Grants for research
Federal research grants open now from NIH, NSF, NASA, the Defense Department and others, plus foundation calls for research.
- 243 open
- 11 rolling
- 21 upcoming
- Next deadline October 21, 2026
From companies, foundations and states
- Closes13 NOV
Southern SARE On-Farm Research Grant
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education · Colleges, Nonprofits
Grants for agricultural professionals (extension, researchers, NGOs) running research on working farms in the Southern region.
- Closes03 DEC
North Central SARE Research and Education Grant
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education · Colleges, Nonprofits
Up to $250,000 for research and outreach on sustainable agriculture in the North Central region; starts with a preproposal.
- Closes30 JUN
Nebraska SBIR/STTR matching grants
State of Nebraska · Small businesses
Nebraska grants for for-profit businesses chasing federal SBIR or STTR awards, including Phase 0 grants of up to $5,000 to prepare a Phase 1 proposal.
- ApplyANYTIME
Arkansas SBIR matching grants
State of Arkansas · Small businesses
Matches up to half of a federal SBIR award for Arkansas technology businesses: up to $50,000 for Phase I and $100,000 for Phase II.
- ApplyANYTIME
Inquiries and open calls
Mellon Foundation · Nonprofits, Colleges, Libraries
Mellon funds the arts, humanities and higher learning, mostly by invitation. Humanities in Place and the Monuments Project take inquiries on a rolling basis.
- ApplyANYTIME
Iowa America's Seed Fund
State of Iowa · Small businesses
Up to $75,000 for Iowa businesses preparing to win federal SBIR or STTR awards.
- ApplyANYTIME
Kentucky SBIR/STTR matching funds
State of Kentucky · Small businesses
Kentucky matches federal SBIR/STTR awards for for-profit companies in or moving to the state: up to $100,000 for Phase I and $150,000 for Phase II.
- ApplyANYTIME
Maine Technology Institute Business Innovation Funding
State of Maine · Small businesses
Grants and loans for Maine businesses developing new products and technology; first grants usually run $10,000 to $30,000, up to $100,000 per business over time.
- ApplyOPEN
One North Carolina Small Business Program
State of North Carolina · Small businesses
North Carolina grants for technology small businesses: incentive grants toward federal SBIR/STTR proposals and matching grants for federal award winners.
- Opens01 JAN
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Investment Fund
State of West Virginia · Small businesses
West Virginia matching grants for for-profit small businesses that won a federal SBIR or STTR award.
- OpensSOON
Advanced Industries Early-Stage Capital grants
State of Colorado · Small businesses
Colorado grants for early-stage companies in advanced industries such as aerospace, bioscience, energy and tech, to bring products to market.
- OpensSOON
Calls for proposals
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation · Nonprofits, Colleges, Local governments
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funds health research and community health through open calls. Exploring Equitable Futures reopens around February 1 each year.
- OpensSOON
Online Funding Inquiry
John Templeton Foundation · Nonprofits, Colleges
The John Templeton Foundation funds research and public engagement on science, religion and character. Each cycle starts with a short online funding inquiry.
- StatusVARIES
Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant
State of Alabama · Small businesses
Matching money for Alabama small businesses that hold a federal SBIR or STTR award: 50% of the award, up to $100,000 for Phase I and $250,000 for Phase II.
- StatusVARIES
NYSTAR Innovation Matching Grants
State of New York · Small businesses
New York matches federal SBIR/STTR awards for small businesses: up to $100,000 for Phase I and $200,000 for Phase II.
- StatusINVITE
Letters of inquiry and 100&Change
MacArthur Foundation · Nonprofits, Small businesses
Most MacArthur grants are invited. A letter of inquiry route exists, and 100&Change, a competition for one large grant, runs every three years.
- StatusINVITE
Requests for proposals and Grand Challenges
Gates Foundation · Nonprofits, Colleges, Small businesses
The Gates Foundation mostly invites proposals from organizations its staff identify. Public requests for proposals, including Grand Challenges, are the open route in.
- StatusCLOSED
Alaska SBIR/STTR Grant
State of Alaska · Small businesses
State matching grants of up to $25,000 for Alaska for-profit businesses with a federal SBIR/STTR Phase I award.
- Closed21 JUL
Rhode Island Innovation Vouchers
State of Rhode Island · Small businesses
Up to $75,000 for Rhode Island companies to buy R&D help from a university or research partner.
- StatusCLOSED
Technology Validation and Start-up Fund
State of Ohio · Colleges, Small businesses
Ohio Third Frontier grants to bring university and lab technology to market: Phase 1 awards of $200,000 to $1 million to institutions, Phase 2 awards up to $200,000 to startups licensing the technology.
Federal grants
Open and forecast opportunities from Grants.gov that match this cause, soonest deadline first.
