Assistance Listing 81.049
Office of Science Financial Assistance Program
Department of Energy · Department of Energy
The verdict for a small nonprofit
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 95% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead.
Based on 2,625 new awards in FY2023–25. Organizations under $1M in revenue won 2% of the awards that went to nonprofits. The median award is $505,884. Expect about 91 days between posting and deadline.
- First-time winners
- 17%
- of new awards, last 3 FYs
- Nonprofit share
- 5%
- 57% higher ed · 0% gov't
- Under-$1M orgs
- 2%
- of nonprofit awards
- Median award
- $506K
- $206K – $853K middle half
- New awards, FY2025
- 612
- $454M committed to them
- Usually posts
- Jan
- annual · 91-day window
Open right now under this program
3 opportunities · from Grants.gov, checked every 10 minutes
| Deadline | Opportunity | Expected awards |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 1747 days | The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AIDE-FOA-0003612 | — |
| Jan 1273 days | Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship PilotDE-FOA-0003673 | — |
| Sep 30334 days | FY 2027 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance ProgramDE-FOA-0003665 | — |
Who won in FY2025
Largest recipients by dollars. From USAspending.
| Recipient | Type | State | Awards | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon Research Conferences | Nonprofit | RI | 83 | $1,058,810 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Higher ed | MA | 81 | $90,294,042 |
| University of Wisconsin System | Higher ed | WI | 66 | $71,221,729 |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Higher ed | MI | 61 | $56,981,354 |
| University of California, Los Angeles | Higher ed | CA | 58 | $53,306,381 |
| Michigan State University | Higher ed | MI | 57 | $507,912,338 |
| University of Illinois | Higher ed | IL | 52 | $73,932,163 |
| Regents of the University of California, the | Higher ed | CA | 50 | $45,394,893 |
| Cornell University | Higher ed | NY | 49 | $42,545,632 |
| University of Texas at Austin | Higher ed | TX | 47 | $62,279,240 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,456 | $1.5B | $601K | $200K – $1.3M |
| 2022 | 1,045 | $981M | $452K | $200K – $1.2M |
| 2023 | 1,111 | $1.3B | $525K | $200K – $1.1M |
| 2024 | 902 | $599M | $412K | $200K – $875K |
| 2025 | 612 | $454M | $506K | $206K – $853K |
Past rounds
Every announcement under this listing that Grants.gov still lists. Use it to plan next year.
| Posted | Closed | Window | Announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-08 | 2027-01-12 | 96 d | DE-FOA-0003673 · Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship Pilot |
| 2026-09-30 | 2027-09-30 | 365 d | DE-FOA-0003665 · FY 2027 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program |
| 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-19 | 32 d | DE-FOA-0003657 · The DOE Quantum Genesis Q Competition |
| 2026-03-17 | 2026-12-17 | 275 d | DE-FOA-0003612 · The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI |
| 2026-03-12 | 2026-05-21 | 70 d | DE-FOA-0003620 · FY2026 Research Opportunities in Accelerator Stewardship and Accelerator Development |
| 2026-03-03 | 2026-06-02 | 91 d | DE-FOA-0003602 · Early Career Research Program (ECRP) |
| 2026-02-18 | 2026-07-01 | 133 d | DE-FOA-0003614 · Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) |
| 2026-02-18 | 2026-05-21 | 92 d | DE-FOA-0003615 · Building EPSCoR-State/National Laboratory Partnerships |
| 2025-09-30 | 2026-09-30 | 365 d | DE-FOA-0003600 · FY 2026 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program |
| 2025-01-20 | 2025-05-06 | 106 d | DE-FOA-0003545 · EXPRESS:2025 Exploratory Research for Extreme-Scale Science |
| 2025-01-17 | 2025-04-17 | 90 d | DE-FOA-0003530 · Research, Development, and Training in Isotope Production |
| 2025-01-17 | 2025-04-25 | 98 d | DE-FOA-0003515 · Scientific Discovery through Computing (SCiDAC): Partnerships in Basic Energy Sciences |
