Geographic Programs - San Francisco Bay Restoration Program (66.126)
Geographic Programs - San Francisco Bay Restoration Program (Assistance Listing 66.126) is run by the Environmental Protection Agency. It awarded $172 million in 59 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $2.9 million per award on average. No funding opportunity is open on Grants.gov right now.
The typical award was $1.9 million. Half of the 59 awards fell between $958,629 and $3.4 million, and they ranged from $19,870 to $28.2 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$172 million
- Grant awards59
- Typical award$1.9 million
- Awarded in FY 2025$69.0 million
- Size rank646 of 1,823
- Type of assistanceProject grants
Key findings
- Annual funding rose from $6.3 million in fiscal 2021 to $69.0 million in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 646th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 92% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 1 states and territories.
What the program funds
The goals of the SF Bay Restoration Program are to improve water quality and restore wetlands in the San Francisco Bay and its watersheds. Funded projects will reduce polluted run-off, restore impaired waters and enhance aquatic habitat. The SF Bay Restoration Program identifies eleven (11) program priorities as follows: the Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program, subtidal habitat restoration, the SF Bay Regional Monitoring Program for water quality, nutrient management, large-scale wetlands restoration, implementation of the PCBs TMDL , urban green stormwater infrastructure, the Bay Restoration Regulatory Integration Team, PFAS studies, shoreline resilience projects, and beneficial reuse of dredged material projects. Congressional appropriations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the SF Bay Program are intended to fund eligible applicants with grants that invest in America’s infrastructure and deliver environmental and public health benefits.
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
State, local government agencies, districts, and councils; regional water pollution control agencies; State coastal zone management agencies; Federally and non-federally recognized tribes; public and private universities and colleges, public or private non-governmental, non-profit institutions are eligible to apply, unless restricted by the authorizing statutes. Non-profit organizations must have documentation of non-profit status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or their state of incorporation, except that non-profits organizations as defined in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 or superseding legislation are ineligible. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.
What the money can and cannot pay for
Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation), Science and Technology Projects must demonstrate consistency with the San Francisco Bay Program Priorities and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership's Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). Funded projects from eligible entities will improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat (i.e., wetlands) in San Francisco Bay and its watersheds. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial).This program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. A discretionary award means an award in which the Federal awarding agency, in keeping with specific statutory authority that enables the agency to exercise judgement (“discretion”), selects the recipient and/or the amount of Federal funding awarded through a competitive process or based on merit of proposals. A discretionary award may be selected on a non-competitive basis, as appropriate. For further information, please contact the Headquarters or regional office.
Matching requirements
This program has no statutory formula. Match amounts vary depending on the award authority for the grant. Grants awarded under Section 320 of the Clean Water Act require a 50% match (grants awarded with funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provide EPA with the discretion of waiving the statutory non-Federal share for award of these funds); grants awarded under Section 125 of the Clean Water Act which was amended by Public Law 117-263 require a match of 25%.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.
Deadlines
For competitive awards, deadlines will be specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
Award range and average, in the agency's words
Since the beginning of the SF Bay program in 2008, projects have been funded from a low of $200,000 to a high of $5,000,000. In the last few years, the funding range has shifted to approximately $800,000 to $2 million. The average award is now at about $1 million each.
Examples of funded projects
Fiscal Year2025: Visit https://www.epa.gov/sfbay-program for a map of previously funded projects.
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Geographic Programs - San Francisco Bay Restoration Program (66.126) awarded $172 million across 59 grant awards, an average of $2.9 million per award.
Who usually wins
State and local governments received 62% of the money, nonprofits 37% and colleges and universities 0.7%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| State and local governments | 37 | $106 million | 62% |
| Nonprofits | 19 | $64.1 million | 37% |
| Colleges and universities | 2 | $1.2 million | 0.7% |
| Other | 1 | $742,240 | 0.4% |
By state
Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| California | 59 | $172 million |