Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Sun Grant Program (10.320)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$15.0 million
• Grant awards2
• Typical award$7.5 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$2.8 million
• Size rank1392 of 1824
• Type of assistanceProject grants (cooperative agreements)

Key findings

• Annual funding was roughly flat, $2.9 million in fiscal 2021 and $2.8 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 1392nd largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• Awards went to recipients in 1 states and territories.

What the program funds

This program responds to the need to enhance national energy security through the development, distribution, and implementation of biobased energy technologies; promote diversification in, and the environmental sustainability of, agricultural production in the United States through biobased energy and product technologies; promote economic diversification in rural areas of the United States through biobased energy and product technologies; and enhance the efficiency of bioenergy and biomass research and development programs through improved coordination and collaboration among USDA, other appropriate Federal agencies (as determined by the Secretary), and Land-grant Colleges and Universities.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Only the Sun Grant Centers and Subcenter as specifically designated in 7 U.S.C. 8114 are eligible to apply for funding under this program.

What the money can and cannot pay for

The Sun Grant Program was established to: (1) Enhance national energy security with biobased energy tech; (2) Promote diversification and environmental sustainability through biobased tech; (3) Promote economic diversification in the rural US through biobased technology; and (4) Enhance the efficiency of biobased technology R&D through collaborations among the United States Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and Land Grant Institutions. A Sun Grant Center or Subcenter shall use 75 percent of the funds to provide competitive grants to entities that are— (i) eligible to receive grants under subsection (b)(7) of the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 450i(b)(7)); and (ii) located in the region covered by the Sun Grant Center or Subcenter. Grant funds must be used for allowable costs necessary to conduct approved research and extension objectives. Funds shall not be used for the construction of a new building or facility or the acquisition, expansion, remodeling, or alteration of an existing building or facility (including site grading and improvement, and architect fees). Funds may not be used for any purposes other than those approved in the grant award documents. See Request for Application (RFA) for specific details regarding indirect costs and matching requirements.;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Funds allocated for competitive grants must be matched in an amount of 20 percent from non-Federal sources by all subawardees. Matching requirements do not apply to fundamental research. Additionally, the Sun Grant Center or Subcenter may reduce or eliminate the requirement for non-Federal funds for applied research if the Sun Grant Center or Subcenter determines that the reduction is necessary and appropriate pursuant to specific guidance issued by NIFA. Specific matching provisions are announced in the request for applications or guidelines for each fiscal year.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

If minimum or maximum amounts of funding per competitive and/or capacity project grant, or cooperative agreement are established, these amounts will be announced in the annual Competitive Request for Application (RFA). The most current RFA is available via: https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/sun-grant-program

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: Between September 2020 and 2025, the SGP funded 41 projects in 29 states of the six Sun Grant Regions of the United States.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to colleges and universities.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.