A Division of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision
Advancing the field
Whether you’re launching your first study, untangling a tricky dataset, or staring down a grant deadline, our consultants bring expert support and guidance for your specific work.
ACES Internal Grants
Fund your research
The Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) seeks to build the evidence necessary to deepen the understanding of what shapes counselor education and supervision, how we can best serve communities, and what types of policy and system changes can have the greatest potential for impact. Each year, ACES will initiate a Request for Proposals (RFP) and will award a total of $100,000 in funding across 3 to 5 exemplary projects that demonstrate the potential to significantly advance the body of research in counselor education and supervision.
Submitting Proposals
Great news! ACES has revamped grant management this year, allowing for a more streamlined process for submitting and evaluating proposals. Specifically, ACES will use the platform Submittable for all grant proposal submissions this year and moving forward. Once the 2026 RFP is announced, the Submittable link will become active and included below.
Eligibility Requirements
Internal Grant
Professional ACES Member | Active Member | One Proposal Per PI or Co-PI | IDCs Not Funded
ACES grants are open to Professional and New Professional Members — here's what you need to know before submitting.
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Grants are available to any Professional or New Professional Member of ACES. Membership in ACES must be maintained and current throughout the life of the funded project. ACES research should be led by ACES members and we recognize that other members of the team, outside of the ACES domain, may serve a valuable role in the research (eg. methodologist, statistician, content expert). It is expected that individuals listed as PI or Co-PI must hold active ACES membership. (Additional key personnel and co-investigators need not be ACES members.) An individual may only appear on one Proposal as PI or Co-PI. Applicants who do not meet eligibility criteria will not be considered.
Submission Guidelines
Internal Grant
Submit via Submittable | No Indirect Costs | 5 Pages Max | APA 7th Edition
Review the submission guidelines below before preparing your proposal.
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Proposals that do not follow the guidelines below will be disqualified from review. Proposals must be submitted via Submittable. No indirect costs (IDC) will be funded in this RFP and all budgets may only be up to the maximum amount listed for the associated PI. Proposals should not exceed five single-spaced pages (excluding the title page and references) and must adhere to the 7th edition of the APA Manual. Inquiries and submissions should be emailed to the ACES Research Grant Committee Chairs at acesgrants@acesonline.net or the ACES Research Center at centeroperations@acesresearch.org.
Proposal Components
Formatting Requirements
Post Award Information
Proposal Components
Proposals must address and follow the structure outlined in the template below:
- Title page
- Purpose Summary Statement (information about the project, proposed start and end date, research question(s), and brief summary).
- Statement of Problem and Need
- Brief summary of extant research
- Research Methodology
- (a) research design, description, and rationale,
- (b) sampling and recruitment procedures,
- (c) description of key constructs, measures, and data sources,
- (d) data collection procedures,
- (e) data analysis procedures,
- (f) psychometrics, rigor, trustworthiness, and/or methodological integrity, and
- (g) strategies for ensuring ethical compliance in research.
- Description of congruence with ACES values, mission, and research goals identified in the call
- Implications for diversity, equity, inclusion, and advocacy; counseling and counselor education, and public policy
- Plan for dissemination of results
- Proposed timeline
- Budget summary and rationale (no indirect costs [IDC] allowed)
Formatting Requirements
- Page Length & Spacing. No more than 5 pages, single-spaced. This includes only the narrative (i.e., proposal summary, significance, research plan, personnel, budget).
- Font. 12-point font, Arial or Times New Roman only.
- Citations. APA format (no numerical citations). A Reference document must be included with the application as an appendix.
- Tables & Figures. Tables and figures may be smaller than 12-point font but must be legible. The use of color is acceptable in charts and graphs. All tables and figures must be uploaded within Submittable.
- Appendices. All appendices must be labeled with the appendix letter and title and uploaded within Submittable.
Post Award Information
Requirements for Awardees:
- Complete paperwork to process allocations of funds, including submitting an IRB approval letter for the research project within three months of the award announcement and specify if the check is written to the PI or the institution/organization
- Complete a 6 month and final report
- Recognize ACES in any professional or scholarly products yielded from the awarded program
- Submit a 1-paragraph synopsis of awarded program suitable for dissemination in an announcement to ACES membership
- Submit a brief, 2-page white paper suitable for dissemination on ACES Research Center website
- Submit a manuscript to a national or international professional counseling journal based on the funded project
External & Foundation Funding
Fund your research
The ACES Research Center aims to increase awareness of funding opportunities available to counselors and counselor educators. The Center is here to support your success with pursuing grants and submitting competitive proposals. We aim to supplement, not replace, the support you might already receive at your universities. We can assist with every phase of a grant proposal, and even serve as an evaluator on your grants!
Our Grant Experts
Dr. Stephanie A. Crockett
Dr. Dodie Limberg
Ph.D.
Professor of Counselor Education, University of South Carolina
Grant Development
Dodie Limberg, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in the Department of Educational and Developmental Science in the Counselor Education program at the University of South Carolina. Dodie has worked as a school counselor and clinical mental health counselor in Florida, Switzerland, and Israel. Dodie has been awarded over $47 million grant dollars to support her current projects focused on the school counselor’s role in career development, supporting students with emotional behavioral disorders, and counselor education doctoral student’s research identity development. She is past president of SACES and served ACES as the American Counseling Association Governing Council Representative. Dodie was the co-chair of the ACES State Branch task force and the chair of the chair of the ACES Diversity and Equity Position task force. She co-chaired and currently serves on the ACES Strategic Planning Committee. Additionally, Dodie chaired the SACES Journal Committee, which lead to the start of SACES Teaching and Supervision in Counseling journal.
Dr. Gerta Bardhoshi
Ph.D.
Professor of School Counseling, University of Iowa
Grant Development
Dr. Bardhoshi is an expert in grant writing and development and has over $20 million in competitive external funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Dr. Bardhoshi brings particular expertise in program evaluation planning and research design across education, mental health, and health sciences proposals, and her role within the Center is to provide grant teams with thorough support on the evaluation component of their grant proposals.
The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention
The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention announces their RFPs usually in June or July, and they typically have multiple grant opportunities that connect with what we do as counselors and counselor educators. Proposal deadlines are usually in November
