For Current Grant Recipients

Congratulations on receiving a BrightFocus grant. We want to ensure the smooth running of your funded award and are happy to help you in any way. On this page, you can find the information and resources you need to communicate with us throughout various stages of your grant.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our grants department.

Reporting and Deadlines

Completion and submission of the following forms are requirements of the BrightFocus award program. Please access all of the following documents through your online account.

Interim Financial Report

If the grant is for a period of time exceeding one year, a 12-month Interim Financial Report showing allocations and expenditures for the first Grant year must be submitted by 60 days from the one year anniversary of the start date, for each year of the grant (For a start date of July 1, the Grant year is July 1 to June 30, and the Interim Financial Report must be submitted by September 1 each year). This report must be signed by the Principal Investigator and a representative of the Grantee Institution, and must show that Grant funds were used in accordance with the approved budget.

Final Financial Report

This report is due 60 days following the completion of the award.

Interim Scientific Progress Report

If the Grant is for a period exceeding of one year, the Principal Investigator must submit an Interim Scientific Progress Report detailing progress made towards the specific aims of the Grant. This annual report shall be signed by the Principal Investigator and must be submitted by 45 days before the end of each Grant year. (For a start date of July 1, the Grant year is July 1 to June 30, and the Interim Scientific Progress Report must be submitted by May 15 each year.). If you were awarded an ADR award and it has been designated a drug discovery project, then you will be expected to provide a scientific progress report at six month intervals, addressing the go/no-go decision points and other benchmarks outlined in your project’s specific aims.

Final Scientific Progress Report

For all Grants, a Final Scientific Progress Report must be submitted within 60 days after the end of the Grant period (For a start date of July 1, the Final Scientific Progress Report must be submitted by September 1). This report should be made in lieu of the Interim Scientific Progress Report in the final year of the award.

All grantees are strongly encouraged to make data generated from their supported project available to the scientific community. Description of research data will be in accordance with the NIH policy.

For data sharing resources in vision sciences:

https://neidatacommons.nei.nih.gov/

In neurosciences:

https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/data-sharing-resources-researchers

Post-Termination Follow-Up

The results of some experiments will be published long after the termination of the award. BrightFocus will contact you one year, two years, and five years following your award expiration to briefly follow-up on the results of your research.

Acknowledgment of Support

It is crucial to BrightFocus’ fundraising that awardees acknowledge support from BrightFocus donors. Please inform the BrightFocus Scientific Affairs Department whenever you are presenting or publishing BrightFocus sponsored research.

Laboratory Websites

Linking to BrightFocus from your laboratory website helps advertise the availability of funds to your colleagues, and BrightFocus-provided support services to the general public. Such links are deeply appreciated by the foundation.

Please link to the following URLs as appropriate:

• Alzheimer’s Disease Research program
• Macular Degeneration Research program
• National Glaucoma Research program

A copy of the BrightFocus logo is available through this link.

Posters and Presentations

Please use this BrightFocus logo when acknowledging BrightFocus donor support in posters or presentations.

Published Papers

Please give the following or similar credit in any published manuscripts:

“Acknowledgement is made to the donors of [Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Macular Degeneration Research, or National Glaucoma Research], a program of BrightFocus Foundation, for support of this research.”

Common Requests

No Cost Extension

In some cases, it may not be possible to complete the specific aims of an award within the original award time frame. While BrightFocus cannot provide additional funds without submission of a new application, you may request a No Cost Extension for up to one year. To do so, please see the instructions below. If approved for greater than three months, additional reporting will be required as described below.

NCE Request Instructions:

To request an NCE, you must go into ProposalCentral and complete the No-Cost Extension Request Form deliverable (can be found in the dropdown when selecting ‘Add Deliverable’ in ProposalCentral). Additionally, you will need to fill out the upcoming Financial Report in ProposalCentral with the expenditures you have made this far and save the report. Please note that you do not have to submit the report yet, as it is not due until August. However, we need to know where you are financially before approving an extension, so please fill out and save what you have thus far. Once both are completed, please notify us via email at researchgrants@brightfocus.org, and we can review your request.

If you have any questions, please contact researchgrants@brightfocus.org.

Reporting requirements and deadlines for grants in No Cost Extension:

If your award is granted a No Cost Extension for a period greater than or equal to three months, BrightFocus requires additional progress reporting. Please submit an Interim Scientific Progress Report 60 days following the original award end date and a Final Scientific Progress Report 60 days following the end of the No Cost Extension. If your award is granted a No Cost Extension for a period less than three months, you will not be required to submit a progress report within 60 days of the original award end date. You should, however, submit a Final Scientific Progress Report 60 days following the end of the No Cost Extension.

Budget Changes

The transfer of more than $5,000 ($1,000 for Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards) from one budget category to another requires written approval from BrightFocus. A detailed justification for the change in budget must accompany requests for such transfers. The request should be submitted to researchgrants@brightfocus.org. If approved, BrightFocus will open access for the PI to make the line item changes directly in their ProposalCentral budget sheet.

Award Transfer

Institution Award Transfer Instructions

Requests for approval of an institutional transfer of a BrightFocus award should be made by the Principal Investigator (PI) and co-signed by any Co-Principal Investigators. The PI must also provide BrightFocus with a letter from the new institution documenting the PI’s new title, date of hire, and available resources. This letter should be signed by an authorized official of the new institution, and should provide the following:

• State the PI’s new position and title;
• State that laboratory and office space, sufficient for the completion of the project, will be committed and available to the PI on the date of hire;
• State that the new institution has read and agreed to the terms and conditions of the award under which the grant was originally made;
• Provide, where appropriate, copies of animal or human subject protocol approvals.
• Provide necessary banking information for future grant payments using the Banking and Payment Deliverable in ProposalCentral (can be found in the dropdown when selecting ‘Add Deliverable’ in ProposalCentral). This deliverable must be completed and submitted by the Financial Officer of your new Institution.

In addition to the letter from the new institution, the PI must also provide BrightFocus with a letter from the old institution relinquishing the award, including the balance of the grant and the transfer of money to the new institution. The original institution must also provide a final financial report to BrightFocus accounting for all funds expensed at the original institution.

After all the above information has been received and approved, BrightFocus will begin sending payments to the new institution.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that it is the responsibility of the original institution to send any remaining balance DIRECTLY to the new institution. DO NOT SEND THE BALANCE TO BrightFocus. The original institution must also provide a final financial report to BrightFocus accounting for all funds expended at the original institution.

BrightFocus funds may not be used to pay for costs related to moving staff, equipment, or supplies between institutions.

Changes to the “Specific Aims and Benchmark Accomplishments” language of the Terms and Conditions.

BrightFocus understands that the originally proposed milestones may change as research evolves. Requests to amend, or otherwise change, the “Specific Aims and Benchmark Accomplishments” must be made by Official Correspondence initiated by the Principal Investigator and submitted to the BrightFocus Scientific Program Officer for approval at researchgrants@brightfocus.org.

Include appropriate justification for the proposed edits and consent from any co-principal investigator and/or collaborator affected by the changes.

Publicity of Award

Images of Investigators and Research

BrightFocus uses investigator submitted photographs to represent the research and the individual investigators funded by the organization. Please upload all of the information requested on the Public Info Form tab available in your online publication portal at https://proposalcentral.com.