| 2025-01-17 | 2025-04-22 | 95 d | DE-FOA-0003450 · Early Career Research Program |
| 2025-01-16 | 2025-03-27 | 70 d | DE-FOA-0003526 · High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasma Science |
| 2025-01-14 | 2025-04-04 | 80 d | DE-FOA-0003503 · Research in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering |
| 2025-01-08 | 2025-04-23 | 105 d | DE-FOA-0003516 · Private Facility Research Program |
| 2024-12-27 | 2025-03-28 | 91 d | DE-FOA-0003504 · FY 2025 Phase I Release 2 |
| 2024-12-11 | 2025-03-26 | 105 d | DE-FOA-0003453 · Systems Biology Research to Advance Bioenergy Crop Production |
| 2024-12-03 | 2025-03-03 | 90 d | DE-FOA-0003498 · Nuclear Data Interagency Working Group (NDIAWG) Research Program |
| 2024-11-05 | 2025-03-13 | 128 d | DE-FOA-0003475 · Environmental System Science (ESS) |
| 2024-11-04 | 2025-02-27 | 115 d | DE-FOA-0003484 · Atmospheric System Research (ASR) |
| 2024-10-29 | 2025-02-27 | 121 d | DE-FOA-0003464 · Resilience Centers |
| 2024-10-15 | 2025-01-14 | 91 d | DE-FOA-0003458 · Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Science and Technology |
| 2024-10-15 | 2025-02-19 | 127 d | DE-FOA-0003452 · Genomics - Enabled Understanding and Advancing Knowledge on Plant Gene Function(s) |
| 2024-10-15 | 2024-12-03 | 49 d | DE-FOA-0003462 · FY 2025 Phase II Release 1 |
| 2024-09-30 | 2025-09-30 | 365 d | DE-FOA-0003432 · FY 2025 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program |
| 2024-09-12 | 2025-02-05 | 146 d | DE-FOA-0003444 · Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Implementation Grants |
| 2024-08-26 | 2024-09-04 | 9 d | DE-FOA-0003454 · Collaboration Opportunity for Parties Interested in Partnering with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) under FOA 24-3210 Competitive Portfolios for Advanced Scientific Computing Research |
| 2024-08-05 | 2024-10-28 | 84 d | DE-FOA-0003417 · FY 2025 Phase I Release 1 |
| 2024-07-25 | 2024-11-21 | 119 d | DE-FOA-0003420 · Earth and Environmental Systems Science in the Southeast U.S. |
| 2024-05-22 | 2024-09-26 | 127 d | DE-FOA-0003361 · Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) Collaboraives |
| 2024-05-10 | 2026-08-11 | 823 d | 24-571 · Correctness for Scientific Computing Systems |
| 2024-05-07 | 2024-07-30 | 84 d | DE-FOA-0003354 · Quantum Information Science Enabled Discovery (QuantISED 2.0) |
| 2024-03-12 | 2024-07-23 | 133 d | DE-FOA-0003207 · FY 2024 Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) |
| 2024-03-12 | 2024-07-23 | 133 d | DE-FOA-0003280 · FY 2024 Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) |
| 2024-02-26 | 2024-04-30 | 64 d | DE-FOA-0003279 · FY 2024 Phase II Release 2 |
| 2024-02-21 | 2024-04-29 | 68 d | DE-FOA-0003267 · Research on General Plasma Science Collaborative Research Facilities |
| 2024-02-13 | 2024-05-22 | 99 d | DE-FOA-0003264 · Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science |
| 2024-02-07 | 2024-05-08 | 91 d | DE-FOA-0003265 · Accelerated Research in Quantum Computing |
| 2024-01-22 | 2024-05-08 | 107 d | DE-FOA-0003258 · Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) |
Common questions
How hard is it to win a grant under 81.049?
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 95% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead. Based on 2,625 new awards in FY2023–25. Organizations under $1M in revenue won 2% of the awards that went to nonprofits. The median award is $505,884. Expect about 91 days between posting and deadline.
How much does Office of Science Financial Assistance Program award?
In FY2025 the median new award was $506K; the middle half ran from $206K to $853K. 612 new awards were made, with $454M committed to them.
When does 81.049 usually post?
Over the last several years, new rounds most often posted in Jan with about 91 days to apply. The most recent round posted Oct 8, 2026.
Who runs this program?
Department of Energy (Department of Energy). Assistance Listing 81.049 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 96% 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.