Grant News

What Recent Executive Orders and the Review of Federal Financial Assistance Means for You

**This is a comprehensive blog that covers the key developments, implications, and strategies for grant seekers navigating the landscape of federal financial assistance under the new Administration. Updates to this blog will continue to be made as the situation develops. Blog last updated May 15, 2025, at 11:25 am ET**

The federal grant landscape was upended early this year by the release of several Executive Orders and Memorandum M-25-13, a sweeping directive that temporarily halted financial assistance programs for a review process aligned with the new Presidential Administration’s policy priorities. While the Administration later rescinded with memorandum M-25-14, grant seekers across all sectors - including public agencies and nonprofits – still face a multitude of questions and uncertainty around the effect of recent Executive Orders on federal funding opportunities.

SUMMARY: The OVW Campus Program (Campus Program) encourages institutions of higher education to develop and strengthen effective security and investigation strategies to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus, develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving such crimes on campus, and develop and strengthen prevention education and awareness programs.

By Marc Smithers, Grants Development Associate (Higher Education)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has consistently been one of the largest sources of federal grant funds and serves as the global leader in health research funding. Of its $47.7 billion budget in the fiscal year 2023, $34.9 billion was awarded across 58,951 grants to 2,743 organizations for biomedical research. For grantseekers that are either new to federal biomedical agencies or are simply looking to expand their scope of funding streams, a basic understanding of how NIH grants are applied for and awarded is an important first step in considering whether to pursue funding through this essential federal grant maker.

SUMMARY: Provides funding for a single, costly, specialized modern scientific instrument for use by biomedical researchers at academic and research institutions. The instrument can be purchased for individual institutional usage or shared-use arrangements. The instrument must be used for advanced biomedical research and/or clinical treatments.

By Dr. Liz Shay, Higher Education

Whether it is through conversations with one of our grants consultants, other grant-seeking efforts, or completely outside of the grants space, organizations often realize that they should consider collaborating with institutes of higher education. These partnerships can open additional avenues to pursue different types of projects and work towards your organization’s mission-driven goals in new ways. Grant makers often favor collaborative efforts as they are seen as having a larger impact on the money invested in the project.

Regardless of why you started considering collaborating with an institute of higher education, navigating these conversations can often seem intimidating or complex. This article is a guide to the basic information you need to feel confident in pursuing partnerships with institutions.

SUMMARY: This program is focused on helping students learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need to be creators in the digital economy. Projects should explore innovative solutions to computer science and computational thinking education at all levels in the preK-12 education setting. These may be separate courses or integrated into broader science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational initiatives.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The College of Saint Scholastica’s National Center for CS Education partnered with Hermantown Community School, Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, St. Louise County Public Schools, and Duluth Public Schools for this project. The goal is to increase access to and participation in computer science education. Computer science pathways for this project include early experiences in elementary and middle school that will help students establish foundational computer science knowledge and skills as well as spark their interest in taking high school computer science electives. For schools supporting the homeland of seven tribes of Anishinaabeg, the project is developing the Ojibwe language for computer science concepts and practices and developing computer science lessons that include Ojibwe language and culture.

By Christina Fernandes, Grants Development Consultant (Education)

The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) was signed into law on July 31, 2018, reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV). One of the most significant updates in its reauthorization was the introduction of the comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA). The local needs assessment must be completed by each eligible recipient of federal Perkins funds, which includes individual school districts, school districts that are part of a consortium, and community colleges. This requirement was put in place to help institutions refine their Career and Technical Education (CTE) offerings and identify areas where targeted improvements can be made to better serve their students and align with local economic needs.The CLNA is the foundation of the local Perkins application for both secondary and post-secondary institutions.

The assessment must be completed or updated every two years and requires a great deal of planning and coordination. The process may seem overwhelming, but by breaking it down into manageable steps, institutions can make their assessment both meaningful and efficient. While CLNA processes differ by state, there are commonalities that are required at the federal level. This article will include tips on those common requirements, such as data collection, stakeholder consultation, and program alignment.

SUMMARY: The purpose of Perkins V is to develop more fully the academic knowledge and technical and employability skills of secondary and postsecondary education students who elect to enroll in career and technical education programs and programs of study.

By Dr. Liz Shay, Senior Grants Development Consultant (Higher Education)

Whether it is through conversations with one of our grants consultants, other grant-seeking efforts, or completely outside of the grants space, organizations often realize that they should consider collaborating with institutes of higher education. These partnerships can open additional avenues to pursue different types of projects and work towards your organization’s mission-driven goals in new ways. Grant makers often favor collaborative efforts as they are seen as having a larger impact on the money invested in the project.

Regardless of why you started considering collaborating with an institute of higher education, navigating these conversations can often seem intimidating or complex. This article is a guide to the basic information you need to feel confident in pursuing partnerships with institutions.

The Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program, modeled after the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot, will evaluate the effectiveness of using Universal Service Funding to support cybersecurity services and equipment to protect school and library broadband networks and data to determine whether to fund them permanently.  

By Christina Fernandez, Grants Development Consultant (K-12 Education)

Evidence-based interventions are key to making informed decisions when implementing new programming in schools. These strategies are critical for effectively improving student outcomes and are required for securing state and federal grants. Evidence requirements set by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) require educators to search for high-quality research and intervention studies to ensure that states, districts, and schools identify programs, practices, and products that can effectively improve student success. ESSA uses a tiered system approach to classify interventions based on the strength of evidence supporting their impact—ranging from strong to promising to demonstrate a rationale. One way to find this level of information is through the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), established by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

 The WWC is an online database that reviews and summarizes education research to identify previously implemented, well-designed interventions so educators can replicate and expand on these evidence-based practices.  It also provides resources and tools on topics such as academics, behavior, and postsecondary readiness.

This article will explore what evidence-based practices are, the types of resources available on the WWC, and tips on determining which practice is best suited for your grant-fundable project.

The EIR program is designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent educational challenges by creating, developing, or implementing evidence-based solutions to improve student achievement for high-need students. The central design element of the EIR program is its multi-tier structure that links the amount of funding that an applicant may receive to the quality of the evidence supporting the efficacy of the proposed project, with the expectation that projects that build this evidence will advance through EIR’s grant tiers. Early-phase grants are not intended to simply implement established practices in additional locations or address needs unique to one context. The goal is to determine whether and in what ways relatively newer practices can improve student achievement and attainment for highneed students. Projects must demonstrate a rationale.

Dr. Marc Smithers, Grants Development Associate (Higher Education)

After hundreds of conversations with grantseekers at various institutions of higher education throughout the country, one of the tools I see most often overlooked can also be one of the most powerful: state funding. This consequence is likely attributable to the organizational structures present at most colleges and universities. If an institution has a Sponsored Programs Office that is distinct from the advancement or fundraising arm of an institution, the bulk of these staff members' time is devoted to securing large faculty research or student learning grants that are most likely funded by well-financed federal programs. If an institution has dedicated staff to grant writing housed in the fundraising office, their work often overlaps most frequently with the work of advancement professionals like relationship-building with foundations and other large individual donors in the philanthropic world. As a result of these structures that often work very effectively to bring in federal and foundation dollars, state grants are often unintentionally overlooked, even though they could serve as a vital and substantial portion of an institution's funding plans. Here are some reasons to consider state grants more seriously as a mechanism for institutional funding and steps institutions should take to begin including them in their grantseeking strategy.

The program aims to train job seekers in industrial occupations such as advanced manufacturing, information technology, and professional, scientific, and technical services occupations that support renewable energy, transportation, and broadband infrastructure sectors. Awardees may use the funding for staffing, equipment, supplies, planning, and software expenses for career pathway programs that meet the growing needs of local employers.

Congressionally directed spending (also known as community project funding or earmarks) are line items in the United States federal budget specifically requested by individual legislators. There was a 10-year moratorium on these appropriations, but that ran out in 2021. Proponents of congressionally directed spending argue that it creates a more transparent appropriation process and enables local jurisdictions to more directly request and receive funds for their specific needs. Others believe that congressionally directed spending is wasteful or corrupt. Regardless of how you feel about this type of funding, they are a part of the current federal funding landscape and should be considered carefully when looking for support for your project.

In this article, we will explore the fiscal year 2024 congressionally directed spending landscape. We will evaluate where the funds are going and what types of projects they are predominantly funding. We will also reflect on where we are in the fiscal year 2025 funding congressionally directed spending process.

Last month marked the start of the U.S. federal Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) new set of rules directing the majority of federal grantmaking to nonprofits; education institutions; state, local, or tribal government agencies; and others. These rules, colloquially known as the Uniform Guidance, were first established in December 2013. Originally a consolidation of several federal rulemaking circulars, the Uniform Guidance’s policies have been periodically adjusted over the last 20 years. The most recent of these updates took effect on October 1, 2024.

When browsing through Grants.gov, you find a grant perfectly aligned with what your organization is trying to accomplish. Say you work in a university's criminal justice program and want to research police practices. You find a seemingly perfect grant, but as you read the eligibility…" Only applicants that received an official invitation letter from NIJ are able and eligible to apply." This "invitation-only" status is a common frustration for grant seekers. So, how do you crack that elusive list and get your foot in the door?

For institutions of higher education, the National Science Foundation is a large source of federal funding, providing a quarter of the federal government’s budgetary support for colleges and universities. Many colleges and universities, K-12 schools, and other research institutions have not explored the plethora of programs offered by the NSF and may not even know where to begin to search for NSF opportunities.

