Infographic and Video of the Application Workflow for Organizations

Applying for a federal grant can feel daunting – even for a seasoned veteran. The average federal grant application involves a multitude of decisions, from filling in form fields to communicating with collaborators.

The following graphic and its accompanying video break this complicated endeavor into four high-level phases.

Applicant Scenarios: Subrecipients’ Filling Out Application Forms without a Grants.gov Account

Want us to address one of your organization’s scenarios? Post your scenario in the Grants.gov Discussion Forum for help from the grants community (login required).

This is a great question – and one that we have heard from other people who contribute to an organization’s application.

Recap of Q&A at NCURA Conference

For those who did not make it to the Grants.gov webinar session at the NCURA Region V Conference on May 7, 2018, this post will catch you up!

Our team provided training and a demonstration of how to apply for federal grants using Grants.gov Workspace. Here’s a link to the Applicant Overview Training Presentation and training videos on the Grants.gov YouTube channel that provide a similar demonstration.

NCURA Conference attendees also had follow-up questions, which means some of you are probably wondering the same things. Here are several key questions we heard from you:

Release 16.2 Preview: Core Roles and Custom Roles in Workspace

With the coming system update, Grants.gov is adding “custom roles.” We will still have “core roles” (i.e., Workspace Manager, Standard AOR, and Expanded AOR), which the majority of applicant organizations will continue to use.

Custom roles will allow “the privileges associated with these roles…to be mixed and matched with custom roles that applicant organizations can create and name for their own internal workflows.”

If this sounds like it may work better with your grant application process, more detailed information is available in the Release 16.2 Preview: Custom Roles to Give Applicant Organizations More Control post.

Pros and Cons for Using Custom Roles

Grants.gov Workspace & Goodbye to Legacy PDF

The time has come to bid a final goodbye to the Legacy PDF Application Package. After March 31, 2017, Grants.gov will no longer accept Legacy PDF submissions.

Going forward, Grants.gov users should apply by creating a workspace on the View Grant Opportunity page of the desired grant. For first time users, try the basic approach to Workspace:

We have posted below a recording of a recent webinar demonstration that walks you step by step through the application process.

Go Deep: Adding Subforms to a Grants.gov Workspace

If you’re lucky, your next federal grant application will be pretty straightforward. You will need to complete the SF-424, of course, and then a few additional forms. But – fingers crossed – hopefully you won’t be thrown any curve balls.

One such challenging pitch to hit might be the need to add subforms to a parent form within your workspace.

Adding and completing subforms in Grants.gov Workspace is different than it was in the Legacy PDF Application Package. No longer are subforms extracted from the parent form. In Workspace, subforms are added below the parent form within the Forms tab.

The following instructions walk you step-by-step through the process, in hopes that if you are thrown the ole’ subform curveball on your next application you will recognize it right away and be able to hit it out of the park:

Video: How to Create a Grants.gov Workspace & Begin Work on Your Application

With the retirement of the Legacy PDF Package on December 31, 2017, Grants.gov saw an influx of new applicant users registering accounts and preparing to submit their first application using Grants.gov Workspace.

If you’re one of these applicants who are new to Grants.gov Workspace, we encourage you to watch and bookmark the video embedded below.

Release 16.2 Preview: Custom Roles to Give Applicant Organizations More Control

Grants.gov will soon give applicant organizations more control over the roles they can assign to their team members within Grants.gov.

Beginning with Release 16.2 in April, organizations will be able to create custom roles and assign these roles to the users affiliated with their organization.

Relax, Applying with Workspace Is Easier Than You Think

As of late, the question we receive most often here at the Community Blog goes something like this:

As of December 31, we need to begin applying for federal grants using Grants.gov Workspace. What do I need to do in order to transition my organization to the new application method?

You might be surprised to learn that the answer to this question for most is quite simple: Nothing.

There is no special action you need to take – or magic button you need to click – in order to transition your organization to Grants.gov’s Workspace method of applying for a federal grant.

How Applicant Teams with External Collaborators Can Tap Grants.gov Workspace’s Full Potential

As the Legacy PDF retirement deadline nears, some applicant organizations are preparing to apply using Grants.gov Workspace for the very first time.

We recently sketched out application scenarios for organizations new to Workspace – a simple, minimalist approach to applying, as well as a standard approach.

In this post, we sketch out a third scenario – one that involves a team of 5 to 12 (or more) registered applicants who range from grant managers and writers to outside consultants and sub-applicants from partner organizations.

Here’s the scenario: