Skip to Main Content

Pivot - Funding Sources

Pivot Funding Quick Start Guide

Navigating Pivot Funding

QUICK SEARCH

Use the Quick Search feature to search all fields of the funding opportunities in the database. From the Drop down Menu on the left you can choose to search within Funding, Profiles or Papers Invited. o produce maximum results, all search terms entered are connected by the Boolean connector AND. The results of a Quick Search are always ranked by relevancy.

The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used within the text search box. Use quotations for exact phrase searching.

Examples:

  • Baseball AND Football will retrieve all records containing both the words baseball and football
  • Baseball OR Football will retrieve all records containing either the words baseball or football
  • Baseball NOT Football will retrieve all records containing the word baseball without the word football
  • Baseball Football” will only retrieve records containing the exact phrase “baseball football"


By Sponsor - Searching by sponsor allows you to search our entire list of sponsors using the blank space provided or to browse the sponsor list alphabetically by: All Sponsors, US Federal Sponsors, or Non-US Federal sponsors. To search for a specific sponsor and find all open opportunities from that sponsor, type the sponsor name in the blank space.

Examples:

  • ​The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is listed as one of the departments in the United States Department of Health and Human Services, under "U"
  • The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is listed under "E" for European Commission


To browse the sponsor list alphabetically, click on your choice of sponsor subsets—All Sponsors, US Federal Sponsors, or Non-US Federal sponsors. Please note that if the sponsor name is hyperlinked, the sponsor currently has open opportunities. Clicking on the hyperlinked sponsor name will take you to all open opportunities available from that sponsor. If you see a sponsor name in gray, the sponsor does not currently have any open opportunities, but they are a sponsor that we monitor and for which we may have something available in the future.

 

ADVANCED SEARCH

The Advanced Search allows you to construct a targeted, field-specific search using search boxes, browsing windows, and pick lists. The rows of text boxes at the top of the page can assist you in creating a Boolean search using OR and AND. Note that the text boxes in a single row are connected by OR and multiple rows are automatically AND-ed together by default.

To Conduct an Advanced Search: 
First log onto Pivot and select the Funding Tab. From there, click “Advanced Search.”

1. Choose a matching option. These options allow you to either narrow or broaden your search criteria depending on your selection. 

  • Match all of the Fields 
    This will retrieve records including ALL of your selected search criteria. This is similar to the Boolean operator AND. This is the default option and is used unless another option is selected.

    Example: Selecting AIDS as a KEYWORD and selecting Private Foundation as the SPONSOR TYPE will retrieve all funding opportunities dealing with AIDS from private foundations.
  • Match Any of the Fields 
    This will retrieve records including ANY of your selected criteria. This is similar to the Boolean operator OR.

    Example: Selecting AIDS as a KEYWORD and typing National Institutes of Health in the SPONSOR field will retrieve all funding opportunities that have the COS keyword AIDS, as well as all funding opportunities from the National Institutes of Health, whether or not they fund AIDS research.

2. Make a selection from the drop-down (All fields, Abstract, Title, Sponsor, or Sponsor ID). Complete as many boxes and rows as needed. You can include additional rows by clicking on the Add another row link. 

3. In the Search Fields area, enter the information in the fields relevant to your search. You can display additional search areas: Amount, Deadlines, Limited Submission/ Internal Coordination, Activity Location, Citizenship, Funding Type, Keywords, Requirements, or Sponsor Type.

4. At the bottom of the page, you can exclude fields from your search. You can exclude any combination of terms as well as exclude information in the areas mentioned above.

 

Click here to read the field descriptions in detail.

Pivot Funding - Search Tips

  • If you are unsure what field to search in, use the All Fields (Quick Search) search box. This will search for the terms you enter across all text fields in each record.
     
  • Many grant sponsors do not mention specific kinds of research they will fund. Instead they state broader disciplines within which they will consider applications. Some research topics may not get any results in searching, but that does not necessarily mean there are no grants for which the project may be eligible. If this happens, try searching for grants in the broader field(s) within which your project falls. For example, a project to study zebra mussels may be eligible under a grant looking to fund projects in the broader fields of Biological Sciences, Marine Biology, or Environmental Biology, etc.
     
  • To search by Opp ID use the All Fields box or the Quick Search.
     
  • Keywords 'Explode' function: Use this to expand your Keyword search. For example, if you are searching on the Keyword 'Education' and Explode it, the system will automatically search for all the more specific 'educational' terms under it in the Keyword hierarchy, such as 'Higher Education', 'Literacy', etc. For more details, see the Keyword section.
     
  • To select multiple terms from any pick list (e.g. Sponsor Type, Citizenship, etc.), click the check box to the left of each term.
     
  • Use Truncation (Asterisk), Proximity Operators (pre/#, w/#), Exact Phrase Searching (Double Quotes), and Precedence (Parentheses) to give your search more flexibility.
    Example(gene w/2 mouse) or "mouse genome" -- searches for the word "gene" within 2 words of "mouse" orfor the exact phrase "mouse genome."
     
  • Searches are case insensitive. Using either upper or lower case letters will yield the same result set.
     
  • With the exception of the hyphen, do not use punctuation marks (slashes, commas, etc.). Punctuation marks in most cases will retrieve erroneous results. This also applies to the Amount Field. For monetary amounts, leave out any commas or periods. E.g.: $10,000 = 10000.
  • Do not use the articles a, an, or the. The search engine does not search for these.
For questions or feedback contact the McQuade Library
Call us: 978-837-5177 | Text us:  978-228-2275 | Email us: mcquade@merrimack.edu