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An FOA includes all the pertinent information and requirements for an applicant to assess their eligibility, competency, and interest in the funding opportunity. How do you find these opportunities? That’s where Grants.gov comes in.

You, a prospective applicant, can use the Search Grants function to navigate through opportunities and settle on the right FOA for you. Once you select on a funding opportunity to apply for, there are two high-level steps to work on before submitting your application in Grants.gov:

  1. Register to apply for grants
  2. Complete your application

Registering to Apply

Registering to apply for grants on Grants.gov includes several steps and types of registration, including DUNS, SAM.gov, and Grants.gov accounts. We have pages dedicated to walking you through the Organization Registration and Individual Registration processes under the Applicants tab. It’s not a highly complex process, but it can take 1 to 3 weeks to complete, so please register as early as you can. Do not allow yourself to miss the application deadline because you waited until the last week to try to register.

Completing Your Application

Before jumping into the process of filling out the application, you (i.e., an organization or individual) should spend time analyzing your own capabilities as compared to the specific eligibility and technical requirements detailed in the application package. The application planning process, also referred to as the pre-award phase, is lengthy, but it is critical when considering the importance of carrying out government-related work and the competition you may face for funding. While the specific steps vary widely depending on the type of grant you are applying for, major components of the planning process includes developing your ideas, conducting research, writing your proposal, and completing the application in Grants.gov.

If you are interested in more specific information or training on the development of an effective proposal, there are a number of options out there. First, we recommend perusing the awarding agencies website. Often, the awarding agency provides specific information on pre-award processes pertaining to their types of funding opportunities. Next, we also recommend looking at the Community Resources area, where we compiled a variety of sources for grant opportunities and training from across the grants community.


 this article is part 1 of a 3 part series published by grants.gov and is posted on this site for informational purposes. the gsc does not take credit for authoring this or any other article in this series.

Bibliography: Grants.gov,. ‘Funding Opportunity Announcement & Application Submission | GRANTS.GOV’. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 May 2015.
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