Updates to Finding NIH Funding Opportunities and Information

Pursuing NIH funding can be an overwhelming task — not because there isn't enough information available to succeed, but because there are often too many sources for that information. We have websites based on organization structure, types of funding, specific resources, areas of science, audience, and more. Some of these sites include information related to grants and funding policies and procedures and may have overlapping, redundant, or outdated information.

Our latest efforts to reduce the time, effort, and complexity researchers face when seeking funding, will

• Identify a single authoritative source for NIH funding opportunities that aligns with other federal grant-making agencies
• Centralize information on areas of particular scientific interest across NIH
• Simplify the process of identifying an appropriate funding opportunity through the overall reduction of highly specific funding opportunities and an increased reliance on parent announcements and other broad funding opportunities
• Reduce redundant or overlapping grants and funding information across NIH websites

Recognizing Grants.gov as the Single Official Source for NIH Grant and Cooperative Agreement Funding Opportunities

Since 2005, NIH has posted all grant and cooperative agreement notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) in both Grants.gov and the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (NIH Guide) and both have served as official sources for NIH NOFOs.

Beginning in fiscal year 2026, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide. Grants.gov will serve as NIH’s single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities (NOT-OD-25-143). The NIH Guide will continue to be used for policy and informational notices. 

Background

NIH has been working on an internal project to move our system-support for NOFO development, approval, posting, and maintenance from an NIH-centric system to an eRA-managed, multi-agency system. We hope to complete the final pieces of that transition, NOFO posting and maintenance, by the end of FY2025.

We will not be incorporating the ability to post NOFOs to the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts into the multi-agency system. Instead, we will take this opportunity to align with other federal agencies and recognize Grants.gov as the single official source for NIH NOFOs.

What to Expect

• NIH NOFOs will no longer be accessible from the NIH Guide.
• NIH will continue to provide tools in the Funding section of this site to identify potential funding categories, topics, and opportunities you may be interested in. Any funding opportunity identified through our site will link to Grants.gov for the official opportunity posting.
• All NIH NOFOs (expired and active) will remain searchable on Grants.gov using their Classic search or their new Simpler search.
• NOFOs will no longer be included in the weekly NIH Guide Table of Contents subscription emails. You can use Grants.gov subscription services to receive notifications of new NIH opportunities.
• Inquiries or issues regarding Grants.gov search or subscription services must be directed to the Grants.gov Support Center.

Tips for Using Grants.gov's Search for NIH Opportunities

• Take advantage of keywords and the Agency filter to obtain listings of NIH NOFOs.
  • Since Grants.gov is used federal-wide, NIH-specific filters (e.g., institutes/centers, funding categories, activity codes) are not available. Get creative with your use of keywords.
• Pay attention to the Status column in your Grants.gov search results.
  • Unlike the Explore NIH Opportunities tool which only includes full NOFOs, NIH postings in Grants.gov begin as Forecast records (anticipated future NOFOs) and evolve into full NOFOs. Grants.gov searches default to showing both forecasted and active NOFOs.
    • If you are ready to start your application, adjust your search to only look at opportunities with a posted (Classic search) or open (Simpler search) status.
    • If you are interested in learning about potential future NOFOs, adjust your search to look at forecasted records.
• Check with your organization's sponsored projects office before you begin the application process to determine the best submission option for your circumstances.
  • As indicated in our NOFOs, NIH accepts applications prepared and submitted using NIH ASSIST, an institution's system-to-system solution, or Grants.gov Workspace.
    • The "Apply" button in Grants.gov brings you to a login screen to access Grants.gov's Workspace for application preparation and submission. This may or may not be the best submission option for you.
    • Although not linked from Grants.gov, your sponsored projects office may direct you to use NIH ASSIST or a system-to-system solution.
      • System-to-system solutions are often integrated with other internal systems at your organization to streamline the application process and reduce duplicate data entry.
      • Grants.gov Workspace does not support NIH's complex, multi-project applications. 

Highlighted Topics

The Highlighted Topics page is a centralized resource to easily and quickly inform the research community about areas of science of particular interest to NIH. The topics listed within the page represent areas where an NIH institute, center, or office (ICO) encourages applications from the community (especially in areas that may not be widely associated with that ICO or new/emerging areas not well known). ICOs may even give special consideration to these topics when making funding decisions.

Highlighted topics are not funding opportunities. In general, they represent a selected area of science that does not rise to the level of requiring a formal notice of funding opportunity (NOFO).

The simple interface allows users to explore topics of interest across NIH instead of needing to visit various institute, center, office, or program-specific webpages. As NIH interests evolve, so do the posted topics. NIH institutes and centers can post new topics at any time, and each topic is reviewed annually to ensure they remain in alignment with agency priorities and interests.

What to Expect

You can find this new resource through our Find a Fit for Your Research page, which helps the research community better understand the NIH structure when seeking funding. The highlighted topics are presented in a simple, tabular format to easily explore. Users can search for topics and filter by particular Institutes or Centers. Clicking on a particular topic will reveal additional insights into the area of science, descriptions from participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices, how long the topic will exist, and scientific contacts if you have questions. 

If you find a highlighted topic of interest, we encourage you to consider developing an investigator-initiated application on that topic through one of our parent announcements or other broad funding opportunities available on Grants.gov.
 

Overall Reduction in Number of NIH NOFOs

The majority of applications to NIH are investigator-initiated with many received through parent announcements. This is a proven, efficient model. 

We are taking a critical look at the number of funding opportunities NIH posts each year. With each new proposed opportunity, we are asking the question "Does this really need to be a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) or could a parent announcement or other broad opportunity in combination with alternate communications serve the same purpose?" We are looking for that sweet spot that balances the unique requirements of some opportunities, the agency burden of developing and managing a NOFO, and the applicant experience of identifying an appropriate opportunity for their application.

We plan to limit the number of highly specific NOFOs and increase our reliance on parent announcements and other broad funding opportunities in 2026. 

Our intent is to reduce the number opportunity announcements without reducing an applicant's opportunity to submit investigator-initiated applications to NIH.

Consolidation of NIH Grants and Funding Information

This site, NIH Grants & Funding, has long served as our central resource for general research grants and funding information. In 2025, we incorporated several stand-alone sites into NIH Grants & Funding and will continue that effort into 2026. In 2026, we will also expand the site to include the funding-related information currently distributed across our institute, center, and office (ICO) websites. 

The consolidation of grants and funding information will allow researchers and administrators to see both general information and any additional ICO-specific considerations in one place.