Grantee FAQs

Our Funding & Approval process outlines how we develop research programs and fund research through those programs.

We award grants in three ways:

1. Request for Application (RFA): We issue a Request for Application to solicit ideas from the broadest group of researchers. Some of FFAR’s programs issue RFAs annually and others are a one-time opportunity. The highest quality proposals are selected for funding through a rigorous scientific review process.
2. Prizes: We develop prize competitions to solve an imminent problem in food and agriculture science. Prizes are awarded to individuals or organizations who meet the prize criteria and solve the food and agriculture challenge. Teams of experts and partners serve as the judging panel in creating criteria and selecting prize winners.
3. Direct Solicitation: When we know of a specific individual or organization that is well-suited to conduct the necessary research, a proposal may be directly solicited from that organization. The proposal is subject to the same rigorous scientific review process and matching funding requirement as other proposals.

We welcome individuals to propose a research concept through our option to Submit Your Own Concept.

We do not work in cycles, except for our Seeding Solutions and New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award programs. These programs run annually.

No, we are an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

As we are in part funded through Congress, we adhere to specific funding limitations.

Additionally, FFAR does not support organizations that have a policy of discriminating based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender expression or transition, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, whether the discrimination policies are written or are in practice. Our policy is to not provide grants to any organization that maintains such a policy.

Our Funding Limitations page outlines our policies on event sponsorship.

We accept applications with both one principal investigator and multiple co-investigators.

We generally require grantees publish research results in a peer-reviewed journal. We detail specific reporting requirements in RFAs and grant agreements.

Additionally, we ask grantees to notify us about any publications, results and media related to your research. Our Communications and Legislative Affairs Team can promote project impacts. We want to hear about:

• Results – even those that are preliminary
• News and media on your project
• Pictures, videos, infographics and other media content related to your grant
• Blog posts you authored and/or want to post on the FFAR Blog
• Awards (including recognition and funding) obtained for the FFAR-funded project
• Any congressional engagement
• Any updates that you think are exciting

We allow grantees to use up to 10 percent of the total funds the grantee requests and up to 10 percent of the one-to-one match we require on indirect costs. Our indirect cost allotment is not an indirect cost rate that applies to the total modified direct costs, but instead is an overall allotment from the award for the institution to use for indirect costs.

A grantee determines their total budget for each year, then allocates10 percent of what they are requesting from FFAR and 10 percent of their match to be used for indirect costs. These amounts must be drawn in tandem equally throughout the life of the project. Ninety percent of the project cost must go directly to the project. Grantees may not offer any part of their indirect costs as a match.

The unrecovered indirect cost is the difference between a grantee’s federally negotiated indirect cost rate and FFAR’s 10 percent indirect cost allotment. The unrecovered indirect cost will not be allowed as a matching contribution. FFAR, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is not a federal agency and, therefore, a negotiated federal indirect cost percentage does not apply.

Yes, all conditions of the award, including the 10 percent indirect cost, also apply to subcontractors.

There are two types of match: in-kind and cash. Unless we specify otherwise in the RFA, at least 50 percent of the matching funds must be cash.

An in-kind match is the value of non-cash contributions of goods and services to a proposed project. To meet our matching requirements, in-kind match must be less than or equal to 50 percent of the total match share. Examples of in-kind match are donations of equipment, supplies, non-expendable property, volunteered professional time or service, donated use of facilities by a third party, etc.

FFAR was created by Congress and is governed by our enabling legislation. The compliance for grant-receiving institutions is based on the individual award documentation. FFAR recommends that all organizations develop their cost accounting standards based on their individual circumstances.