What is a NOFO?
What it is
A Notice of Funding Opportunity: the document a funder publishes to ask for applications. It sets eligibility, deadlines, award amounts and what the application must contain. is the document a federal agency publishes to ask for applications. State agencies and foundations publish the same thing under other names: a request for proposals, guidelines, a call for applications.
Read it in this order
The sections that decide whether to apply come first.
- Eligibility
- Who may apply. If you are not eligible, stop here.
- Key dates
- The deadline, and any letter of intent or registration due before it.
- Award information
- How many awards, how large, and for how long.
- Review criteria
- How applications are scored, and what weighs most.
- Application contents
- Every form, narrative and attachment, with page limits.
- Funding restrictions and cost sharing
- What the money cannot pay for, and any match you must bring.
Register early
Federal applications need an active The federal System for Award Management. An organization needs an active registration and a Unique Entity ID (UEI) to receive a federal award, and SAM also lists excluded parties. registration and a Grants.gov account. Registration can take weeks; start before you start writing.
How AnyGrant helps
AnyGrant reads each NOFO by section, and the assistant answers questions about it with the section cited, so you can check every answer against the text.