Dreyfus Foundation Grants 2026: Awards and Deadlines

Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation grants open now: 5 deadlines

Grantsights checked 9 Dreyfus pages on November 10, 2026. The deadlines page listed 5 dates in the next 6 months, and 2 programs had closed in August.

The site also lists Supplemental Grants for Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars (for past awardees), a lectureship at the University of Basel and the ACS Scholars Program, none with a public deadline on the deadlines page.

The research awards: who's eligible and what they pay

The 4 research and teaching awards differ by career stage and institution type, so pick by where your faculty member sits.

Program for Transformative Research ($600,000)

According to the program page, this funds "bold, high-risk research" with the potential for big change, in a project that departs significantly from the applicant's past work and has no significant funding yet. The $600,000 Development Grant is paid in 3 annual installments of $200,000. At the start of the final year, one grantee may be chosen for a $1.5 million Transformative Research Award. The foundation targets 8 Development Grants.

Eligibility: U.S. institutions granting a bachelor's degree or higher in the chemical sciences, one proposal per institution per cycle, for "exceptional, established faculty" within 15 years of promotion to tenure. The submission is a single PDF: cover sheet, 1-page letter of support, 5-page project essay, 1-page discussion of related research, 1-page 3-year plan and 4-page CV. The page says "No detailed budget or preliminary data are required." Announcements are expected in early August 2027.

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award ($100,000)

The program page describes a "$100,000 unrestricted research grant to the Awardee," with up to $7,500 for departmental expenses. Indirect costs and academic-year salary aren't allowed; summer salary is. Nominees must hold a full-time tenure-track appointment in a Ph.D.-granting department and be within the first 6 years of an independent career when nominated. Each institution may submit "only one" nomination a year, and renominations are accepted. The package is a nomination letter, a research and future plans summary, an education statement and a CV, plus 3 letters of support sent directly to the foundation (none from the nominating institution and no more than one from a former mentor). Announcements are expected in early May 2027.

Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award ($75,000)

This one is for faculty at "primarily undergraduate institutions": U.S. schools granting a bachelor's or master's in the chemical sciences, in departments without a doctoral program. Nominees must be past their 4th and not past their 12th year of independent career. It's $75,000 unrestricted, up to $5,000 of it for departmental expenses, and needs an institutional nomination, one per institution a year. The 2026 deadline was August 6, 2026, and the foundation announced 8 winners on October 29, 2026, including Ying Bao of Western Washington University, Allyson Fry-Petit of California State University, Fullerton and Ryan Steed of the University of North Carolina Asheville.

Jean Dreyfus Lectureship ($25,000)

A department at a primarily undergraduate institution invites a prominent lecturer and funds 2 summer undergraduate researchers. The program page breaks down the $25,000: $2,500 lecturer honorarium, $5,000 lecture support, $11,000 for 2 students (each stipend no less than $4,500), $1,500 research supplies and $5,000 summer salary for the PI. No indirect costs. The applicant must contact the lecturer before submitting. Community colleges can't apply alone but can join a primarily undergraduate institution's application.

Common mistake: a department nominating a faculty member who's past the window. The Camille award stops at year 6, the Henry award runs from year 5 through year 12, and the Transformative program stops at 15 years after tenure. The program pages say extensions are considered for official tenure-clock stops or leave, so document those in the letter.

Who Dreyfus Foundation grants actually fund

According to Grantsights analysis of the 2024 return, 41 grants worth $2,874,967 went to 37 differently named recipients in 18 states and Switzerland. The median was $75,000. Every line names its program, so the split is exact.

California led with 8 grants and $625,000, followed by Illinois ($300,000), Washington ($200,000), New York ($185,000), Virginia ($175,000) and Massachusetts ($175,000).

Named winners on the 2024 return

The Camille lines go to large research universities. For example, Caltech received $100,000 for a Camille Teacher-Scholar award in 2024, as did Cornell, Indiana University Bloomington, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, Texas A&M, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Washington. The University of Akron in Ohio is on the same list, and Rice University's line was $72,967.

The Henry lines go to colleges without a Ph.D. program: Barnard, Bowdoin, Cal State Fullerton's auxiliary services corporation, Providence College, Smith, Swarthmore, the University of Richmond, Western Washington University and William & Mary each received $75,000.

The Jean Dreyfus Lectureship lines reach a wider mix. For example, Georgia Southern University received $25,000, as did Cal State Los Angeles, James Madison University, Kenyon College, Occidental College, Providence College, Towson University and Western Washington University. Providence College and Western Washington each won both a Henry award and a lectureship in the same year.

