on Delayed Grants
Encouraging news to kick off 2026: Following court agreements, NIH has announced hundreds of new awards and is moving forward on decisions for additional delayed grants.
Grateful for NIH Staff and Researchers in a Challenging Year
As we approach the end of 2025, thank you to NIH staff and researchers who continued advancing critical research throughout an exceptionally challenging year.
Why 2025 NIH "Winners and Losers" Lists Can Be Misleading
Institution-level rankings conflate 2025 dollars with out-year commitments. An institution can look "up" while being down in spendable dollars.
Implications of AI for Academic Medicine
AI will not transform academic medicine by making people faster at legacy workflows. It will transform it by enabling entirely new ways of organizing work.
Who Funds University Research and Where Is the Headroom for Growth?
Federal, state, and business funding are all constrained. Nonprofits represent the largest untapped opportunity for university research.
Extending Christensen's Framework to AI: General Purpose Disruptive Technology
AI fits Christensen's disruption framework, but the cross-industry scale is new. Same playbook. Much bigger stage.
The Impact of NIH's Growing Reliance on Upfront Multi-Year Funding
NIH is increasing multi-year funded awards, which means fewer new awards in the near term. Here's what that arithmetic looks like.
NIH Awarded 3,500 Fewer Grants in 2025: A 22% Decline
From 2015–2024, NIH awarded an average of 16,099 grants per year. In 2025, that dropped to 12,588 — a 22% decline in a single year.
AI Is Not a Hammer: Knowing When to Use Code, AI, and Humans
In many organizations, AI has become the new hammer, and now every problem looks like a nail. The real skill is knowing when to use code, AI, and humans.
NIH Is Deemphasizing Paylines: A Step Toward Less Transparency?
NIH is turning peer review scores into just one data point among many. This is being framed as clearer decision-making, but does it add up?
Why Uncertainty Leads to Repetition, Not Adaptation
Psychology explains why deteriorating federal funding often leads researchers to double down on the same approaches rather than diversify.
R1 Universities Are Capturing Less Than 10% of Available Philanthropic Dollars
From my analysis of 2023 tax returns, R1 universities received just $8.9B of the $93.9B distributed by funders who already support higher education.
5 Myths About Foundation Funding for University Research
Most universities are overlooking a massive source of research funding. Here are five myths that shape how we think about the foundation landscape.
The Long Tail of Foundation Funding: A $35B+ Opportunity for Research Institutions
After analyzing 700,000+ IRS tax returns, I'm convinced there is a significant opportunity to grow funding from private foundations beyond the usual mega-funders.