For the past several years, institutes of higher education have been seeing a decline in student enrollment. The National Center for Education Statistics projects that undergraduate enrollment will decline by 9% between 2021 and 2031, continuing a trend that was also present in the previous decade (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98). Diversifying where income is coming from can help many institutions continue to provide their offerings. Although it is not a possibility for every institution, thinking about transitioning your organization from an education-focused school to a more research-intensive entity can open additional opportunities. For example, research grant funding that goes to faculty researchers also typically includes an indirect cost component that is used to support facilities and administration expenses for the institution to provide necessary overhead for the researchers to conduct their work, thereby enabling your organization to support that work. We have seen many schools working towards this goal by building research capabilities.

The Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program (Campus Program) encourages institutions of higher education to develop and strengthen effective security and investigation strategies to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus, develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving such crimes on campus, and develop and strengthen prevention education and awareness programs.

Now is the time of year for education entities to evaluate their goals and plans for the upcoming year. Think about your plans to support your students, researchers, and the broader community, and look for alignment with any of the priorities described above. Although this is by no means an exhaustive list of the kinds of grant funding that will be available in the coming months, these trends will give you a sense of the types of programs that are likely to be most popular and where you may see absolute or competitive preference priorities for existing annual programs. Start to strategize for where you would like to focus your efforts in 2024 and get started!

School safety has been a primary concern for school districts over the past several years. In the wake of tragic events such as the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, K-12 school districts have made it a priority to improve the physical security of their school buildings. However, funding was not always readily available until the Stop School Violence Act of 2018. An important result of this act was the STOP School Violence Prevention Program, or SVPP, a federal grant program that provides K-12 school districts, state and local governments, and Tribes the financial means to improve the physical security of their schools through evidence-based school safety programs and technology. In fiscal year 2023, up to $73 million was available for potential applicants, with future funding available through 2028.

Computer Science for All is a bold initiative to empower all American students from kindergarten through high school to learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need to be creators in the digital economy. A key goal of this program is to provide all U.S. students the opportunity to participate in computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) education in their schools at the preK-12 levels. CT refers to the thought processes involved in formulating problems and their solutions in such a way that the solutions can be effectively carried out by an information-processing agent (usually a computer).

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program is designed to provide access to education, training, and healthcare resources for rural Americans. The DLT program provides financial assistance to encourage and improve telemedicine and distance learning services in rural areas using telecommunications, computer networks, and related advanced technologies that students, teachers, medical professionals, and rural residents can use. Grants may fund telecommunications-enabled information, audio and video equipment, and related advanced technologies that extend educational and medical applications into rural areas. Grants are intended to benefit end users in rural areas, who are often not in the same location as the educational or health care service source.

Esports are hugely popular; current projections show that there will soon be 30 million monthly esports viewers. The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) currently lists nearly 200 colleges and universities with varsity esports programs, and many more schools have club teams or curricular esports programs. K-12 organizations are increasingly getting involved with esports as well. 

State grants for higher education are an important source of funding for colleges and universities to provide financial assistance to students pursuing post-secondary education. In addition to grants for students, state grant programs may also provide institutions with funding to support programs, initiatives, and research. In this article, we will explore the state grants available for higher education institutions to apply for.

Institutes of higher education have a wide variety of grant programs available to support efforts on campus. Many different federal, state, and foundation funding sources focus either specifically on higher education or fund higher education projects as part of their larger grant funding priorities. Broadly speaking, this funding for higher education predominantly falls within three categories: student learning outcomes, workforce development, and faculty research. These major types of funding programs have remained relatively consistent over the last few decades. However, within these categories, specific funding priorities tend to shift due to political and cultural priorities. Read on for a deep dive into five of the current major funding trends in higher education.

With the passing of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, the US Department of Education was allocated approximately 83.5 billion: an increase of $3.4 billion from FY22. Similarly, to FY22, Congress opted to allocate additional monies to many well-known programs housed under the Department of Education, instead of creating new funding programs.

Approximately 12.3 million students across the US are enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. CTE programs vary by institution, but the overarching purpose is to provide students with the academic and technical skills needed to succeed in an emerging career field. The Department of Education established a list of 16 career fields, referred to as career clusters, representing up to 79 different career pathways. These different pathways allow students to explore a career cluster of interest while also learning employability skills that complement their academic studies. CTE evolved from vocational education, which focused on an isolated elective with specific job training associated, to be more academically rigorous and integrated within other programs of study in comprehensive high schools, technical centers, and community colleges. Read on for a description of the common elements that make CTE programs successful, a high level overview of the funding landscape, and to learn how CTE programs function within different institutional settings.

ELIGIBILITY: The eligible lead applicant must be a community college that is a public institution of higher education as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act and whose most common degree awarded is an associate degree.