Opportunities for Funding

Extreme heat will impact every community in California and is a public health, climate resilience, and social equity problem. Climate change is causing more frequent and severe consecutive, unusually hot days and nights – known as extreme heat events. The effects of extreme heat vary widely across regions, communities, and even adjacent neighborhoods. Some areas accustomed to hot temperatures are experiencing very hot conditions while other areas that have been historically cool are experiencing warmer temperatures.

Amazon Research Awards (ARA) is announcing the spring 2024 call for proposals for the AI for Information Security and Sustainability research areas. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on May 7, 2024.

Proposals will be reviewed for the quality of their scientific content, creativity, and their potential for impact at scale. Proposals related to theory, practice, and novel techniques are all welcome.

ARA provides grant recipients unrestricted funds and AWS promotional credits. Funded projects are assigned an Amazon research contact, and recipients also receive training resources, including AWS tutorials and hands-on sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers.

Before applying, we encourage researchers to visit the ARA website and read our frequently asked questions for more specific program information. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

The purpose of RCORP – Impact is to improve access to integrated and coordinated treatment and recovery services for substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD), in rural areas. Ultimately, RCORP-Impact aims to address the SUD/OUD crisis in rural communities and promote long-term, sustained recovery.

Purpose:
The CalMoneySmart program aims to enhance financial empowerment among unbanked and underbanked Californians by funding nonprofit organizations. Through financial education and empowerment services, it seeks to reduce disparities, improve financial literacy, and foster wealth-building opportunities. The program awards grantees up to $200K per year for two consecutive fiscal years to promote financial stability and security statewide.

Description:
Grant funds may only be used for the following financial education and empowerment services for the targeted at-risk unbanked and underbanked populations:

1) Designing, developing, or offering, free of charge to consumers, classroom or web-based financial education and empowerment content intended to help unbanked and underbanked consumers achieve, identify, and access lower cost financial products and services, establish or improve their credit, increase their savings, or lower their debt.
2) Providing individualized, free financial coaching to unbanked and underbanked consumers.
3) Designing, developing, or offering, free of charge to consumers, a financial product or service intended to help unbanked and underbanked consumers identify and access responsible financial products and financial services, establish or improve their credit, increase their savings, or lower their debt.

Every project funded with a grant from the Financial Empowerment Fund shall meet the following criteria:
1) Promote and enhance the economic security of consumers.
2) Adhere to the five principles of effective financial education described in the June 2017 report issued by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau titled “Effective financial education: Five principles and how to use them.”

Grant awards will be announced for a two-year period covering two consecutive fiscal years. Funds for each fiscal year are disbursed separately and any unexpended funds must be returned to the DFPI. Disbursement of funding for the second fiscal year is contingent on submission of a satisfactory annual report.

A mandatory in-person training for grantees will be held during the grant cycle. Final details will be included in the grant agreement.

Grantees may use no more than 15 percent of the grant to cover administrative (indirect) costs. Failure to comply shall render the Applicant ineligible for a grant during the subsequent fiscal year and until the noncompliance is corrected.

A grantee may subcontract services that it has agreed to provide under the grant agreement, so long as those services are conducted on behalf of the grantee. Subcontract arrangements must be clearly described in the scope of work and budget.

Accepting grant funds with the intent of distributing those funds to other nonprofit organizations (for example, sub-grants or fiscal sponsorship) is not allowed.

Grant funding may not be used for financial incentives for individuals. Prohibited incentives include, but are not limited to, match funding for savings accounts, participant stipends, or gift cards with a cash value.

Grantees are required to submit preliminary and final annual reports, in a form and by a date specified by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation, documenting:
1) The specific uses to which grant funds were allocated,
2) The number of individuals aided through use of the funds,
3) Quantitative results regarding the impact of grant funding, and
4) Any other information requested by the Commissioner.

Failure to submit satisfactory reports shall render the Applicant ineligible for any DFPI grant during the subsequent fiscal year and until the required report is submitted. 

