How to Apply

Register with SAM.gov and Grants.gov

SAM.gov Registration

The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is a government-wide registry for organizations doing business with the federal government. SAM.gov centralizes information about grant recipients and provides a central location for grant recipients to change organizational information.

To do business with the federal government, applicants must register their entity at SAM.gov. Through the registration process, applicants will receive a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number. 

Grants.gov uses SAM.gov to establish organizational authority for its users and to provide UEI numbers. After receiving your UEI number, you can register with Grants.gov. 

Note: SAM.gov registration must be renewed annually.

Grants.gov Registration

Grants.gov provides a centralized location for grant seekers to find and apply for federal funding opportunities.  The Grants.gov system houses information on over 1,000 grant programs and facilitates searches for appropriate funding opportunity across the federal government. 

Applications to NIFA funding opportunities should be submitted through Grants.gov. Grants.gov allows completion and submission of grant applications by authenticated and authorized users. 

Learn more on Grants.gov’s Applicant Registration page.

When searching funding opportunities on this website, you will find links to Requests for Application (RFAs), program contact information, and RFA technical assistance resources. RFAs contain instructions for preparing and submitting applications.

Determine Eligibility

After identifying a funding opportunity you’re interested in applying for, verify that:

1. your organization is eligible to receive that type of funding
2. your organization meets the requirements listed in the “Eligibility” section of the Request for Applications (RFA) 

If you have any questions about eligibility, reach out to the program contact for the funding opportunity. 

To be considered for funding, all required forms outlined in the RFA must be submitted as part of a complete application package. Your application will not be considered if all required forms are not submitted together.

Remember to submit your application on time. If you miss the application deadline due to an extenuating circumstance, review the late application consideration documentation for further information.

More information on applying and submitting your application through Grants.gov can be found in NIFA’s Grants Application Guide.

After Submission

After submitting your application through Grants.gov, you should receive a notification from Grants.gov confirming your submission. This notification will come through the Grants.gov Workspace.

After retrieving applications from Grants.gov, NIFA performs an administrative review to check that documents comply with the criteria listed in the RFA. NIFA communicates with applicants when their application is either accepted or not accepted for further programmatic review. 

If accepted, your application is given a proposal number and we send you an acknowledgement letter with the proposal number, which must be used for any communication with NIFA related to the application.

Any communication related to acceptance of an application by Grants.gov or the NIFA program is not a guarantee of funding.