Find grant opportunities online -- All Federal agencies must post on Grants.gov synopses of announcements of all discretionary grant funding opportunities as well as all cooperative agreement funding opportunities. This must be done for all such opportunities except:
1. For programs that only establish funding opportunities in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) (external link);
2. When the award will be less than $25,000.00 and all eligible applicants live outside the U.S.; OR
3. For single source announcements of funding opportunities specifically directed to a known recipient.
For more information on the requirement that agencies post funding opportunities in Grants.goc, see the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM) Policy Directive on Use of Grants.Gov FIND, published in the Federal Register on October 8, 2003 (Adobe Acrobat ".pdf" version) (external link). The notice also has information on the data elements and format to be used to post these synopses.
Apply for grants online -- Grants.gov is also a central place potential grantees can go to apply for grants and cooperative agreements online. Potential grantees can apply online via the Grants.gov website at http://www.grants.gov (external link) for many of the funding opportunities listed there. Please note that The Department of State regularly uses Grants.gov to receive online applications for grants and cooperative agreements, especially domestically.
DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) numbers -- All organizations (including, but not limited to, sole proprietorships) applying for either a grant or a cooperative agreement must supply their DUNS number on the application. This requirement applies to both discretionary and mandatory grant programs. It also applies whether the application is submitted on paper or electronically. This requirement does not apply to applicants who are individuals rather than organizations. Please note that if an applicant organization has not included their DUNS number on their application for grant or cooperative agreement, then their application is considered incomplete until the applicant supplies the DUNS number. The DUNS number will be used as a universal identifier for grant applicants, which will help dramatically with automation efforts. Click here for information on when a DUNS number is required and how to get one if you do not already have one.
All potential grantees using Grants.gov must first register in the Central Contractor Registration database (CCR). Therefore, potential grantees are strongly advised to register in CCR before starting the grants application process to give their CCR registration time to be fully validated and processed to completion. Potential grantees can only apply for grants using Grants.gov once the CCR registration is complete. Click here for information on how to register in the CCR database.