The United States Department of the Interior (Department), Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program (Program) aims to improve the skill of water supply forecasts via enhancing snow monitoring through the deployment of emerging technologies to complement existing monitoring techniques and networks. This new program was authorized in December 2020 by P.L. 116-260, Sec. 1111, Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act. The program was authorized for FY 2022 -FY 2026.Reservoir operations and related water management decisions rely on estimates of current and future water availability. These estimates depend on technologies to observe basin conditions such as snowpack. In many Western basins, snowpack and subsequent snowmelt runoff constitutes a significant portion of the annual water supply. Accordingly, monitoring snowpack is of great interest to water managers and water users alike. Traditionally, basin snowpack information is based on a sparse network of observing stations across large watersheds. These networks provide high quality information at station locations but extrapolating that information to an entire watershed is a challenge. This challenge, in large part, motivates the Program.As such, the NOFO invites proposals from eligible applicants that are invested in and capable of demonstrating emerging or deploying existing snow monitoring technologies and/or use of snow monitoring data to enhance water supply forecast skill. Considering this and the Act’s emphasis on partner agency coordination, strong applications will have partnerships with water management and forecasting entities to facilitate transfer of knowledge, foster use of data in forecasts, and evaluate utility of information for informing water management decisions. This supports Department of the Interior priority of addressing the drought crisis by providing water managers the best available information to inform the management of this scarce and critical resource.In Phase I, applicants submit technical proposals in the required format and length as specified in Section D.2.1.4 Project Proposal as well as with the required content. Submission to Phase I is required for Phase II consideration.Reclamation’s application review committee (ARC) will select a set of highly qualified applications from Phase I to move to Phase II of the application process. Submission to Phase I is required for Phase II consideration. If the selected applicants are not present for Phase II, their proposals are automatically disqualified from proceeding further and will be ineligible for an award. Phase II will entail a 30-minute virtual (web meeting) project/proposal “pitch” presentation to a review panel, followed by 20 minutes of question and answer with the review panel. Those selected to advance to Phase II will be notified of the presentation requirements and logistics with a minimum 4 weeks’ notice.

The purpose of this solicitation is to fund applied research to increase California’s hydropower generation through precipitation enhancement (cloud seeding). Research funded by this solicitation will foster cost-effective, robust approaches to manage anticipated needs for zero-carbon, fast-ramping resources in the context of a rapidly evolving energy system and climate change.

Alfalfa Seed and Alfalfa Forage System Program (ASAFS) will support the development of improved alfalfa forage and seed production systems. Proposals submitted to ASAFS should address one or more of the following priorities: (1) Improving alfalfa forage and seed yield through better nutrient, water and/or pest management; (2) Improving persistence of alfalfa stands by lessening biotic or abiotic stresses; (3) Improving alfalfa forage and seed harvesting and storage systems to optimize economic returns; (4) Improving estimates of alfalfa forage quality as an animal feed to increase forage usage in animal feeds; and/or (5) Breeding to address biotic and abiotic stresses that impact forage yield and persistence and the production of seed for propagation.

The GitLab Foundation’s mission is to improve lifetime earnings through access to opportunities. We focus on individuals making below a living wage in their local context and on specific groups that are disadvantaged due to factors such as gender, disability, or social background.

In 2024, as part of our Emerging Talent Demand portfolio, we are launching a national $3M Green Jobs for Economic Opportunity fund to support nonprofits and partnerships in exploring or developing early-stage initiatives to improve economic mobility. This fund will help fill gaps for newer projects that often have a more challenging time raising resources to establish proof of concept, connect to other funding, and/or develop a roadmap for continued success.

We’re willing to take risks on new approaches and are seeking solutions with a clear potential to efficiently increase the incomes of low-wage workers (our North Star outcome).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) to award grants to eligible State departments of agriculture to carry out projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. The SCBGP assists State departments of agriculture in the 50 States, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by— (1) leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops; (2) assisting producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops; (3) expanding availability and access to specialty crops; and (4) addressing local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers. Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). A State department of agriculture is the agency, commission, or department of a State government responsible for agriculture within the State.

This program provides grants to qualified private, non-profit entities to capitalize revolving funds for the purpose of providing financing to eligible entities for pre-development costs associated with proposed water and wastewater projects or with existing water and wastewater systems, and short-term costs incurred for replacement equipment, small-scale extension of services, or other small capital projects that are not part of the regular operations and maintenance activities of existing water and wastewater systems.