PCORI Engagement Award: Building Capacity for Small Organizations to Engage in Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER)

Programmatic questions:
ea@pcori.org

Technical questions:
202.627.1885
pfa@pcori.org

The PCORI Engagement Award: Capacity Building for Small Organizations program provides funding and technical assistance to help small public and private organizations build the knowledge and skill base necessary to engage as partners in patient-centered outcomes research/clinical effectiveness research process.

Required and recommended activities include:

• Create a road map that explains next steps to support your organization's journey toward engagement in patient-centered outcomes research/clinical effectiveness research (PCOR/CER)
• Evaluate projects
• Participate in the learning network
• Educate and train patients and other stakeholders on the basics of PCOR/CER
• Build a stakeholder partnership or learning community that you can maintain over time and create a clear mission and structure for the arrangement
• Ask patients and other stakeholders to help create ideas for future PCOR/CER
• Develop a research agenda
• Write research questions
• Form an advisory group that includes a range of stakeholders and create the operational framework needed to engage in PCOR/CER
• Identify which patient-centered outcomes are most important to your patients and other stakeholders
• Create tools that teach people how to get involved in PCOR/CER and encourage people in your community to use the tools and take part in PCOR/CER

Organizations will receive technical assistance during both the application and project periods, as well as participate in a learning network with other grantees.

PCORI funding interests include research for improved access and delivery of care for rural communities.

Research Project Agenda Topic Themes

Applications may be submitted by nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

U.S.-based applicants must have a Federal Employer Identification Number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service.

Foreign organizations and nondomestic parts of U.S. organizations must show how the project will benefit the U.S. healthcare system and that engagement plans include U.S. patients and stakeholders.

Eligible organizations must have an average yearly operating budget of $1,500,000 or less over the past two fiscal years and may not have received a total of over $125,000 through previous awards from the PCORI Engagement Awards program.

In addition, organizations must have relationships with researchers or research networks, as well as with patients and other stakeholders with a connection, expertise, or lived experience within your focus area.

Up to $300,000 for a 2-year project period.

Links to additional guidance and application instructions are available on the program website.

Submit a letter of intent through the online portal by October 1, 2026. Selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, with a deadline of January 11, 2027.

Sign up for virtual office hours for applicants