Frequently Asked Questions about NEH on Grants.gov

What is Grants.gov?

Grants.gov is the federal government’s online application system. It provides one central portal where organizations and individuals can electronically find and apply for grants throughout the federal government. Grants.gov is THE single access point for over 1,000 grant programs offered by the 26 federal agencies that make grants.

Who should use Grants.gov?

All applicants to National Endowment for the Humanities are required to use Grants.gov.

If you are applying as an institution, the multi-step registration process can take up to two weeks. Registration must be completed before you can apply. See "Get Registered" for details. Start now: don't wait until right before your deadline!

If you are applying as an individual, the guidelines for the program to which you are applying will have specific instructions for registering with Grants.gov.

Why do I have to use Grants.gov to submit my application?

The federal government has mandated that all federal government grant-making agencies use Grants.gov as their primary way of receiving grant applications.

May I submit my files in a format other than PDF?

No. For more information about PDFs, see our "Converting Your Documents to PDFs" resource page.

I'm having problems uploading my application. Who do I contact?

Please contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or refer to the customer support section of the Grants.gov website.

NEH cannot help you with Grants.gov technical problems.

I'm a project director. Can I register my institution with Grants.gov?

In most cases, a project director will not be the person who registers his or her institution with Grants.gov. Registration will need to be completed by an institution's grants administrator, sponsored research official, or authorizing official.

How can I find out if my institution is already registered with Grants.gov? How do I know who is authorized by my institution to submit applications (i.e. is an "Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR)")?

You can go to the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) and search for your institution by DUNS number or by name.

If your institution is not in CCR's database, then it is NOT registered with Grants.gov. If you do find your institution listed, bring up the detailed information and scroll down until you find the name and contact information for your institution's "Electronic Business POC". This is the person at your institution who decides who can submit applications. You can contact that person and ask for the names of your AORs. If there is no E-Business Point of Contact listed, then your institution has not yet registered with Grants.gov, as they are required to identify such a person during the registration process.

You may also call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726 or write them at support@grants.gov to ask if your institution has registered with Grants.gov. If possible, please supply your institution's DUNS number.

Do I have to wait for my institution to complete the registration process before I download an application package?

No. You can download an application package at any time. We do, however, encourage you to talk with your institution's grants administrator, sponsored research official, or authorizing official early in the process to make sure your institution is registered and to discuss arrangements for submitting your application to Grants.gov.

I am an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) for my institution. Is there a way for me to test my login to ensure that I'm all set to apply to Grants.gov?

Yes. AORs can log in to the Grants.gov Applicant home page using their username and password to check if they have been approved to begin submitting applications.

I work at a very small institution. We only have two employees. Who is supposed to be the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) or the E-Business Point of Contact?

When your organization went through the Grants.gov registration process, you had to designate an E-Business Point of Contact. In a larger organization, this person might be the head of your grants office or sponsored research office. This person would then appoint one or more of his staff members to the role of AOR. These AORs are the folks who can actually submit applications on behalf of their institution. In your case, though, with only two employees, it is perfectly OK to name one person as the E-Business Point of Contact and the other as AOR. In fact, you could even have the E-Business Point of Contact approve himself to become an AOR. If possible, we recommend setting up at least two AORs. That way, should one of your AORs be unavailable, you'll have a second person who can submit the grant at deadline time.

What kind of confirmation will my institution receive that our application has been accepted by Grants.gov and NEH?

A series of four e-mails will be sent to your institution's AOR:

1. A message (submission receipt) indicating that Grants.gov has received your submission.
2. A message (validation receipt) indicating that Grants.gov has/has validated the application. Once the application is validated, then NEH can download it.
3. A message indicating that NEH has downloaded the application.
4. A message indicating that NEH has assigned your application a tracking number.

If NEH rejects your application (for not submitting your materials in PDF format), a message will be sent to your AOR and project director with instructions for handling invalid file types. This message will be sent in lieu of the "tracking number" message.
AORs can also check on submitted applications by following the link in the e-mail messages from Grants.Gov to access the "For Applicants" area.

I want to submit a draft proposal. Do I use Grants.gov?

No. Please refer to the guidelines for the program that you are interested in applying to. They contain instructions about how to submit a draft proposal.

I am applying to an NEH program that requires me to fill out an NEH Budget Form. The form only has room for one year's worth of information. But my project will last three years. What do I do?

If your grant period lasts longer than 18 months, please fill out a separate budget form for each 12 month period and list the expenses for each period in the summary budget for the final year. For example, if you have a three-year project, please fill out three copies of the NEH Budget Form and attach all three to your Grants.gov submission. You should name the files budget1.pdf, budget2.pdf, and budget3.pdf. For the first two copies, leave the summary information at the end blank. In the budget form for the final year, provide the third year budget as well as the project budget summary information for the complete project.

My organization is unable to submit our application via Grants.gov, what should we do?

Contact the program for directions on how to apply. Contact details are listed in the guidelines.