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Home Student Philanthropy and Grants Opportunities Student Impact Grant

Student Impact Grant

Student Impact Grants provide funding for a variety of University of Iowa undergraduate and graduate student activities outside the classroom, such as research, travel, and service projects. The goal is to enable students to pursue opportunities that might not otherwise be possible without financial assistance.

The President's Office has generously allocated $7,000 per semester to help enhance the student experience through these grants. The designated funds come from generous philanthropic gifts made by alumni and friends who have chosen to provide unrestricted support to the university.

Grants are awarded twice a year. Applications are typically accepted for the summer/fall semester beginning in January and for the winter/spring semester beginning in September.

Read the stories of previous recipients.

The grants are made possible by a partnership between the Office of the President and Student Advancement Network (SAN).

GRANT GUIDELINES

Award Application Process

Applications will be considered for funding based on the timeline below. An online form will be available for students and student groups to use when the application period opens. A maximum of $7,000 in total grants will be awarded. Grant amounts will range from $100-$1,000 awards.

Summer and Fall 2025 Semester Award Grant Cycle

  • January 27: Application opens
  • February 21: Application deadline (5 p.m.)
  • April 11: Grant recipients will be notified about funding requests for winter or spring semester.
  • April 21: Signed recipient agreement form due
  • April 29: Winter/Spring 2024 grant recipient presentations detailing how the funds were used and how the grant enhanced the recipient’s Iowa experience. This event is open to the public.
  • May 19: Award transfers/payments for summer projects
  • August 25: Award transfers/payments for fall projects
  • December 2: Summer/Fall 2025 grant recipient presentations detailing how the funds were used and how the grant enhanced the recipient's Iowa experience. This event is open to the public.

Student Eligibility Requirements

  • Applicants must be enrolled full time as a University of Iowa undergraduate or graduate student for the fall 2025 semester and be in good standing as defined in the University of Iowa Code of Student Life.
  • Student groups or organizations must be recognized by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership or by a University of Iowa department.
  • If your program is funded in full by other programs or funding methods your program is not eligible.
  • Program/experience must abide by all university guidelines. Grant funding does not permit activities that conflict with these guidelines.
  • Program/experience must abide by all university research guidelines. Grant funding does not permit activities that conflict with Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines. Funding does not provide IRB permission for the project.
  • Funding requests must be shown to improve or enhance the student experience and may not be used to reimburse research subjects. Recipients will share about this outcome during a biannual Student Impact Grant Presentation event.
  • Once a student receives a grant, they are not eligible for another University of Iowa Center for Advancement student grant within the next three years.
  • Grants are not renewable.
  • Recipients must present during the Summer/Fall grant recipient presentation detailing how the funds were used and how your Iowa experience was enhanced because of this award. Presentations will be held on Dec. 2, 2025.

Review Process

Members of the University of Iowa Student Advancement Network will review all submissions and make a recommendation. A University of Iowa Center for Advancement employee will oversee the scoring and review process. After review, recommendations will be sent to the Office of the President, which will make the final decision on all grant awards.

Awardees will then be notified of their selection to receive a grant, and payment will be provided by the Office of the President through a transfer to the student's U-Bill or student organization's account. The University of Iowa Office of Student Financial Aid will be consulted to ensure that funding does not affect other financial aid that a student may receive.

If you have questions, please contact Hannah McClintock at hannah.mcclintock@foriowa.org.

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A Global Health Change Agent

Judy Lewis (68BS) has always been interested in what she could learn from other parts of the world. As a 45-year veteran in the field of public health sociology?all at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine?Lewis has traveled to more than 50 countries in an effort to improve health and services to low income and vulnerable communities. A major focus of her work for the past 30 years has been Haiti. ?In the 1980s, children in Haiti were dying from pneumonia,? says Lewis, who continues to travel to Haiti at least once a year to tackle systematic issues related to children?s and women?s health care. ?Along with a group of students, we focus our work on bettering the care that is provided by local government and non-government organizations.? Over the years, the work of Lewis and her students in Haiti has evolved?from addressing a cholera outbreak to improving care for women with breast cancer, as well as responding to post-disaster needs after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Lewis, who is currently a professor emeritus at Connecticut, credits her alma mater for kickstarting her career as a public health sociologist. ?The University of Iowa is where I grew the most, and a large factor in that growth was the commitment of Iowa?s faculty members,? says Lewis. ?As a result, I?ve always tried to make myself available to my students. My experience at Iowa really set the tone for the rest of my life as an educator and faculty member.? While faculty members?including John Waite Bowers (62PhD) in the Department of Communication Studies?provided Lewis with a strong foundation, she learned just as much outside the classroom. Lewis served as senior class president, was involved in a campus-wide education committee, was the first student graduation speaker, and was exposed to several new experiences on campus?including attending her first opera. For Lewis, her time at Iowa prompted her to make a gift for Iowa students focusing on issues of health and development in under-served communities. The Engaged Social Innovation program, housed in Honors at Iowa, encourages students to seek out and develop new solutions to social problems. These students are tackling a broad range of issues, including bringing printmaking to middle-school girls as a tool to discuss body image, positivity, kindness, and self-worth; increasing trauma-informed care; and tackling food needs of UI students. ?The projects and activities these students are working on are meaningful, not only to the students, but to communities as well,? says Lewis. ?I?ve met with students and faculty, and what they do aligns with everything I?ve done in my life.? Lewis also has named the UI as a beneficiary of a portion of her retirement account, which will create an endowed fund to support a yearly full-tuition scholarship for a student who is accepted into Iowa?s Honors Program from her alma mater, Abraham Lincoln High School, in Des Moines, Iowa. Making a gift from her retirement plan assets, rather than through her will, was an ideal way for Lewis to maximize her support of the UI while minimizing taxes for her loved ones. That is because assets in a retirement account are subject to income tax when received by individuals, even spouses and children, but not when directed to a charity. These assets in her retirement account will one day pass completely tax free to the UI. For Lewis, support she received from the Rosenfeld family in Des Moines made it possible for her to come to Iowa. Now, it?s time to pay it forward. ?In the spring of my senior year, I learned that I was the recipient of a full-ride scholarship that was developed in memory of a Lincoln student who died in a car accident,? says Lewis. ?That was a gift, and I always felt that gifts come with responsibilities. Throughout my whole life, I?ve always wanted to be in the same position to do that for someone else.? Learn more about making a planned gift to the University of Iowa.

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NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity that works to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

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