What This List Covers
Every count on this page comes from Grants.gov as it stood on September 19, 2026. An opportunity is included when it's posted and open for applications, closes between September 19 and December 31, 2026, and lists nonprofits, with or without 501(c)(3) status, among its eligible applicants. Most calendars skip that eligibility filter, and it matters because much of the federal list is open only to states, tribes, universities, or current grantees. Our own corpus carries 126 of the 142 postings that pass the filter, and where the two disagree this page uses the Grants.gov figure. This page is a calendar, so for how to qualify a program before you write, which legal applicant a competition wants, and how state pass-through money differs from direct federal awards, see our nonprofit grants guide. The date on the official posting always wins over the date here, and agencies amend deadlines often enough that a later section treats the amendments as a finding in their own right.
After September 30, Most of the Calendar Is Research
142 nonprofit-eligible federal opportunities close between now and December 31. 78 of them are National Institutes of Health solicitations, which admit nonprofits only in the technical sense that a research institute counts as one. That leaves 64 for everyone else, and they are not spread evenly across the quarter. 29 of the 64 close by September 30, the last day of the federal fiscal year. After that the non-NIH calendar holds 21 deadlines in October, 4 in November, and 10 in December, which comes to 35 across three months. October's count overstates what a domestic nonprofit can use, because 10 of its 21 deadlines are CDC global health security awards for partners working in named countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Ghana, and five others). That leaves 11 October deadlines for an organization operating in the United States. November's four are a tribal health outreach program, a small Chesapeake Bay heritage tourism grant, and two CDC travel-health research networks, so a community nonprofit that doesn't run research has close to nothing that month. For a small organization reading this in late September, the realistic federal target is a September deadline it already has a draft for. Everything else on this page is either a stretch or preparation for the 2027 cycle, which the forecast section below covers.
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One Open Deadline in Eight Has Already Moved
Of the 64 non-NIH opportunities open today, 8 have already been amended to a new close date at least once, and every one of the eight moved later, two of them in ways that affect this page directly. HUD's FY 2026 Continuum of Care competition was due August 26 and now closes September 30, an amendment posted on September 18. USDA's Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program moved from October 16 to December 4. Our own August calendar printed both of the old dates. For a small team the practical effect is that a deadline you've written off may reopen, so check the posting again before deciding a program is out of reach. And because the amendments run one way, planning to the original date costs nothing: you finish early, and an extension that never comes can't catch you out.
Closing by September 30
These are the domestic programs with broad nonprofit eligibility still open at the fiscal-year close. Award figures are the ranges posted on Grants.gov, and where only a ceiling appears the agency posted no minimum. September 24: Second Chance Act Family-Based Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program, Bureau of Justice Assistance, with awards of up to $1,000,000. September 24: Second Chance Act Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcomes, Bureau of Justice Assistance, with awards of up to $1,000,000. September 25: North American Wetlands Conservation Act US Standard Grants 2027-1, Fish and Wildlife Service, $250,001 to $3,000,000 with a nonfederal match of at least one to one. September 25: Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse Against Individuals with Disabilities, Office on Violence Against Women, $300,000 to $600,000 per award. September 28: Housing Assistance for Victims of Human Trafficking, Office for Victims of Crime, with awards of up to $1,200,000. September 28: Integrated Services for Minor Victims of Human Trafficking, Office for Victims of Crime, with awards of up to $950,000. September 28: Plant Conservation and Restoration Management, Bureau of Land Management, $10,000 to $500,000, a floor low enough for a small conservation group. September 29: Services for Victims of Human Trafficking, Office for Victims of Crime, with awards of up to $950,000. September 29: Preventing Trafficking of Girls, Office for Victims of Crime, with awards of up to $500,000. September 30: FY 2026 Continuum of Care Competition and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, Department of Housing and Urban Development, up to $25,000,000, submitted in e-snaps by 8:00 p.m. Eastern and in practice through your local Continuum's collaborative applicant. September 30: Partners for Fish and Wildlife FY26, Fish and Wildlife Service, with awards of up to $750,000. September 30: Coastal Program FY26, Fish and Wildlife Service, with awards of up to $500,000.
