Why give to psychology and to the American Psychological Foundation?

Psychology goes to the root of human behavior, seeking and implementing effective solutions to the most complex individual and social problems.

The American Psychological Foundation’s (APF) rigorous competitive grants program supports the development of psychological talent and mobilizes psychology’s resources toward those problems that need to be addressed yet would otherwise go unfunded. 

Giving to APF supports students and psychologists whose research, projects, and intervention programs help individuals and communities worldwide, making a difference every day:

• APF Scholarships:  APF helps assure that the best and brightest thrive in the field and use their training to better humankind.  Graduate students look to APF for support to complete dissertations, travel to conferences, and to prepare themselves to undertake society’s challenges.

• APF Early Career and Seed Money Grants: APF provides crucial support when funding is difficult to obtain. APF’s early career and seed grants enable talented and creative young psychologists to launch their careers and initiate innovative projects.

• APF Targeted Project Grants: APF aims to create better lives for people across the globe through funding research, demonstration projects, and direct interventions to find effective solutions to societal problems.

What APF Grant and Scholarship Recipients say about APF:

“The funding from the scholarship was incredibly important to my work because it was my largest source of dissertation related funding.  Without this money, I would not have been able to collect and analyze genetic data from almost 200 women…”
Jillian M. Holm-Denoma, recipient of the Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Scholarship. 

“APF has been very generous in providing money to get this study off the ground. This will allow us to take the next step to pursue federal funding from the National Institutes of Health.”
David A. Sbarra,Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Arizona, recipient of a $10,000 APF Raymond A. and Rosalee G. Weiss Innovative Research Grant to study how marital relationships help people cope with chronic pain.

“Every 21 seconds, someone in the United States is diagnosed with diabetes. With diabetes reaching epidemic proportions, there is a tremendous need for psychological care, and psychologists need to be trained to provide this care. APF helped make this training possible.”
Richard Rubin, PhD. C.D.E., past president of the American Diabetes Association, and Associate Professor of Medicine and in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“The Placek grants assisted my research and career tremendously.  The awards allowed me to address research questions that would have been impossible to address without funding, which of course assisted in the multiple publications that arose from these projects.  In addition, exploring the funded questions helped me in developing new research questions and thereby expanded and enhanced my research agenda.”
Donald P. Haider Markel, Ph.D., Professor, University of Kansas, Department of Political Science, recipient of two APF Placek grants.

What donors say about giving to APF:

“It is a privilege to be able to give back to our great science and profession of psychology by honoring our past and ensuring a vibrant future through important research support for our next generation of psychologists.”
David H. Barlow, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology and psychiatry and founder and director emeritus of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University.

“There is more to do than what any of us can accomplish in a lifetime. Giving a legacy to APF, no matter how small, is a way of continuing the work of psychology for generations to come.”
Oliva Espin, Ph.D., emerita professor of women’s studies at San Diego State University and at the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University.

“APF funds psychological education and crucial research through funding workshops, summer programs, and various scholarships and awards. The future of psychology is in our hands.  We each have an obligation to support this future through the APF.”
Lisa Grossman, Ph.D., J.D., independent practitioner specializing in clinical and forensic psychology.

APF’s work is ongoing, sometimes urgent, always important, and forever growing.

Please give to the American Psychological Foundation so that psychology can continue its quest to improve human lives now and in the future. For more information, please contact Idalia Ramos, Assistant Director, APF, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002; www.apa.org/apf, 202-336-5843