{{short description|Research charity in the United States}} '''Fast Grants''' was a [[charitable organization|charitable initiative]] administered by the [[Mercatus Center]] at [[George Mason University]] that distributed [[Funding of science|funding]] for [[COVID-19]]-related research during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |last1=Hobson |first1=Will |title=Scientists wait months for coronavirus research grants. This economist is trying to fix that. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/scientists-wait-months-for-coronavirus-research-grants-this-economist-is-trying-to-fix-that/2020/04/29/b5c8a3e0-896e-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=13 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="vox">{{cite web|last1=Piper|first1=Kelsey|date=21 April 2020|title=This new charity offers scientists coronavirus grants in 48 hours|url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/21/21228156/coronavirus-fast-grants-tyler-cowen-patrick-collison|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref>
== History == Fast Grants was launched in April 2020 by [[Tyler Cowen]], director of the Mercatus Center and economics professor at George Mason University; [[Patrick Collison]], co-founder and CEO of [[online payment]] processing platform [[Stripe (company)|Stripe]]; and [[Patrick Hsu]], a bioengineering professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], with the stated purpose of providing funding to researchers more quickly than traditional science funding mechanisms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Else|first=Holly|date=2021-08-03|title=COVID 'Fast Grants' sped up pandemic science|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02111-7|journal=Nature|language=en|doi=10.1038/d41586-021-02111-7|pmid=34345037 |s2cid=236916209 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== Support == The project was supported by donations from [[Arnold Ventures LLC|Arnold Ventures]], [[The Audacious Project]], The [[Chan Zuckerberg Initiative]], [[John Collison]], [[Patrick Collison]], Crankstart, [[Jack Dorsey]], Kim and [[Scott Farquhar]], [[Paul Graham (programmer)|Paul Graham]], [[Reid Hoffman]], Fiona McKean and [[Tobias Lütke]], [[Yuri Milner|Yuri and Julia Milner]], [[Elon Musk]], Crystal and [[Chris Sacca]], [[Schmidt Futures]], and others.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Fast Grants |url=https://fastgrants.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211223005332/https://fastgrants.org/ |archive-date=2021-12-23 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=Fast Grants |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A group of tech billionaires is funding 'fast grants' of up to $500,000 for COVID-19 research, with every grant decision made in less than 48 hours|url=https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/a-group-of-tech-billionaires-is-funding-fast-grants-of-up-to-500000-for-covid-19-research-with-every-grant-decision-made-in-less-than-48-hours/articleshow/75038007.cms|access-date=2022-01-18|website=Business Insider|archive-date=2022-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118101901/https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/a-group-of-tech-billionaires-is-funding-fast-grants-of-up-to-500000-for-covid-19-research-with-every-grant-decision-made-in-less-than-48-hours/articleshow/75038007.cms|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Grants == Fast Grants provided funding of $10,000-$500,000 per project and aimed to respond to grant applications within two weeks.<ref name="vox" />
As of April 2021, Fast Grants had awarded 250 grants totaling more than $50 million to researchers working on COVID-19 related projects, including testing, clinical work, surveillance, virology, drug development and trials, and PPE.<ref name="wapo" /><ref>{{cite web|title=What We Learned Doing Fast Grants|url=https://future.a16z.com/what-we-learned-doing-fast-grants/|access-date=15 June 2021|website=Future|date=15 June 2021 }}</ref> Fast Grants provided initial funding for [[Anne Wyllie|SalivaDirect]], the saliva test used in the NBA “bubble” in Orlando during the 2020 season.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Yale-sponsored COVID-19 test was partially funded by Fast Grant program|url=https://www2.gmu.edu/news/2020-08/yale-sponsored-covid-19-test-was-partially-funded-fast-grant-program|access-date=2021-05-03|website=George Mason University|language=en}}</ref> Other notable grant recipients included [[Addgene]], the [[Center for Open Science]], [[Susan Athey]], [[Carolyn Bertozzi]], [[Catherine Blish]], [[Pamela Bjorkman]], [[Susan Daniel]], [[Barbara Engelhardt]], [[Laura Esserman]], [[Judith Frydman]], [[Amy Gladfelter]], [[Eva Harris]], [[Akiko Iwasaki]], [[Kevin Kain]], [[Yoshihiro Kawaoka]], [[Nevan Krogan]], [[Ronald Levy (scientist)|Ronald Levy]], [[Allison McGeer]], [[Miriam Merad]], [[Keith Mostov]], [[Mihai Netea]], [[Daniel Nomura]], [[Melanie Ott]], [[Bradley Pentelute]], [[Rosalind Picard]], [[Hidde Ploegh]], [[Angela Rasmussen]], [[Erica Ollmann Saphire]], [[Katherine Seley-Radtke]], [[Erec Stebbins]], [[Alice Ting]], [[Alain Townsend]], [[David Veesler]], [[Bert Vogelstein]], [[Tania Watts]], and [[Qian Zhang]].<ref name=":0" />
As of January 2022, new Fast Grants applications were paused due to a lack of additional funding.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-01-13|title=Fast Grants|url=https://fastgrants.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113045217/https://fastgrants.org/|archive-date=2022-01-13|access-date=2022-01-18}}</ref>
== Impact == The Fast Grants program inspired{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}} multiple other well-funded efforts that replicate its low overhead, high impact funding model. Some examples include Impetus Grants for longevity research (>$30M of funding), [[Robert Downey Jr.]]'s Footprint Coalition for climate change, and Superalignment Fast Grants from [[OpenAI]] for safe AI development ($10M of funding).
== References == {{reflist}}
[[Category:Charities based in the United States]] [[Category:Organizations established for the COVID-19 pandemic]] [[Category:Charitable activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic]]