UFunds is a system developed at Brown to allow for custom applications and a standardized processing workflow. Despite the name, UFunds is not just for handling financial awards. It can support anything where a given office has some “thing” they want to accept applications for. For example, it has been used to support applications to participate in academic programs, as well as Brown’s part in Fellowships applications for outside awards such as the Fulbright. We’ll use the term “opportunities” here as a generic term for things that users might apply for in UFunds. 

Opportunities in UFunds are managed by Brown faculty and staff. They may be available to the entire Brown community, or restricted based on criteria such as student/faculty/staff or class year.

One key function UFunds provides is transparency. UFunds tracks everything that a user applies for, and by default that history is made available to approvers. This allows for more informed decisions in cases where a given applicant might have applied for funding from multiple sources. Approvers do have the ability to flag applications “private” so that they are not made visible to other approvers.

Note that UFunds is not a place to publicize opportunities. UFunds only displays opportunities that are currently accepting applications, and there is no mechanism to show past or future opportunities. Because of this, you may still need an external site to provide details about your program(s), especially outside the application period.