Assistance Listing 12.902
Information Security Grants
Washington Headquarters Services · Department of Defense
The verdict for a small nonprofit
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 98% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead.
Based on 129 new awards in FY2024–25. The median award is $346,270.
- First-time winners
- 61%
- of new awards, last 3 FYs
- Nonprofit share
- 2%
- 98% higher ed · 0% gov't
- Under-$1M orgs
- n/a
- revenue join unavailable
- Median award
- $346K
- $195K – $654K middle half
- New awards, FY2025
- 63
- $30M committed to them
- Usually posts
- Jan
- one-time
Open right now under this program
1 opportunity · from Grants.gov, checked every 10 minutes
| Deadline | Opportunity | Expected awards |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 221181 days | Department of War Cyber Service Academy (DoW CSA)HQ003425NFOEASD03 | — |
Who won in FY2025
Largest recipients by dollars. From USAspending.
| Recipient | Type | State | Awards | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Citadel | Higher ed | SC | 2 | $3,206,021 |
| Cedarville University | Higher ed | OH | 2 | $2,562,045 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University | Higher ed | VA | 2 | $2,228,641 |
| Indiana University of Pennsylvania | Higher ed | PA | 2 | $1,617,618 |
| The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology | Higher ed | NJ | 2 | $1,540,680 |
| Carnegie-Mellon University | Higher ed | PA | 2 | $1,442,854 |
| George Washington University (THE) | Higher ed | DC | 2 | $1,410,422 |
| The Pennsylvania State University | Higher ed | PA | 2 | $1,312,061 |
| Texas a & M University | Higher ed | TX | 2 | $1,284,125 |
| Louisiana Tech University | Higher ed | LA | 2 | $1,268,418 |
New awards by fiscal year
Awards first made in each fiscal year; dollars are the total committed to that year's new awards over their life.
| FY | New awards | Committed | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 66 | $17M | $151K | $110K – $294K |
| 2025 | 63 | $30M | $346K | $195K – $654K |
Past rounds
Every announcement under this listing that Grants.gov still lists. Use it to plan next year.
| Posted | Closed | Window | Announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-23 | 2030-01-22 | 1825 d | HQ003425NFOEASD03 · Department of War Cyber Service Academy (DoW CSA) |
Common questions
How hard is it to win a grant under 12.902?
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 98% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead. Based on 129 new awards in FY2024–25. The median award is $346,270.
How much does Information Security Grants award?
In FY2025 the median new award was $346K; the middle half ran from $195K to $654K. 63 new awards were made, with $30M committed to them.
When does 12.902 usually post?
Over the last several years, new rounds most often posted in Jan. The most recent round posted Jan 23, 2025.
Who runs this program?
Department of Defense (Washington Headquarters Services). Assistance Listing 12.902 on SAM.gov describes the authorizing statute and standard terms.
Sources: USAspending FY2021–25 award archive (2026-10-06); Grants.gov Search2 (fetched 2026-10-28); IRS EO BMF (fetched 2026-10-28). Award counts are new awards by fiscal year of first action. Shares are computed from award counts, not dollars; the under-$1M share covers the 100% of nonprofit awards that matched an IRS revenue record. Recipient type comes from the award record's business-type codes. Always confirm details in the official announcement.