Two Pathways to Applying for Grants with Grants.gov Workspace
Grants.gov workspace offers a convient and collaborate way to navigate the application process. A blog post from Grants.gov covers the two pathways to applying for grants using Workspace, including:
Path 1: Applying directly from the Opportunity page
Path 2: Applying through the "Applicants" tab
For details, read the blog here!
Water Affordability Business Case Tool
Water Affordability Business Case Tool
There’s a new, free, downloadable tool for utilities to evaluate how helping low-income customers afford their bills can help the utilities’ bottom line. Millions of people in the U.S. struggle to afford their water bills and face dire consequences as a result. It’s often assumed that discounts to low-income customers come at a cost to the utility. But in reality, unaffordable bills come at a cost to the utility. Ensuring bills are affordable provides financial benefits to the utility and everyone it serves.
In the summer of 2023, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) launched its new, first-of-its-kind Water Affordability Business Case Tool that allows water and wastewater utilities to quantify the “business case” for water affordability by modeling the financial impacts on the utility of offering low-income discounts.
Click the button below to download the Tool.
This link will also take you to supporting resources include a FAQ & Quick Start Guide, which explains how the Tool works, summarizes the required data inputs, and describes the types of results the Tool provides; and a full User Manual which provides detailed instructions and guidelines for using the Tool, along with a thorough explanation of its methodology and underlying premises and assumptions.
Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program
Applications are closed. Click the fact sheet below to learn more about eligible applicants and projects, federal funding amounts, and how WaterNow can support your application process.
Grant Writing Basics
Tips for Proofreading Your Next Grant Application
Developing a proofreading strategy can greatly improve the quality of your federal grant application. Here are some tips from grant-making offices across the government that you can use for developing this strategy.
- Enlist content proofreaders early in the process to focus on macro issues (e.g., organization of narrative sections, logical flow within your application, etc.)
- Develop a master checklist (e.g., list of required forms and attachments, formatting requirements, evaluation criteria, etc.)
- Give your application a grade (e.g., rate your own application; identify opportunities for improvement)
- Enlist a proofreader late in the process to focus on micro issues (e.g., word choice, sentence structure, and typographical errors)
Read more here on how WaterNow can support your next grant application!
How to Determine Eligibility for Federal Funding Opportunities
Determining your eligibility for federal grants is an important first step in the federal grant application process. Funding opportunity eligibility requirements are defined by legislation and federal agency policies. To receive a grant, you must meet an opportunity's eligibility requirements. Below are some tips for finding federal funding opportunities for which you may be eligible:
1. Know your applicant entity type
Are you a nonprofit organization? Municipality or water utility? Tribal organization? Knowing this allows you to better narrow your search for funding opportunities
2. Search by keyword, then narrow your results
Every funding opportunity has unique eligibility requirements, so using Grants.gov Search is an important part of the process for determining an entity's eligibility for funding. Begin by going to the Grants.gov Search page and search by keyword. Be as specific as possible. After conducting the keyword search, narrow the results on the left side of the screen by selecting the Funding Instrument Type, Eligibility, or Category. Finally, be sure to save your search so that you can receive notification of new funding opportunities matching this criteria as they are posted in the future.
3. Get into the details of each funding opportunity
Once you have identified a group of funding opportunities that you appear to be eligible for, it’s time to closely review the official eligibility requirements of each one. You want to do this before you begin significant work on the application, so that you can be sure that the program is a good match for your applicant entity. The funding opportunity’s eligibility requirements may be listed in the Eligibility section of the grant Synopsis. But often the requirements are discussed in much greater detail in the official notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) document created by the federal grant-making agency. On Grants.gov, this document is usually found under the Related Documents tab. You can also use the Link to Additional Information field on the Synopsis Tab.
4. Reach out to the agency point of contact
If, after reading the NOFO, you still have any questions about eligibility, contact the federal agency point of contact listed in the NOFO.
For more information on how to determine your eligibility for federal funding opportunities read more at this blog post.
How to Apply for a Federal Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov
Apply for a Federal Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov
First-time applicants can understandably feel daunted by the task of applying for a federal funding opportunity on Grants.gov. Below are the key steps in the application process to help you feel more confident about the journey ahead.
Step 1: Make sure you have registered an on account on Grants.gov
Step 2: Determine your eligibility and identify a Funding Opportunity using Grant.gov search
Step 3; Apply to the Funding Opportunity by creating a workspace
Step 4: Complete your application
Step 5: Check your application for errors and submit your completed application
For more details on these steps, check out this blog post at Grants.gov.
