How to Apply for Funding

Discover funding opportunities from OJJDP in the following ways: 

• Visit OJJDP's open funding opportunities webpage to view a list of open funding opportunities.
• Past funding opportunities provides a list of opportunities from previous years, dating back to fiscal year 2025. Each title links to a more information regarding the resulting awards. 
• Review the Department of Justice (DOJ) Program Plan to find potential OJJDP funding opportunities.
• Subscribe to OJJDP's JUVJUST email news service  or follow OJJDP on social media to be notified of new funding opportunities. Subscribe to OJP Funding News for weekly notices of funding opportunities across OJP.

Get registered! If you are interested in receiving funding from the OJP, you may register on Grants.gov and in the System for Awards Management ahead of time. OJP strongly encourages first-time applicants to start registration early. OJP applications cannot be submitted until your entity is registered. Registration with Grants.gov is a one-time process and may take 3-5 business days. Registration can be done at any time of year. 

Applicants should read the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) carefully for specific requirements and review these resources: 

• OJP Grant Application Resource Guide 
• DOJ Grant Application Submission Checklist 
• The DOJ Financial Guide

JustGrants is the Department of Justice's grants management system for applying for and managing grants. 

• Learn more about JustGrants.
• The Initial Onboarding section of the JustGrants Resources website describes how first time applicants can onboard to JustGrants.

Refer to the "Eligibility" section of the Notice of Funding Opportunity. 

Because most funding opportunities are competitive, we are unable to have individual conversations concerning notices of funding opportunities (NOFO) with prospective applicants. 

Questions concerning open funding opportunities should be submitted to the OJP Response Center:

• E-mail [email protected] for the quickest response
• Call toll-free: 800–851–3420
• International calls: 202–772–1022
• TTY Phone: 202–353–5556
  
  It may take up to 24-48 hours to reply to your request.

All proposed projects must be submitted through an application and a posted Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The proposal must respond to the objectives and requirements in the funding opportunity. Applicants are encouraged to review the current and DOJ Program Plan for potential NOFOs under which your idea might fit.

Write the Proposal Narrative, which varies with each funding opportunity. It outlines the details about your proposed project. For more information, see the Application Resource Guide: Proposal Narrative. 

Applicants should review the sample most appropriate to the nature of the funding opportunity for which they are applying, i.e., program, research, or evaluation. Timelines submitted by applicants should be specific to their individual proposals, and the samples should serve simply as guides to the format, etc.

Sample Timelines:

• Sample Program Timeline Word and PDF
• Sample Research Timeline Word and PDF
• Sample Evaluation Timeline Word and PDF

Performance measures are data that show a recipient's progress in implementing their project, such as the number of people served or number of trainings conducted. OJP requires each award recipient to submit regular performance reports that communicate progress toward achieving the goals and objectives identified in "Program Goals and Objectives." Applicants can visit OJP's performance measurement page for more information on performance measurement activities.

View a list of OJJDP performance measures.

OJJDP offers informational webinars or video recordings for applicants for select funding opportunities. Check the OJJDP Events calendar, sign up for JUVJUST emails and follow OJJDP on social media for news about upcoming Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) webinars. Links to OJJDP NOFO recorded webinar videos are available approximately one week after the date of the live webinar on each of the corresponding funding opportunity pages and on the Multimedia page.

For JustGrants training, see the JustGrants Weekly Training Webinars page.

The degree of specificity of grant application budget will vary depending on the nature of the project and OJP agency requirements. Your application must include both a budget narrative and a budget detail worksheet We strongly recommend that you use the Budget Detail Worksheet.

Additional Budget Resources: 

• DOJ Grants Financial Guide
• Application Resource Guide
  • Budget Preparation and Submission Information

For details on the technical steps to complete the budget attachment and upload it in JustGrants, see the Complete the Application in JustGrants: Budget training.

If the total amount available is known, it will be noted in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, but often the amount depends on future congressional appropriations. 

Your Budget Detail Worksheet should clearly present a breakdown of costs associated with each budget category. Itemize where necessary. For more detail on what is required, reference the requirements outline in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Although it is not required, OJJDP strongly recommends that you develop the Budget Detail Worksheet using the provided template. The template includes an example of a worksheet and descriptions of the details for each category.

For more information on allowable and unallowable costs, review the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the DOJ Grants Financial Guide.

