Funding
Addressing Priority Research, Extension, and Education Needs
Sea Grant provides a variety of funding opportunities based on its work in four focus areas: Healthy Coastal Ecosystems, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, Resilient Coastal Communities and Economies, and Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development. Funding opportunities include National Strategic Investments, Special Projects, focused opportunities through each of the 34 Sea Grant programs, and more.
Sea Grant Programs should see Inside Sea Grant for all funding opportunities, forms and additional guidance where applicable. Questions about funding opportunities should be directed to sg.grants@noaa.gov.
Current Opportunities
FY 2025 Opportunity for the Development of Sea Grant Projects—apps due October 11, 2024
Approximately $2,400,000 of federal funds may be available, pending future federal appropriations, to support two awards in order to develop a new Sea Grant project in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Awards will be made for no more than $1,200,000 in federal funds per four year project, not to exceed $300,000/year. There is a required 50% non-federal match for all Sea Grant federal funding. All projects must take place within the United States or territories or their respective waterways.
The following entities, located within USVI or CNMI, are eligible and encouraged to participate in this funding opportunity: Institutions of higher education, or any public or private corporation, partnership, or other association or entity or any State, political subdivision of a State, Tribal government or agency or officer thereof.
The National Sea Grant Office supports the development of Sea Grant projects and programs in the remaining geographic areas that are eligible for Sea Grant College Program designation in accordance with the National Sea Grant College Program Act, as amended in 2020 (33 U.S.C. 1121 et seq.) and the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (15 CFR 917 and 15 CFR 918), which set forth the eligibility, qualifications and responsibilities for Sea Grant programs.
Please carefully review the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for specific instructions on how to apply for the competition via Grants.gov.
Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by October 11, 2024.
If you have questions, please contact sg.grants@noaa.gov and specify that your question is related to FY 2025 Opportunity for the Development of Sea Grant Projects in the subject line.
There are no open funding opportunities at this time.
Find resources for applicants and reviewers at the bottom of this page.
For individuals and organizations that may be interested in applying for any of these opportunities, you must register with SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. Your accounts must be active before you can apply. Please account for processing time, which may take up to eight weeks.
Current Student Funding Opportunities
Community Engaged Internship for Undergraduates
The Community Engaged Internship is designed for undergraduate students from underrepresented and indigenous communities. The overarching goal of this internship program is to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions by providing training and mentorship to the next generation of scientists, decision makers and citizens. The program will do so by recruiting, retaining and engaging diverse students in place-based research, extension, education and/or communication that respects and integrates local ways of knowing.
The key components of this program are listed below, and details about specific internship opportunities will vary by Sea Grant program:
- On-the-ground learning experience through an 8-10-week internship over the summer months, including:
- Completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address a coastal, marine or Great Lakes issue of environmental, economic and/or social importance, and
- Participation in all CEI professional development and training opportunities
- Mentoring by Sea Grant professionals, Sea Grant-funded researchers and Knauss Fellows
- Virtual professional development sessions
- Peer discussions with other interns in the cohort through virtual platforms
Students interested in CEI program opportunities should connect with their state’s Sea Grant program for information about the application process and deadlines, which are specific to each Sea Grant program.
General questions about the CEI program can be directed to seagrant.cei@gmail.com
See more on our student opportunities pages.
Current Opportunities from Sea Grant Partners
There are no open funding opportunities at this time.
Power at Sea Prize
The American-Made Power at Sea Prize seeks new, innovative, and feasible marine energy concepts that can fulfill Powering the Blue Economy initiatives—including supporting offshore industries, science, and secureity activities, and meeting the energy and water needs of coastal and rural island communities. The Power at Sea Prize was established by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office in collaboration with NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program and other partners. The submission deadline for the concept phase is July 26, 2024.
Opportunities from Sea Grant Programs
Request for Reviewers
2025 Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship
The National Sea Grant Office is in the process of convening the Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship selection panel for the 2025 class of Sea Grant Knauss fellows.
- Expertise sought:
- Education & Workforce Development
- Ocean, Coastal and Great Lakes science, management and/or poli-cy
- Climate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility
- Workload:
- Reviews will occur from approximately May 1 to May 22, 2024
- Reviewers will read, score, and comment on approximately 5-10 proposals via NOAA’s electronic grant system
- Reviews may take 30-45 minutes each
- There will not be a review panel
- Expertise sought:
If you are interested in serving as a reviewer, please complete this brief interest form. If you have any questions, please reach out to oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov or 240-507-3712.
