A Quick Guide to Importing Grants.gov Data into MS Excel with an XML Extract

Grants.gov has been undergoing a series of changes to improve the overall user experience. Some functionalities may be temporarily unavailable following our October release. Our team is working to re-establish these functionalities as quickly as possible.

If you’ve been relying on the “Export Detailed Data” functionality and found it temporarily unavailable, you can still get what you need into a spreadsheet software. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to extract and load an XML (Extensible Markup Language) extract of Grants.gov data into MS Excel, so that you can obtain the data you need in the meantime. This process may vary slightly depending on your specific version of Excel, but the general steps should remain consistent. Other data tools may have similar XML import features.

Upcoming Releases: Improving Your Grants.gov Experience

This blog post was originally published on November 1, 2023, and updated on February 1, 2024. The updates reflect progress made in the recent releases and the schedule based on user feedback.

Grants.gov now has a new look and improved features! Following the recent maintenance period, Grants.gov now provides an intuitive and responsive user experience aligned with United States Web Design System (USWDS) standards.

While our October release brought you a new look and feel, we are aware that some features still need attention. To address these issues and make your experience even better, we will be rolling out a series of releases over the next few months.

Experience the Improved Grants.gov!

The Grants.gov web interface will be improved to provide a more intuitive and responsive user experience with upgraded security and enhanced navigation. The website will align with the United States Web Design System (USWDS), a federal standard to provide accessible and mobile-friendly websites to all users. It will be clearly identified as an official U.S. government website with a banner at the top denoting it as such. While Grants.gov content will remain the same, it will feel more user-friendly, fresh, and modern.

Unlock the Mystery of the Gray “Apply” Button: Four Scenarios.

Have you ever encountered a situation on Grants.gov when the “Apply” button is grayed out and unresponsive for a funding opportunity? If so, you need to know how to ensure you’re able to apply for funding opportunities. This blog post summarizes why the “Apply” button may be grayed out and offers guidance for when this occurs.

How to Manage Your Passwords in Grants.gov

As an applicant using Grants.gov, it’s crucial you manage your Grants.gov and Login.gov passwords effectively. In this blog post, we provide tips and advice on keeping your account secure, using and resetting your passwords, and using your password to log into the Grants.gov mobile application and website.

How to Add a New Organization Profile on Grants.gov [Updated]

Note: This blog post was originally published on September 30th, 2020 and updated on June 3, 2022.

Grants.gov user registration is quick, easy, and free of charge.  However, applicant users who are adding a new organization profile to their Grants.gov account must first ensure that the organization is fully registered on the System for Award Management (SAM).

What follows is a quick guide to making sure that you have everything you need to add a new organization profile to Grants.gov: a UEI, a SAM registration, and a Grants.gov account to which you want to associate the new organization.

How to Create a Grants.gov Account and Link to a Login.gov Account

As of February 21, 2022, users must sign in to Grants.gov with Login.gov credentials. With the recent changes to the Grants.gov login process, many users may have questions about creating and linking a Grants.gov account with Login.gov. This blog post aims to address the new steps required to create a Grants.gov account and link it with a Login.gov account.

How to Find an Applicant’s UEI Within Grants.gov

Note: This blog post was originally published September 14th, 2021 and updated on March 10th, 2022

Federal grant applicants who are registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) are assigned a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) that will phase out the nine-character Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number on April 4, 2022.

How to Find the Grantor Contact Information on a Funding Opportunity

Sometimes applicants have questions about the specific requirements for a funding opportunity. For example, they might seek a clarification about what should be included in a budget narrative. Or they may have trouble accessing the full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) electronically.

When questions like these arise, applicants should reach out to the Grantor Contact listed near the bottom of the Synopsis tab on the FOA (called the View Grant Opportunity page in Grants.gov).

How to 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. Here, we explain, at a high level, the key steps in the application process, providing a roadmap that will help applicants feel more confident about the journey ahead.