FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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| Q: How does Fund A Scientist work? |
| A: Each funder and scientist must first register with Fund A Scientist, which will then match potential funders with scientists and notify these funders of the scientists they may be interested in contacting directly. |
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| Q: How is such a match made? |
| A: Each funder and scientist lists key words and the computer matches them using these words. |
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| Q: After a match is made, what happens? |
| A: Fund A Scientist will then send an email message to the funder advising that a match has been made and identifying the scientist who was matched, along with a brief description of the scientist’s research proposal. The funder is then free to contact the scientist directly if the funder is interested in what he learns about the scientist and the research proposal. |
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| Q: Is the scientist told that a match has been made? |
| A: No, the scientist is not told if there is a match, and will only learn of a match when a funder contacts the scientist directly. However, Fund A Scientist keeps a record of all matches and subsequent notifications to funders that are made. |
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| Q: Is there any charge or finder’s fee if a match is made? |
| A: No, there is no charge for this free service. |
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| Q: How can Fund A Scientist operate without any fees? |
| A: Fund A Scientist relies on financial support from its founder, its sponsors and from private donations. |
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| Q: Why should a funder use Fund A Scientist since they have plenty of applicants for their funds already? |
| A: Funders should use Fund A Scientist because they will gain access to a group of scientists who have been rejected by the National Institutes of Health and others, perhaps because their science was too innovative to receive funding through the peer review system, but which may still be worthy of funding. By supporting these novel ideas, funders may help to advance science in a new way. |
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| Q: Is Fund A Scientist restricted to only scientists from the USA? |
| A: No, any scientist in the world is invited to register with Fund A Scientist. |
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| Q: If a scientist registers his project, what guarantee is there that the scientist’s intellectual property will be protected? |
| A: Fund A Scientist cannot protect a scientist’s intellectual property rights. The scientist must rely upon patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or confidentiality agreements with the funder to protect the scientist’s intellectual property rights. Fund A Scientist strongly suggests that each scientist consults an attorney in this matter. |
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| Q: If a scientist does not have a patent, then how can he say enough about his project to entice the funder to make a contact? |
| A: Of course, this is a problem and it may be necessary to describe projects in general terms before obtaining a confidentiality agreement with a funder. Again this is a matter where an attorney should be consulted. |
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| Q: Can anyone look at what a scientist has registered? |
| A: No. Only an approved funder who has been matched with a scientist is permitted to review the proposal registered by the scientist. |
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| Q: What is the Fund A Scientist privacy policy? |
| A: Any information supplied by a funder will be kept strictly confidential and will not be released to any third parties. If a match is made through the Fund A Scientist database, the name of the funder is not released until the funder contacts a scientist and releases the information to the scientist.Any information supplied by a scientist will be kept strictly confidential except when a match is made with a potential funder. When such a match occurs, then the potential funder will be given information about the scientist. It will then be up to the funder to contact the scientist directly if the funder has any further interest. |
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| Q: How long has Fund A Scientist provided this free service? |
| A: Since April 2003 |
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| Q: How can I help Fund A Scientist? |
| A: You can help Fund A Scientist by telling your friends, colleagues and others about our web site. Ultimately, our success will be measured solely by the successes of the scientists and funders who participate in the Fund A Scientist project. |
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