How to Apply for a Grant

Register and Get Ready At Least One Month Before Your Funding Opportunity Opens

Every applicant organization and sub-recipient organization must complete three registrations to be able to submit a grant application:

1. Unique Entity Identifier (formerly DUNS) Number registration;
2. System for Award Management (SAM) SAM.gov registration; and
3. Grants.gov registration.

All three registrations are free, but the process can take one month or longer. If you plan to apply for an ACF grant, do not delay. Get registered today! You can stay updated on upcoming funding opportunities offered by ACF by visiting  Grants.gov. ACF publishes a basic summary of all upcoming funding opportunities on this site.

Unique Entity Identifier Number Registration

1. You can complete this registration in one day.
2. Visit the D&B DUNS Numbers for U.S. Government Contractors and Grantees website.
3. Select the country or territory where your organization is physically located (ACF only provides grants to organizations located in the United States). Complete and submit the form. You will need to provide basic information about your organization, including physical and mailing addresses, name and title of the chief executive, primary Standard Industrial Code (SIC), whether or not the organization is minority-, woman- or veteran-owned, number of employees, and annual revenue.
4. Your Unique Entity Identifier number will be e-mailed to you the same day.

System for Award Management (SAM) Registration (Formerly the Central Contractor Registry)

You can complete the initial registration on SAM.gov in three days. SAM.gov registration must be updated every year, which can take five days.

1. Visit the System for Award Management website.
2. Select Start a New Registration and complete the form, which will take about an hour.
3. You must have your Unique Entity Identifier number and other information about your organization.
4. You will have to designate an E-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC), who will identify a special password called the MPIN. The MPIN will give the E-Biz POC the authority to designate which employees of your organization are Authorized Organization Representatives (AORs) who can submit applications on behalf of the organization.  Soon after submitting your registration, the E-Biz POC will receive an e-mail requesting approval of designated AORs. If your organization already has an EIN (Employer Identification Number), this step can be completed in three days. If not, this step could take up to two weeks.
5. To keep your SAM.gov registration active, be sure to renew at least once each year. If your registration expires you cannot submit a grant application until it is renewed.

For help with SAM.gov, please visit their support page.

For any SAM registration issues, please refer to the ACF Policy for Applicants Experiencing Federal Systems Issues document for complete guidance.

Grants.gov Registration

One day after receiving notification of final SAM.gov registration, an approved Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) can complete the required registrations by registering your organization with Grants.gov. You can complete the registration in three weeks.

1. Visit Grants.gov > Get Registered.
2. You must know your organization's Unique Entity Identifier number and be an AOR who has been approved through the System for Award Management (SAM) to register with Grants.gov.
3. When the AOR registers with Grants.gov, the E-Biz POC will receive an e-mail, prompting her or him to log into Grants.gov and approve the AOR.
4. When the registration is complete, the submitting AOR will receive a confirmation e-mail.
5. Grants.gov registration must be updated every year and passwords must be updated every 90 days.

This Grants.gov video provides useful information on registering, searching and applying for Federal grant opportunities.

For more help with Grants.gov, please visit their support page.

The content on this page is for informational purposes and should not be construed as instructions for submitting an application. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement of interest for detailed instructions.

All ACF Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are organized into the following sections. This list provides a general description of the content typically found in each section, but is not exhaustive.

Section I: Program Description

• Provides background information, the goals of the program, post–application requirements and expectations, and a citation of the statutory authority for the award.

Section II: Federal Award Information

• Includes information on the anticipated funding amount and number of awards, the length of the project periods, and for cooperative agreements, a description of ACF’s anticipated substantial involvement in the funded project.

Section III: Eligibility Information

• Describes what entities are eligible to apply, application disqualification factors, and any cost-sharing requirements.

Section IV: Application and Submission Information

• Outlines all application and submission requirements. This includes guidance on formatting (e.g., adherence to font and page limitations); application submission instructions (e.g., adherence to the two-file requirement, application upload requirements); required forms, assurances, and certifications; application requirements for the project description and budget, guidance on formatting; submission dates and times; intergovernmental review requirements; funding restrictions; and an address to request an application package.
• In response to the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) requirements, under Section IV.2.  Content and Form of Application Submission, Required Forms, Assurances and Certifications, there is a new requirement regarding a Mandatory Grant Disclosure.  HHS implemented this policy requirement for mandatory disclosures at 45 CFR § 75.113.  For more information, please review the "New Mandatory Grant Disclosure Requirement in Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs)" document.
• Please NOTE in Section IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission, under Application Upload Requirements, applicants submitting their applications electronically are required to upload ONLY two electronic files, excluding Standard Forms (SFs). No more than two files will be accepted for the review and additional files will be removed. Standard Forms will not be considered as additional files.