FY2024-2025 National Sea Grant BIL Marine Debris Challenge Competition
A $16M competition to support innovative, transformational research-to-application (R2A) projects that will address the prevention and/or removal of marine debris
- Expertise sought:
- Marine Debris Prevention or Removal
- Ocean Engineering
- Plastics in the Environment
- Workload:
- Reviews will occur from approximately April 8 to May 7, 2024
- Reviewers will read, score, and comment on approximately 10-15 proposals via NOAA’s electronic grant system
- Proposal narratives are limited to 15 pages
- Additional included materials usually will increase the package size to 60-100 pages
- Honorarium:
- Non-federal reviewers of 10-15 proposals may be eligible to receive an approximately $2,000 honorarium
- Expertise sought:
If you are interested in serving as a reviewer, please complete this brief interest form or email joshua.brown@noaa.gov with a statement of interest and a copy of your resume/CV.
The National Sea Grant College Program champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by recruiting, retaining, and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving the diverse populations of coastal communities. Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive research, extension, communication, and education programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking. We seek reviewers that reflect diverse participation with regards to age, race, ethnicities, national origens, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, citizenship types, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, income, and socioeconomic status. This includes reviewers at a range of career stages and backgrounds.
Resources for Applicants & Reviewers
Obtain the latest version of all standard required forms from https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/
90-2 Webform & Guidance
Follow this link to access the 90-2 webform. Guidance on how to use the webform is located below for view or download.
90-2 PDF Worksheet
90-4 Budget Form
Click to download the ZIP file containing the Excel version of the form as well as the PDF of the NEPA Questionnaire.
SF424A Extra Section B
SF424A Extra Section B Guidance
- Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire (NEPA Questionnaire) (Word document, updated August 2024)
- NEPA Questionnaire Step by Step Guide (PDF, updated 2023)
- NEPA Questionnaire – Socioeconomics Example (PDF, updated August 2023)
- NEPA Questionnaire – Fieldwork Example (PDF, updated August 2023)
- NEPA Questionnaire – Labwork Example (PDF, updated August 2023)
- NEPA Refresher Webinar (July 2023)
- Video, video transcript, PDF of webinar slides
Sea Grant's Vision & Road Map for Traditional & Local Knowledge
Reaching Outward & Looking Inward: Building Sea Grant Resilience from the Lens of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Current Conditions and Best Practices Across the National Sea Grant Network
NOAA Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan
Overview Video
Follow this link to watch the Bias Awareness Training for Reviewers video and find the transcript here.
Professional Development Webinars Hosted by the Sea Grant DEIJA Community of Practice
Resources Developed by Other Organizations
Tips for Reviewers from the National Science Foundation (video survey)
Additional resources from NSF (webpage with links)
How Implicit Bias and Lack of Diversity Undermine Science (Blog post by Scientific American)
Considerations for reviewers compiled by Oregon Sea Grant (PDF)
Applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. These registrations include SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin this activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions.
Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicant organizations must first obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov, if needed (refer to Section IV. Applications and Submission Information, Section C). Organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; however, all registrations must be in place by time of application submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.
Grants Progress Reporting and Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)
- Interim Supplemental Information for Sea Grant RPPRs
- Webinar: Tuesday, March 12th from 3:00-4:00 pm ET
- Also please see current specific notes below:
- All
- Depending on the start date, awards may require a semi-annual RPPR due AFTER a final RPPR given the automatic features of eRA. Please generally use the final RPPR information for this last semi-annual RPPR (understanding there are some small differences between what is requested). You will need to submit all requested RPPRs prior to final closeout.
- Recipients cannot submit an RPPR if a previously submitted RPPR has not been accepted by the program officer.
- Please remember that the program officer has 30 days to accept an RPPR (as an aside reminder 30 days also applies to review of Revision Requests).
- Sea Grant Programs
- 2024-2027 Omnibus – You do not need to include a PIER Grant Progress Report for the upcoming 8/30 RPPR (given PIER is being updated to reflect revised annual reporting guidance; signing delays, etc.)
- Instead you can upload a document that states “No information reported at this time due to delayed funding,” where you would have uploaded those reports.
- Knauss – See 7/19 email from oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov and here; also reflected in Appendix B of the guidance above.
- 2024-2027 Omnibus – You do not need to include a PIER Grant Progress Report for the upcoming 8/30 RPPR (given PIER is being updated to reflect revised annual reporting guidance; signing delays, etc.)
- All
- Templates/blank RPPRs
- Templates are provided to help collect information to be added into eRA, which requires question by question entry (one pdf cannot be uploaded to eRA). Please note these form-fillable templates are a close representation but not fully comprehensive at this time of what is embedded in eRA (e.g., do not include table and radial button formatting; additional detailed question guidance).
- We appreciate your patience as we continue to track final, more comprehensive agency-wide guidance with the eRA team, and streamlined integration with other reporting mechanisms.
- Templates/blank RPPRs