October: 21 Deadlines, 11 of Them Domestic
Setting aside the ten CDC country-partnership awards, these are the October deadlines a nonprofit working in the United States can use. October 1: Cold Chain Grants for Emergency Food Assistance, Agricultural Marketing Service, $2,000,000 to $7,500,000 for refrigerated storage and transport in the emergency food system, sized for food banks and regional networks. October 6: Kevin and Avonte Program: Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities, Bureau of Justice Assistance, with awards of up to $150,000. October 12: National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Program, Forest Service, $200,000 to $750,000 per award. October 13: Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, Forest Service, up to $600,000 for land acquisition by nonprofits and local governments. October 14: Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking, Office for Victims of Crime, with awards of up to $1,000,000. October 16: Youth Conservation Corps, Bureau of Land Management, $30,000 to $220,000, one of the few postings scoped for a small organization. October 19: FY 2027 Service Area Competition, Health Resources and Services Administration, $650,000 to $10,116,100 for community health centers competing for a defined service area. October 20: FY 2027 AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP Competition, AmeriCorps, with no award range posted because the notice sets funding by service area. The remaining three October deadlines are a state criminal history records program, the National Clean Plant Network for plant health institutions, and a CDC study of long-term outcomes for people with spina bifida. All three name nonprofits as eligible, and each suits only a narrow set of them.
November and December
November 2: National Indian Health Outreach and Education, Indian Health Service, $246,311 to $1,101,311 for national tribal health organizations. November 4: Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, National Park Service, $10,000 to $50,000, the smallest award on this page and one a volunteer-run heritage group can realistically scope. The other two November deadlines are CDC travel-health research networks, open to nonprofits but built for academic and clinical research groups. December 4: Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, $250,000 to $1,000,000 for projects spanning at least two states, moved here from its original October 16 date. December 8: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, Forest Service, with awards of up to $1,000,000. December 9: Landmarks of History and Culture and Summer Institutes, National Endowment for the Humanities, up to $460,000 for professional development programs for educators. December 15: Collections Stewardship, National Endowment for the Humanities, $50,000 to $500,000 for museums, libraries, and archives caring for humanities collections. The rest of December is research or business development: a Department of Energy chemical-technology scale-up program, the Air Force Young Investigator Program, a construction-safety research center, a catfish processing program for rural businesses, a NOAA bluefin tuna research program, and the National Endowment for the Arts indemnity program, which covers museum exhibitions rather than funding projects.
The Real Winter Calendar Is the Forecast List, and About One Forecast in Five Is Stale
Grants.gov also carries forecasts, an agency's advance notice that a competition is coming, with an estimated posting date and an estimated due date. On September 19 it listed 423 forecasts naming nonprofits as eligible, and 277 of them are NIH. Of the other 146, 86 carry an estimated posting date that is still ahead, 82 of them for fiscal year 2027. For a nonprofit planning its winter, those 86 are the more useful target. The dates need a skeptical read, since 27 of the 146 non-NIH forecasts carry an estimated posting date that has already passed without the opportunity being posted, and 19 of those missed it by more than a year. Another 33 give no date at all. A forecast is a statement of intent, and the stale ones stay on the list until the agency removes them. Among the dated FY 2027 forecasts, these are the ones most relevant to community nonprofits. Every date below is the agency's estimate, and each link goes to the forecast itself. Head Start and Early Head Start Grants in Multiple States, Administration for Children and Families, estimated to post October 14 with applications due December 15. Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, Health Resources and Services Administration, estimated to post October 20 and close December 19 at $96,750 per award. Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program, Health Resources and Services Administration, estimated to post November 6 and close January 20 at $75,000 per award. Eviction Protection Grant Program, Department of Housing and Urban Development, estimated to post December 17 and close February 17 with awards of $500,000 to $2,000,000. Rural Health Network Development Program and its planning grant, Health Resources and Services Administration, estimated to post in mid-to-late January and close in March, with ceilings of $500,000 and $100,000. Drug-Free Communities Support Program, new awards, CDC, estimated to post January 26 and close March 31 with awards of up to $125,000. Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, Veterans' Employment and Training Service, estimated to post January 29 and close March 17 with awards of $150,000 to $500,000. Veterans Legacy Grants Program, Department of Veterans Affairs, estimated to post March 8 and close April 9 with awards of $50,000 to $400,000.
What to Do With October Through December
For most small nonprofits the useful fourth-quarter work is preparation, since there is little left to submit, and three tasks pay off before the 2027 postings arrive. The first is SAM.gov, because an active registration is required to receive a federal award, it expires annually, and renewal can take days to weeks, so a lapsed registration discovered in March can cost an application that is otherwise finished. Next, pick one forecast from the list above and start the parts that don't depend on the final notice: the needs data, the letters of support, the budget skeleton. Agencies change details between forecast and posting, but they rarely change the population a program serves. Finally, watch the forecast instead of writing its estimated date on a calendar, because about one in five of those dates slips and the amendments on open postings all run later. Search the live corpus for what is open today, or set an alert so a new posting or a moved date reaches you when it happens.