What Is an Award?

When you hear the word “award,” do you envision the federal government conferring funding to you to implement a public-serving project? Some of you grant professionals did, but it is understandable if you thought of this year’s Best Film, the league MVP debate, or your child’s T-ball participation trophy.

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#FundingFriday: Highlights from the 85+ Federal Grants Posted This Week

More than 85 federal grant opportunities were posted to Grants.gov this week. Below are a selection of these grants that highlight programs from the Departments of Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.

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#FundingFriday: Federal Grants for Income Security and Social Services Programs

This week’s Funding Friday post highlights grant opportunities from the “Income Security and Social Services” category in Grants.gov Search. You can easily filter funding opportunities by this and other categories, such as education, consumer protection and natural resources.

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#FundingFriday: Federal Grants Supporting Unique Educational Programs

This week’s #FundingFriday post highlights grant opportunities supporting educational initiatives from the Departments of State and Education. The programs serve veterans, children with disabilities as well as populations in the Middle East, Pakistan and India.

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1. Department of State, U.S. Mission to Pakistan – English Language Teacher Exchange

The project will promote the development of English language, classroom pedagogy, community engagement and leadership skills of the participants through first-hand experience and networking with English language teaching peers in the United States. Through teamwork activities, the program will develop participants’ classroom, leadership, communication skills, and teacher trainer skills. In addition to enhancing the participants’ ability to implement effective English language programs in Pakistan, the exchange program will provide participants a better understanding of the United States, its people, and its democratic values.
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What Is a Block Grant? [Updated]

A block grant is a specific type of federal financial assistance for a broadly defined function. Before getting into the nuance of block grants, it may be helpful to know what we mean by the terms “federal financial assistance” and “grant.”

Block grants are primarily awarded by the federal government to U.S. state or territory governments, although some block grants are awarded directly to local governments (e.g., Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Program to cities and counties on a formula basis). The block grant recipients then implement the programs within those broadly defined functions (i.e., the purpose & parameters defined by legislation).

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What Is the Office of Management and Budget? (And How Does It Relate to Grants?)

What is blog series logoThe Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is an Executive Branch office that oversees the implementation of the President of the United States’ vision across government agencies (WhiteHouse.gov – OMB).

This relates to the grant programs implemented by federal agencies, how they are managed, their budgets, and the forms applicants complete when applying for a grant.
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What Is a Grant Forecast?

Sunny with a slight chance of competition? Cold and gloomy thanks to freezing funds?

While federal grant applicants may at times face such varying climates, the grant forecasts we refer to here are previews of potential funding opportunities that a grant-making agency plans to announce in the future.

Applicants can search for grant forecasts just as they would for funding opportunities – by using Grants.gov Search.

How to Search for Grant Forecasts

By checking “Forecasted” under Opportunity Status, searches can be tailored to turn up forecasted opportunities.

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What Is the Difference Between Grants.gov and Benefits.gov? #ReplyAll

Every month, Grants.gov receives a significant amount of queries from users hoping to apply for personal financial assistance from the federal government. These individuals might be looking for home repair grants or forms of disability assistance.

Others are unfortunately driven to Grants.gov by scam artists posing as agents of Grants.gov (or some made-up variant) who promise “free government grants” in exchange for monthly fees or gift cards.

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What Is Federal Financial Assistance?

Federal financial assistance is the transfer of anything of value, most often money, from a federal agency to a non-federal entity. In the most general sense, federal financial assistance is a tool the government uses to serve public purposes as defined by Congress.

Federal financial assistance is a very broad term, and it can take on a variety of more precise forms. One of the most common forms is a grant, which we write about quite often on this blog. Continue reading What Is Federal Financial Assistance?

#FundingFriday: Federal Grants for the Great Outdoors

Funding Friday iconThis week’s #FundingFriday post highlights recent funding opportunity announcements that share an interest in protecting and promoting an enjoyment of the great outdoors. The federal agencies posting these grants are the Department of the Interior, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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