- Closes21 OCT
DoW Military Burn, Discovery Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Military Burn Research Program (MBRP) Discovery Award supports innovative, untested, groundbreaking research that provides new insights and explores early concepts in combat-relevant burn care that provide the foundation for future translational and/or clinical research. The proposed project may be exploratory, hypothesis
- Closes21 OCT
DoW Military Burn, Patient-Centered Research Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: Despite significant research investment in combat-relevant burn care, a disparity exists between newly discovered knowledge in burn care and its implementation into clinical practice across the distributed operational battlespace. The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Military Burn Research Program (MBRP) Patient-Centered Research Award (PCRA) seeks to bridge
- Closes21 OCT
DoW Military Burn, Technology/Therapeutic Development Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Military Burn Research Program (MBRP) Technology/Therapeutic Development Award (TTDA) is a burn-focused, product-driven award mechanism intended to provide support for the translation of promising preclinical findings into burn products for clinical application in an austere, resource-limited, distributed operational envi
- Closes21 OCT
Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF)
NSF · Others
The purpose of the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF) is to support future leaders in mathematics and statistics by facilitating their participation in postdoctoral research environments that will have maximal impact on their future scientific development. There are two options for awardees: Research Fellowship and Research Instr
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Arthritis Clinical Research Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Arthritis Research Program (ATRP) Clinical Research Award (CRA) supports clinical research that evaluates disease-specific factors and interventions. Research is intended to generate clinically useful evidence with potential to optimize patient outcomes and inform clinical care or policy. Research addressing any and all t
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Arthritis Translational Research Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Arthritis Research Program (ATRP) Translational Research Award (TRA) supports high-impact translational research that will accelerate critical findings into clinically relevant solutions. Research funded under this award mechanism will be hypothesis-driven, high-impact applied research that is relevant to Service Members,
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Autism Career Development Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Autism Research Program (ARP) Career Development Award supports early-career, independent investigators and/or the transition of established investigators from other research fields to conduct innovative, high-impact ideas or early-phase, proof-of-principle clinical trials with the potential to have a major impact on auti
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Autism Clinical Trial Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Autism Research Program (ARP) Clinical Trial Award supports the rapid implementation of clinical trials with the potential to have a significant impact on the treatment or management of autism. Clinical trials may be designed to evaluate promising new products, pharmacologic agents (drugs or biologics), devices, clinical
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Autism Idea Development Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Autism Research Program (ARP) Idea Development Award supports the development of innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate progress in improving outcomes for Autistic individuals. This award mechanism is designed to support innovative idea
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Tick-Borne Disease Idea Development Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The intent of the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP) Idea Development Award (IDA) is to support conceptually innovative research that could lead to impactful discoveries or significant advancements that will accelerate progress toward reducing the burden of Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne diseases and conditions
- Closes22 OCT
DoW Tick-Borne Disease Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award
DoD · Anyone eligible
Summary: The intent of the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP) Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award (TDRA) is to support product-driven therapeutic and diagnostic development research aimed at reducing the burden of Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne diseases and conditions, and improving patient care and/or quality of life
- Closes26 OCT
Climate Program Office (CPO) FY2026 Earth System Science and Services Partnership
NOAA · Others
The Earth System Science and Services Partnership (ESSSP) supports research, programs, projects and other activities related to NOAA's mission, primarily through collaborations among scientists and professionals in areas of mutual interest associated with understanding and predicting changes in the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, coasts, land, and ice and their
- Closes26 OCT
ROSES25: D.8 Habitable Worlds Observatory Precursor Science Investigation
NASA · Others
PLEASE NOTE: this program has MANDATORY Notices of Intent, which are due via NSPIRES by September 10, 2026 . See the full posting on NSPIRES for details. NOTICE: Corrected, August 28, 2026. The Open Science and Data Management Plan was added to Table D.8-1 in Section 3.4. New text is in bold. The due dates remain unchanged. NOTICE: Amended July 27, 2026. Thi
- Closes28 OCT
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I
NASA · Others, Anyone eligible
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters anticipates release of a solicitation, titled “NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), Phase I,” as an Appendix to the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) NASA Research Announcement (NRA), titled “Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion - 2026 (SpaceTe
- Closes30 OCT
Cooperative Agreement for Affiliated Partner with the Southern Appalachian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)
Geological Survey · Others
Invasive climbing plants, or vines, are spreading rapidly throughout the southeastern United States and the U.S. Caribbean, smothering local vegetation, altering forest structure, increasing infrastructure maintenance costs, and complicating management efforts for natural and working landscapes. Their expansion is influenced by disturbances such as hurricane
- Closes30 OCT
ONR FY27 NOFO for Young Investigator Program
DoD · Others
The Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program seeks proposals addressing research areas (as described in the ONR Science and Technology Department section of ONR's website at https://www.onr.navy.mil) which are of interest to ONR Program Officers will be considered. Contact information for each division (a subgroup of an S&T Department) is also lis
- Closes31 OCT
RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program
U.S. Dept. of Treasury RESTORE Act Program · States
Treasury is publishing multiple funding opportunity notices for its RESTORE Act grant programs. This announcement applies only to the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program.Trust Fund amounts are available to establish one or more Centers of Excellence through competitive subawards to nongovernmental entities and consortia in the Gulf Coast Region, in
- Closes01 NOV
CHIPS Incentives Program – Facilities for Semiconductor Materials and Manufacturing Equipment
National Institute of Standards and Technology · Others
The CHIPS Incentives Program aims to catalyze long-term economically sustainable growth in the domestic semiconductor industry in support of U.S. economic and national security. This is the second Notice of Funding Opportunity under this program and seeks applications for projects for the construction, expansion, or modernization of commercial facilities for
- Closes03 NOV
Geometric Analysis
NSF · Anyone eligible
The program in Geometric Analysis supports research on differential geometry and its relation to partial differential equations and variational principles; geometric methods in modern mathematical physics; symplectic geometry; geometric group theory; geometric data analysis; aspects of global analysis, including convex, complex, integral, and information geo
- Closes03 NOV
Space Technology Research Institutes
NASA · Others
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released the solicitation “Space Technology Research Institutes (STRI26),” as an appendix to the Research and Technology Mission Directorate (RTMD) umbrella NASA Research Announcement (NRA) titled "Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2026 (SpaceTech REDD
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Questions
When do research grants close?
The next deadline is October 21, 2026 for DoW Military Burn, Discovery Award. 11 programs take applications at any time.
Can independent researchers apply for federal research grants?
Rarely on their own. Most research grants go to institutions such as universities, research nonprofits and small businesses, which apply on the researcher's behalf.
Do I have to pay to apply for a grant?
No. Real grant programs never charge to apply or to receive an award. Anyone asking for a fee before you get grant money is running a scam.