About the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP)

About SAPRP
Current Funding Available
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
Use of Grant Funds
Grant Monitoring
Program Direction
How to Apply

About the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP)
Substance abuse is one of our nation's most pressing health problems, responsible for half a million preventable deaths annually. The morbidity and mortality from tobacco use, alcohol abuse, and other drugs are staggering, as are the direct and indirect costs to society. These costs include violence, crime, overburdened service systems, reduced productivity, and higher health care costs.

It is the mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to focus on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. The Foundation developed the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program as part of a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by the misuse of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.

The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) is a $66 million Foundation initiative that focuses on analyzing and informing public and private policies aimed at reducing the harm caused by alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and multiple-substance use by encouraging experts in public health, law, political science, medicine, sociology, criminal justice, economics, psychology, and other behavioral and policy sciences to address issues related to substance abuse.

The goals of SAPRP are to:
• Support policy relevant, peer-reviewed research that increases understanding of policies for reducing harm caused by substance abuse
• Stimulate, help define, and inform the policy process with sound scientific information
• Grow the field of substance abuse policy research

Projects supported by SAPRP are expected to increase understanding of public and private policy interventions to prevent, treat, and reduce the harm caused by the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs—including the advantages, development, implementation, disadvantages, and potential impact of these policies. Results from SAPRP-funded grants can help policy-makers, government administrators, judicial systems, the media, advocacy groups, community organizations, and private organizations such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), employers, associations, and trade groups.

To date SAPRP has funded over 325 projects. SAPRP-funded research has been published in major peer-reviewed journals, featured in national and local media, and included in testimonies before Congress, state legislatures, and city councils.

Current Funding Available
SAPRP was reauthorized by the Foundation for four more years with a commitment of $12 million starting in 2006. Under the guidelines of the new authorization, SAPRP continues to award the following types of grants:

• Grants of $100,000 to $400,000 for studies relating to alcohol and drugs
• Grants of under $100,000 for studies relating to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
• Diversity Partnership Grants for studies relating to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
Please review the current Call for Proposals for further details.

If you have never applied to SAPRP before, be sure to read this entire page. To learn more about how to apply for funding from SAPRP, please see How to Apply (below).

Eligibility and Selection Criteria
Preference will be given to applicants who are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations as defined under Section 509(a). All applicants are expected to conform to RWJF’s current indirect cost policy (see RWJF budget guidelines for a full description of current budget policies).

Collaborative policy research projects involving researchers and community organizations or policy-making organizations are consistent with the goals of the program; multidisciplinary studies are encouraged. Because the focus of this program is the United States, studies of policies in other countries will be considered only to the extent they may directly affect U.S. policy.

To be considered favorably under this solicitation, proposals must demonstrate the potential to produce new information that is directly relevant to policies intended to reduce the harm caused by use and abuse of addiction substances. All proposals will be assessed by a committee composed of RWJF staff, National Program Office (NPO) staff and senior program consultants, and (at the full proposal stage) outside reviewers.

The committee will use the following criteria:

• Significance of the substance abuse policy being analyzed or evaluated.
• Timeliness of the project for affecting policy development or implementation.
• Innovativeness of the project.
• Quality and availability of the data to be used and the strength of the proposed methodology. (Depending on the focus of the project, primary data collection or secondary data analyses maybe supported.)
• Applicant’s expertise and qualifications for conducting proposed research.
• Reasonableness of work plan and budget for work scope proposed.

All primary data collected under this program are subject to the Foundation's general requirement for producing data tapes for public use. We encourage potential applicants to visit the program’s Web site at www.saprp.org and review the abstracts of funded projects and suggestions for strengthening proposals, which give an idea of the types of studies previously funded under this program.

For more information on the program, eligibility criteria, and application requirements please contact the National Program Office.

Use of Grant Funds
Grant funds may be used for project staff salaries, consultant fees, data collection and analyses, supplies and other direct expenses, including a limited amount of equipment deemed essential to the proposed project. RWJF will support indirect costs at a rate of up to 12 percent. All applicants are expected to conform to RWJF’s current indirect cost policy (see RWJF budget guidelines for full description of current budget policies). In keeping with RWJF policy, grant funds may not be used to subsidize individuals for the cost of health care, to support clinical trials of unapproved drugs or devices, to construct or renovate facilities, for lobbying, or as a substitute for funds currently being used to support similar activities.

Grant funding amounts and time periods are flexible and will be commensurate with the size and scope of the proposed activity. Projects that require substantial primary data collection, for example, would probably require more time and funding than would be involved in some other types of policy analyses. Total project awards will be funded up to a maximum of $400,000 (including indirect costs) and may extend for a maximum of three years.

Grant Monitoring
Grantees will be expected to meet RWJF requirements for the submission of progress and financial reports. Principal investigators are expected to participate in annual grantee meetings (typically held in the fall or winter), which include communications training sessions, and to give progress reports on their grants. At the close of each grant, principal investigators are expected to provide a written report on the project and its findings and participate in regular inquiries about publications and other products. In some instances, principal investigators and co-investigators will be asked to participate in media and policy briefings and other forums that will help communicate research results to a wide audience.

Program Direction
Direction and technical assistance for this program are provided by the Center for Creative Leadership, which serves as the National Program Office.

Substance Abuse Policy Research Program
Center for Creative Leadership
One Leadership Place
Post Office Box 26300
Greensboro, NC 27438-6300
Web site: www.saprp.org
E-mail: fryes@ccl.org

Responsible staff members at the NPO are:
David G. Altman, Ph.D., Program Director
Marjorie A. Gutman, Ph.D., Co-Director
Andrea E. Williams, M.Ed., Deputy Director
Prabhu Ponkshe, M.A., LL.B., Communications Director
Susan James Frye, M.M., Grants Administrator
Michele Collins, M.P.H., Review Coordinator

Additional program direction is provided by the following senior program consultants:
Lawrence Brown, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., Senior Vice President, Division of Medical Services, Evaluation and Research, Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation, Brooklyn, N.Y.
R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Research Institute on Addictions, State University of New York, Buffalo, N.Y.
Michael Eriksen, Sc.D., Professor and Director, Institute of Public Health, Georgia State University
Arthur Evans, Director, Office of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, Philadelphia, P.A.
Richard Frank, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School
Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Oregon Health and Science University
Lorraine T. Midanik, Ph.D., Acting Dean and Professor, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
Robert R. Rabin, J.D., Ph.D., A. Calder Mackay Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Stephen D. Sugarman, J.D., Roger J. Traynor Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley

Responsible staff members at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are:

Elaine Cassidy, Ph.D., Program Officer, Research and Evaluation

James Marks, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Vice President and Director, Health Group

C. Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, and RWJF Distinguished Fellow

Joseph F. Marx, Senior Communications Officer

Jennifer A. Dobossy, Grants Administrator

How To Apply
SAPRP applications are accepted online only, through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system. To access the system please visit the Web links listed in the chart below. For more information on how to apply, please click on Using the Online Application System.