Setting up a new PIVOT funding search

Pivot is an online resource that can help you find funding opportunities in your field. Here is a quick guide to setting up and saving a Pivot search with custom keywords and filters.

Go to the Pivot website. The first time you visit you will need to create an account. Select ‘Create an Account’ from the drop-down menu in the upper right of the dashboard. It should give you the opportunity to create and account using your GW institutional login.

Screen capture of the banner on the top of the Pivot homepage. It has a large search bar in the middle of the page, an icon shaped like a house in the upper left, and an open drop down menu in the upper right that displays two options, ‘Sign in’ and ‘Create an account.’

After you have logged in for the first time, it will ask you if you want to create a profile. You do not need a profile to use Pivot for searches. Click ‘Skip this Step’ to return to the dashboard.
Now you are ready to search for funding opportunities. Under the main search bar, select ‘Advanced Search.’
To find greatest number of results, use a mixture of general and specific keywords. In this example search a user looked for opportunities in Astrophysics by searching:
- Physics OR ‘Physical Sciences’ OR Astrophysics OR ‘Compact Objects’ OR Pulsars OR Nebulae OR ‘Black Holes’ OR ‘Neutron Stars’ OR ‘Gamma Ray Sources’ OR ‘X-ray Astronomy’ OR Astrostatistics OR ‘High-energy physics’ OR ‘Optical Transients’ OR Planets
- Use the ‘OR’ operator to separate keywords. Put multiple words into quotation marks to search for them as a complete phrase.

Screen capture of the ‘Advanced Search’ settings page. There is a shaded banner across the top that shows the filters that are automatically set by GW, ‘Applicant/Institution Filter’, ‘Activity Location Filter,’ and ‘Citizenship Filter.’ Beside each filter label is a check box marked ‘United States OR Unrestricted.’ Beneath the banner is text that reads, ‘Find opportunities matching.’ There are two buttons underneath that read, ‘Match all of the fields’ and ‘Match any of the fields.’ The button marked ‘Match all of the fields’ is selected. Beneath the buttons there are nine search boxes and three drop-down menus for inputting search terms. Above the search boxes on the right is a blue button that reads ‘Search.’

After you’ve picked your search terms, you can add or refine filters on your search.
- All searches from a GW-linked profile are initially generated with a location filter for the United States. To disable this filter select ‘View filters’ in the top banner and uncheck the boxes that appear.
- You can add additional filters below your keywords. Use the drop-down check boxes to filter based on Funding type, Funder, Funding amount, and more. You can also use negative filters to exclude certain opportunities.

Screen capture of the Pivot search filters. There are a list of drop-down menus that read: Funder, Amount, Deadlines, Limited Submission, Applicant/Institution Location, Activity Location, Citizenship, and Funding Type. The ‘Funding Type’ menu is open and displays a box with several check boxes inside. The check boxes labeled ‘Fellowships or Post-doctoral Awards’ and ‘Research: Project Grants & Innovation’ are checked.

The default search option is to ‘Match all of the fields.’ This will leave your ‘OR’ operators intact, but will allow you to apply filters to your search without including irrelevant results. You can change this to ‘Match any of the fields’ but that is not recommended as it often leads to the inclusion of irrelevant results.
- An example: If you use the search term ‘Ecology’ and add the filter ‘Fellowships or Post-doctoral Awards,’ it will return all fellowships and post-doc awards that have ‘Ecology’ as a keyword. If you select ‘Match any of the fields,’ the same search will return all fellowships and post-docs across all fields, and all opportunities in ‘Ecology’ regardless of funding type.

Once you have set up your keywords and filters, click ‘Search’

Screen capture of the results page for the example search. To the left of the image is a sidebar showing additional filters that can be selected. To the right of the page is a list of opportunities, each of which includes a title, funder information, deadline, and funder amount. Above the list is a drop down menu titled ‘Sort by’ with ‘Relevance’ selected.

You can sort your results by relevance, title, funder, deadline, or award amount. You can also use the sidebar to add or remove filters.
Select ‘Refine Search’ to update your search terms, or ‘Advanced Search’ to begin a new search. To save your search parameters, select ‘Save Search’ at the top of the page, name your search, and save it. You can also opt-in to email alerts about new results of your saved search.

Screen capture of a pop-up window over the results page. The window prompts the user to choose a name to use for their saved search.

You can access saved searches from the dashboard using the drop-down menu on the top left, under the ‘Home’ icon.

Screen capture of the banner on the top of the Pivot homepage. It has a large search bar in the middle of the page and an icon shaped like a house in the upper left. A drop-down menu extends from the icon with options reading: Home, Tracked Opps, Saved Searches, Shared, Received, Advisor, Curated Opps, and Internal Opps.

From the ‘Saved Searches’ page you can see new results for your search, view the complete results list, and turn email alerts on and off.

Screen capture of the saved searches portal. One search is listed, titled ‘Astrophysics.’ Next to the search title are options to open the search’s new results for Apr 17 2022, to open all results for the search, and to enable email alerts for the search.

From the results list, you can add filters and refine your search as described in steps 8 and 9. Once you have refined your search, you can chose to update your current saved search or save the new terms as a new search.