The following pages are a journey through our Department's grant opportunities for faith-based (FBO) and community-based (CBO) organizations. Each program has been rated according to the type of opportunity it presents to these small grassroots organizations.

A green light indicates that small grassroots groups are eligible for these funding opportunities and that the application process is relatively straightforward and simple. FBOs and CBOs that apply for these grants will find the application process for these grants the easiest to understand. If this is your organization's first time applying for a federal grant, you should consider these opportunities.

Programs with a yellow light present some "hoops" in terms of the application process. FBOs and CBOs are eligible for funding, but in order to qualify, they may have to meet certain requirements (e.g., pursue 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, etc.). A yellow light should not be a discouragement, but it indicates that for some groups it might take a little more preparation to be eligible to apply.

A Red light means stop. This grant is not available to faith-based or community organizations. This may be due to the type of grant (e.g., block, formula) or the purpose of the grant (e.g., research). Most red lights are red because they are a block or formula grant, for which only states are eligible. Block grants are identified with bricks under the stoplight. It is still important to know about these grants, because faith and community groups can often apply directly to the states for these funds. The block grant simply means grassroots organizations should talk to their state agencies about their eligibility.

We intended to share this information in a way that was easy to access, so we did not include lengthy program descriptions.  Instead, we included the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for each program listed. This number will help you link to everything you need to determine if this grant might be of interest to your organization. By clicking on: http://aspe.hhs.gov/cfda/index.htm you will be able to enter the CFDA number and link to all the information you will need to apply for the grant, including the eligibility requirements, program description, etc. We have also included, where it applies, the web address of the program and contact information for the people who run the program.

Please see our website for a printer friendly version of this "Grants Guide": http://www.hhs.gov/fbci/

We hope that this will be a helpful resource in identifying potential federal dollars to fund your programs.

For more information you may want to look at these other web sites:

Federal Register  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html

Federal Procurement Data Center   

http://www.fpdc.gov/

U.S. State and Local Gateway   

http://www.statelocal.gov/

Federal Commons 

http://www.cfda.gov/federalcommons/