Interpretations or clarification on the DOJ Grants Financial Guide can be addressed to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's Customer Service Center at 800–458–0786 or [email protected].

Learn more on JustGrants Resources website's Application Submission page. 

Applicants should provide a budget that—

• is complete, allowable, and cost-effective in relation to the proposed activities;
• shows the cost calculations demonstrating how they arrived at the total amount requested; and
• provides a brief supporting narrative to link costs with project activities. The budget should cover the entire award period.

Your Budget Detail Form should clearly present a breakdown of costs associated with each of nine budget categories. Itemize where necessary. For more detail on what is required, reference the specific Notice of Funding Opportunity. OJJDP expects applicants to provide a thorough narrative for each section of the Budget Detail Form. The Budget Detail Form should break out costs by year.

Applicants will complete a web-based budget form on JustGrants. See the OJP Application Resource Guide for additional information on preparing a budget.

The budget narrative should thoroughly and clearly describe every category of expense listed in the Budget Detail Form. OJP expects proposed budgets to be complete, cost effective, and allowable (e.g., reasonable, allocable, and necessary for project activities).

Applicants should demonstrate in their budget narrative how they will maximize cost effectiveness of award expenditures. Budget narratives should generally describe cost effectiveness in relation to potential alternatives and the goals of the project. As with the Budget Detail Form, the budget narrative should describe costs by year.

To learn about what a budget narrative should include, go to the Narrative Justification for Every Cost section of the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide.

See the Part 200 Uniform Requirements page for more details on audit requirements.

Once you have written a grant proposal, you must complete the application package and submit it online. Submitting a grant application is a two-step process.

Step 1: Applicants will submit an SF-424 in Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/register.

Step 2: Applicants will submit the full application including attachments in JustGrants at JustGrants.usdoj.gov.

Learn more about how to submit your application from:

• OJP Grant Application Resource Guide
• Grants.gov For Applicants section
• JustGrants Training: Application Submission 

Please see the Experience Unforeseen Technical Issues section of the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide.

Access the JustGrants User Support page on the JustGrants Resources website. Current award recipients with specific questions about their awards should reach out to their grant managers for support.

Once an application is completed and submitted within JustGrants, the entity administrator and all users assigned to the application will receive a submission notification.

From this point on, all entity users can view their application and monitor the status. However, only users who are assigned to specific applications can take action within those applications, if necessary. Refer to the JustGrants Roles page for information about specific user roles and responsibilities.

OJP is committed to ensuring a fair and open process for making awards. OJJDP reviews the application to make sure that the information presented is reasonable, understandable, measurable, and achievable, as well as consistent with the funding opportunity.

All proposals are reviewed by independent peer reviewer panels to ensure applications meet basic minimum requirements. For purposes of assessing whether an application meets basic minimum requirements and should proceed to further consideration, OJP screens applications for compliance with those requirements. All final award decisions are made by the Assistant Attorney General. OJJDP will not discuss details regarding the status of your applications until all awards have been made to grant recipients. 

Learn how to become a peer reviewer.

Award notifications are usually sent by September 30 (the end of the federal fiscal year). For successful applicants, JustGrants will send a system-generated email to the Application Submitter, Authorized Representative, and Entity Administrator with information on accessing their official award package in JustGrants. The award package will include key information (such as funding amount and period of performance) as well as award conditions that must be followed. An Authorized Representative for the entity should accept or decline the award within 45 days of the notification. See the Application Resource Guide for information on award notifications and instructions.

Review these resources to learn how to accept your award in JustGrants:

• Training: Award Acceptance page on the JustGrants Resources site
• Award Acceptance Checklist for JustGrants
• JustGrants Award Acceptance Job Aid Reference Guide 

If your project is funded, you will be required to submit several reports and other materials. See Post Award Reporting Requirements. In addition, you will be required to report information relevant to program performance measures established by OJJDP to help measure the performance of federal funding. See the Notice of Funding Opportunity for details.

Applicants that receive funding from OJJDP are required to provide regular performance data measuring the results of the work done under the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Routine performance reporting is essential for not only measuring the progress of grant programs, but also for compliance with federal laws on the use of the funding. OJJDP funding opportunities require applicants to provide a detailed description of how their performance data will be collected. Specific program performance measures can be found in the NOFO. For additional information, access OJJDP's Performance Measures webpage.

To find information on funding the Office of Justice Programs has awarded in previous years, visit the OJP Grant Awards webpage.