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Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) serve a high proportion of students from underrepresented minority groups, particularly within STEM fields. MSIs make up approximately 14 percent of all degree-granting, Title IV-eligible institutions for higher education, and they enroll approximately 30 percent of all undergraduates in the United States. However, in 2018, only 3 percent of all federal obligations for science and engineering research and development provided to institutions of higher education was distributed to MSIs. Federal funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), have recognized the need to diversify their funding portfolios to increase the engagement of under-participating institutions, including MSIs. With this in mind, a conference was held in February 2020, funded by NSF, with the goal to increase the number and competitiveness of proposals from MSI faculty to core programs within NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). While informative, the conference, along with the interest survey sent to potential participants, revealed multiple challenges and barriers MSI faculty face as they attempt to secure and conduct research funding. This work-in-progress paper focuses on the responses to an open-ended question of the conference interest survey focusing on barriers to securing research funding.