Section V: Application Review Information

• Includes the criteria objective reviewers will use to evaluate and score applications, information on the application review and award selection process, as well as anticipated announcement and award dates

Section VI: Federal Award Administration Information

• Provides information on award notices, administrative and national policy requirements, and post-award reporting requirements.

Section VII: HHS Awarding Agency Contact(s)

• Provides a program office contact and a grants management contact.

Section VIII: Other Information

• Includes additional information such as references to helpful websites and an application checklist.

Appendices

The content on this page is for informational purposes and should not be construed as instructions for submitting an application. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement of interest for detailed instructions.

Most Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) will require applications to include a description of:

• Goals and objectives, which should be clearly defined and specific;
• Need, which includes both the need for the service or activity that the grant will support and your organization's track record in fulfilling such needs;
• Approach and impact, which clearly shows how you plan to achieve the purpose of the grant program. Whenever possible, this should include supporting data;
• Resources and capabilities, which describes the knowledge, staffing and fiscal capacity that your organization has in order to carry out your proposed project and meet the goals of the grant program;
• Budget, which is a realistic plan that matches your goals and objectives. It includes a narrative that justifies the costs.

Be concise and precise in describing your proposed grant activities. Remember, your application must adhere to the page limitations stated in the formatting information (Section IV.) of the FOA.

Before You Submit

Your submission is final. You can't make edits or append any documents after submission. Be thorough in your review of your application, but do not wait until the last minute to submit. Late submissions are not accepted. Applicants should make every effort to submit their applications at least 24 hours before the application deadline.

• Check your application to make sure all required information requested is included. Check for spelling and correct calculations. In addition, check that the application adheres to page limitations, applications submission requirements (e.g., electronic applications must be submitted in only two separate files), and font and file-type requirements, as specified in Section IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission of the FOA.
• Use the checklist provided in the FOA (Section VIII. Other Information) or create your own, but make sure that all required documents are included in the application package. Be sure that application elements are in the order specified in the FOA.
• Review the content and be sure you have addressed all the criteria with which your proposal will be scored.

The content on this page is for informational purposes and should not be construed as instructions for submitting an application. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement of interest for detailed instructions.

Grant applications receive a comprehensive review, conducted by a panel of independent subject matter experts who are selected from a group of qualified individuals to become grant reviewers and/or a panel chairperson.

Applications are reviewed by at least three reviewers, who separately score the application according to evaluation criteria found in Section V.1 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). Each panel also has a chairperson that does not score applications, but facilitates the review process with reviewers and compiles comments for the Applicant Panel Summary report. This report describes the consensus of the panel reviewers’ comments and the overall average score for the application. The full panel reaches this summary based on individual reviews of each application according to the published evaluation criteria.

Evaluation criteria vary for each FOA, and applicants should refer to the specific FOA to which they are applying, but some common categories include:

• Objectives and Needs for Assistance;
• Approach;
• Program Performance Evaluation;
• Organizational Capacity; and
• Budget and Budget Justification.

If marked differences of opinion about an application exist among reviewers, the panel chairperson and reviewers will discuss the reasons for these differences and seek consensus. Once reviewers have reached consensus, the chairperson will send the Applicant Panel Summary report to the federal staff member overseeing the panel. The federal staff member reviews comments to ensure that they correspond to the appropriate published FOA evaluation criteria and substantiate the score on the Applicant Panel Summary report. Once approved by the federal staff member, the final score for each application is sent to the program office for consideration in making their funding decisions.

In 2013, ACF implemented a new policy that requires all applicants, whether successful or unsuccessful, to receive a copy of their Applicant Panel Summary Report. The Applicant Panel Summary Report includes the average score and a compilation of the reviewer's strengths and weakness statements on all criteria from the reviewed FOA. This information may be helpful as constructive feedback for future applications specific to that program.

The content on this page is for informational purposes and should not be construed as instructions for submitting an application. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement of interest for detailed instructions.

Still need answers? Check out the frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

• FAQs on the ACF Application Process
• FAQs on the ACF Review Process