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The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund provides financial support for students who are active and emerging organizers in progressive movements for liberation, self-determination and social and economic justice in their communities. Established in 1961, the fund awards need-based scholarships to students enrolled at a college or university or in a trade or technical program who are active in progressive movements. Grantees are doing work characterized by an opposition to capitalism, racism/white supremacy, hetero patriarchy and gender-based violence, environmental exploitation and/or other forms of systemic harm and oppression. The fund has awarded over 1,600 scholarships totaling $4.9 million over its 64-year history.

Newly launched in 2025, Gustavo Gutiérrez Research Awards honor the life and legacy of Rev. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. (1928–2024) by supporting projects in theology, history, and the social sciences that engage or take inspiration from Gutiérrez's work on the preferential option for the poor. Considered by many to be the father of Latin American liberation theology, Father Gutiérrez served as a member of the faculty of theology at the University of Notre Dame from 2001 until 2018. His pioneering theological methodology, which takes a commitment to the poor as the starting point for reflection, is widely recognized as one of the most significant contributions to Christian theology in the 20th century. The awards recognize and support works in progress either directly related to Gustavo Gutiérrez's theology or broadly taking inspiration from his work on the option for the poor. Priority research areas include Gutiérrez's theological legacy, historical studies from the perspective of poor and excluded communities, and interdisciplinary engagement with the reality of poverty in the Americas. This program is open to scholars at Notre Dame as well as those outside the University, including faculty, independent scholars, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students.