2023 for comparison

According to the 2023 return data, the foundation listed 59 grant lines and $3,175,222 paid, about $300,000 more than in 2024. The 2024 return lists $203,000 in grants approved for future payment and assets of $111.8 million at fair market value.

How to apply for a Dreyfus award, step by step

These 7 steps come from the Dreyfus program and deadlines pages as checked November 10, 2026.

1. Find your institution's internal deadline. Because most programs allow one nomination or proposal per institution, research offices often run an internal competition weeks before the Dreyfus date.
2. Match the person to the program. Ph.D. department and years 1 to 6: Camille. Undergraduate-only department and years 5 to 12: Henry. Established and within 15 years of tenure with a bold new idea: Transformative Research.
3. For the Camille award, line up 3 outside letters. They go directly to the foundation; none from your institution and only one from a former mentor.
4. For Transformative Research, write to the page limits. A 5-page essay and a 1-page 3-year plan; no detailed budget or preliminary data needed. Use the cover sheet generator that opens in November 2026.
5. For the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship, contact the lecturer first. The guidelines require it before submission.
6. Budget without overhead. Teacher-Scholar awards and the lectureship allow no indirect costs.
7. Plan for the next August. If you missed the Henry or Jean deadline, both used August 6 in 2026. Check the deadlines page for the 2027 dates before assuming the same day.

What Dreyfus's Program Pages Don't Tell You

Grantsights checked the program pages against the foundation's 2 most recent returns, and 5 things stood out.

The Camille award favors elite research universities. Most of the 19 Camille lines in 2024 went to the best-known research schools: Caltech, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford and the University of Chicago among them. A department at a less famous Ph.D. program can still win (the University of Akron did), but don't underestimate the competition from schools with deep nomination benches.

Primarily undergraduate institutions have the best odds per dollar. Henry awards and lectureships together made 17 of 41 grants. A small college chemistry department has 2 dedicated programs that a research university can't enter.

The money is small next to federal grants. $100,000 unrestricted is prestigious and flexible, but NSF's CAREER awards, which the NSF program page (opens in a new tab) estimates at 500 a year, are larger. Treat Dreyfus as a career signal and seed money.

The Transformative Research program asks for something new. This is an honest test of fit: The page says the project should depart significantly from current or past work and have no significant funding. A red flag for reviewers is an essay that repackages an existing grant.

ACS awards pay a nonprofit, not just a person. On the women's award page, the $10,000 institutional grant goes to an eligible nonprofit the winner designates, so a department or outreach program can benefit when a faculty member is honored.

Where to look beyond Dreyfus

Dreyfus gives under $3 million a year, so chemistry faculty need other sources.

Federal chemistry funding: NSF's chemistry programs page (opens in a new tab) lists 9 research programs, from Chemical Catalysis to Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry, plus Centers for Chemical Innovation. See the NSF CAREER award guide, the NSF grants complete guide and the NSF REU guide for undergraduate research sites. Search every open federal call on Grants.gov's search page (opens in a new tab).

Other private science funders: the Simons Foundation grants guide covers mathematics, physics and life sciences calls, and the John Templeton Foundation grants guide covers science and big-questions research. For institutional strategy, see federal grants for universities and best grants for universities. Smaller colleges should also read grants for STEM education programs.

Grantsights tools: the Dreyfus Foundation funder page summarizes the grants on its recent 990-PF filings, and the Grantsights grant search helps an institution check open federal and state programs. Grantsights' education funder lists group private foundations that gave for education by state.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights checked 9 Dreyfus pages and 2 Dreyfus returns on November 10, 2026. ProPublica's record and the return header both show EIN 13-5570117 for the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation in New York.

Dreyfus's award list is public because federal law requires it. According to IRS guidance on the private foundation annual return (opens in a new tab), every private foundation files Form 990-PF by the 15th day of the 5th month after its year ends, which is May 15 for a calendar-year foundation; the 2025 return wasn't on ProPublica when Grantsights checked. To read the list yourself, see how to read a 990-PF.

Sources

• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Home page (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Deadlines (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Program for Transformative Research (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Jean Dreyfus Lectureship (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: ACS Award for Encouraging Women (opens in a new tab)
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation: 2026 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards (October 29, 2026) (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation filings (opens in a new tab)
• National Science Foundation: CAREER program (opens in a new tab)
• National Science Foundation: Chemistry programs (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: Search Grants (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Private Foundation Annual Return (opens in a new tab)