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Innovator Awards

Rainin (Kenneth) Foundation

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation believes that early support for innovative ideas can lead to improvements in preventing, predicting, diagnosing and treating Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Our Health grantmaking enables researchers worldwide to test ideas, gather and share data, and collaborate to advance the understanding of IBD. In 2022, we consolidated our Innovator Awards and Synergy Awards into one grant program—the Innovator Awards.

Innovator Awards support individual research projects with grants of up to $150,000 and collaborative projects involving multiple investigators with grants of up to $300,000. Grantees who demonstrate significant progress are eligible for up to two years of additional support.

The Rainin Foundation encourages applications for high-impact basic and translational research projects that use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data analytics and various model systems to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms in IBD and accelerate therapeutic discovery in the field. Collaborative applications between scientists and clinicians in a variety of fields and expertise are highly encouraged, including immunologists, microbiologists, gastroenterologists, molecular biologists and computational biologists.

Funding Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on:

Innovation
Scientific merit
Investigator capability to execute the project

AI Based Application Success Predictor

Although the foundation does not publish a detailed scoring rubric, experience with its Innovator Awards and health funding streams suggests the following factors improve competitiveness.

🧠 1. Strong Alignment With IBD Research Priorities

Successful applications situate clearly within the IBD field and articulate why the question matters in Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis research.
✔ Direct relevance to IBD disease mechanisms, treatment, or patient outcomes is essential.

🌟 2. Innovation and Novelty

The foundation seeks projects that go beyond incremental advances:
✔ Proposals should identify clear gaps in knowledge and propose creative approaches to address them.
✔ High-risk hypotheses with the potential for significant impact are looked upon favorably. Health Research Alliance

📊 3. Clarity and Feasibility

Even innovative ideas must be supported by a clear, feasible research strategy. Key elements include:
✔ Specific aims with measurable endpoints
✔ Evidence that methods are appropriate and timelines are realistic
✔ Plan for data analysis and interpretation

💡 4. Solid Rationale and Preliminary Support

While not always required, inclusion of relevant preliminary data or a well-justified rationale strengthens confidence in viability — particularly for early-stage or novel ideas.
✔ Previous work that supports the hypothesis may increase chances of progressing from LOI to full proposal.

👩‍🔬 5. Investigator Capability and Environment

Applications benefit when they convey:
✔ Qualifications and experience of the PI (publications, relevant work)
✔ Access to appropriate institutional resources and facilities
✔ A collaborative environment when multiple investigators are involved

🤝 6. Demonstrated Collaboration and Data Sharing

Given the foundation’s interest in building a research community, applications that speak to collaboration (e.g., across labs or disciplines) and explicit data sharing or dissemination plans tend to stand out.
✔ Plans for community engagement (e.g., symposium participation) can help.

📋 7. Strong, Well-Written Proposal Narrative

Clarity in writing — especially in the LOI — is important because the LOI stage screens for conceptual quality and fit.
✔ A compelling narrative that clearly frames the problem, approach, and anticipated impact is vital.

🧠 Ideal Structure for a Competitive Proposal

A strong Innovator Award application often includes:

Clear problem statement & significance in IBD research

Specific aims & hypothesis

Innovative approach with justification (why this idea is novel)

Preliminary evidence or rationale

Feasibility & milestones

Investigator qualifications & environment

Collaboration and data sharing plans

📌 Practical Tips

✅ Start with a concise LOI: Focus on clear importance and novelty — this is what reviewers see first. ResearchConnect
✅ Define measurable outcomes: Whether basic or translational, define what success looks like.
✅ Articulate impact on IBD field: Highlight how results could shift understanding or lead toward new therapies.
✅ Show collaboration where appropriate: IBD research can benefit from multidisciplinary input.

🧠 Summary: Rainin Foundation Success Factors

Success Predictor	Why It Matters
IBD focus & relevance	Aligns with core mission. Wikipedia
Innovation & novelty	High-risk, high-impact ideas prioritized. Health Research Alliance
Feasible research design	Convince reviewers of deliverability.
Strong rationale or preliminary data	Strengthens confidence in approach.
Investigator expertise	Indicates capacity to execute.
Collaboration & data sharing plans	Builds research community benefit.
Clear narrative in LOI & full proposal	Helps move through review stages.

Specialties

Gastroenterology

Eligibility Requirements

Researchers

Researchers from any scientific discipline worldwide are eligible for funding.
Typically, the researchers we fund hold advanced degrees (MD, PhD or the equivalent) and academic positions at universities, medical centers or research institutions.
Innovator Awards may only have one Principal Investigator, and funding is awarded to their home institution. Additional investigators may be included as Co-Investigators, and the lead institution can create subawards.
Postdocs are not eligible to apply as a Principal Investigator.
The Foundation welcomes proposals from Investigators from any scientific discipline who want to apply their work to Inflammatory Bowel Disease. If an applicant has not previously received funding for IBD-related research, it is strongly advised to include collaborators with expertise in IBD.
All formerly funded Rainin Foundation grantees are eligible to apply for an Innovator Award.
Current Rainin grantees who are in their first or second year of funding are not eligible to apply.
Current Rainin grantees who are in their third year of funding and expect that their grant funds will be fully expended by 5/31/2026 are eligible to apply.
PIs may only submit one LOI.

Institutions

All nonprofit institutions must be classified as “not a private foundation” under Section 509(a)(3).
If a proposal from a nonprofit institution outside of the United States is ultimately recommended for funding, the institution will be required to undergo an Equivalency Determination process. The Rainin Foundation contracts with NGOsource to manage this process. Institutions outside of the United States do not need to provide any documentation during the two-stage application process.
For-profit institutions must demonstrate that their proposed project furthers the Foundation’s charitable mission of advancing biomedical research.
The Foundation may upon occasion make grants to government and public agencies, as well as to independent projects that have a qualified tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.
Institutions can submit more than one proposal at a time for the same or different Principal Investigator.

The Foundation Does Not Fund:

Direct assistance to individuals or individual sponsorships
Sports, athletic events or league sponsorships
Advertising or promotional sponsorships
Deficits or retroactive funding
Fraternal organizations
Organizations that discriminate based on religion, race, sexual orientation or gender

Use Of Human And Animal Subjects
Grant recipients using human or animal subjects must provide documentation of approval from the appropriate review committee within 90 days of award start date.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Rainin (Kenneth) Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 155 Grand Avenue, Suite 1000, Oakland, CA 94612

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