Editorial · September 6, 2023
Grants.gov: How to Find and Apply for Federal Grants
Grants.gov is the one federal website where agencies post grant openings, and where you register to apply for them. If you run a business, a nonprofit, or a local office, this is where your search starts. This guide shows how to find a grant, check if you qualify, and get registered.
What Grants.gov does
Grants.gov describes a grant as a way the government funds your ideas and projects to provide public services and stimulate the economy. Grants.gov lists grant and cooperative agreement openings from the federal agencies that award them. These include the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, and many more.
The site has three jobs. It helps you learn about grants, it helps you search for open ones, and it lets you apply. The grant lifecycle includes award decisions, and those are made by the grant-making agency, not by the website. Grants.gov is the front door, not the decision maker.
Check if you are eligible first
Do this before you write a word. Grants.gov says there are two keys to eligibility. First, you must register to apply through the site. Second, you must meet the legal rules in the funding opportunity itself.
Each opening has Application Instructions attached. The agency sets the eligibility rules there, and may repeat them in the Synopsis section. Read the instructions, not just the summary. Grants.gov warns that skipping this check can waste a lot of time and money on a grant you cannot legally receive, no matter how well you write your application.
Many kinds of groups can apply. The site lists state, county, city, and tribal governments, school districts and colleges, public housing authorities, nonprofits, for-profit companies, and small businesses. Small business grants go to companies that meet the size standards set by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Individuals can apply too, but only for openings that allow individuals, and most openings on the site are for organizations.
Register before you apply
An organization has to finish several steps outside Grants.gov before it can submit. First you form a legal entity and get an Employer Identification Number, or EIN. Then comes the registration, in two steps.
- Step 1: Register with SAM. Go to SAM.gov and complete the registration to get a Unique Entity ID, called a UEI. Enter your EBiz point of contact name and email, and finish the full entity registration. The ID itself takes about one day after that. Full processing of the SAM registration averages 7 to 10 business days.
- Step 2: Register with Grants.gov. Click Register in the top banner and follow the screens. This step usually takes the same day.
The lesson is to start early. Your SAM registration must be fully processed before you can apply for federal funding. If a deadline is close, ask the agency contact named in the opening how they handle late registrations.
How to apply, step by step
Grants.gov lays out the process in six steps: Learn, Check, Search, Register, Apply, and Track. You learn what a grant is, check that you are eligible, search for openings that fit your work, and register. Then you complete and submit your application using a tool called Workspace. Last, you enter your Grants.gov tracking number to see the status of your submission.
If you already know the Funding Opportunity Number or the Opportunity Package ID, the site lets you search for that package directly. This is the fastest route when an agency or a partner has handed you the number.
Smart habits for first-time applicants
Search by the kind of applicant you are. Grants.gov says each organization type above is a specific search criterion in its grant search, so you can narrow the list to openings that accept your type.
Read the whole package early, including the Application Instructions attached to the opening, since that is where the agency sets the rules you must meet.
Be wary of anyone who promises easy money. Grants.gov notes that we have all seen ads for "millions in free money" and tells readers not to believe the hype. It also says that applying for a grant is completely free, so be careful with anyone who asks for a fee.
If you get stuck, the site offers a Support Center and an online user guide. You can email [email protected] for help from a person.