It’s been quite the ride with federal grant opportunities over the past year and a half.
The 2025 Drop in Federal Grant Opportunities
According to the group Cornerstone, the number of federal grant opportunities released (those listed as Open) declined from about 1,850 in February 2025 to about 900 in February 2026 — a more than 50% drop.
Signs of Recovery in 2026
A review of federal funding opportunities on the federal government’s official Simpler.Grants.gov portal on August 11, 2026, found 1,157 open grant opportunities and 541 forecasted opportunities, an increase from February. You can easily check this yourself using Grants Republic’s free RFP Search, which pulls directly from Simpler.Grants.gov to help you better find funding opportunities for your agency.
Shorter Application Windows Are the New Challenge
So federal grant opportunities released are increasing from earlier in the year, but a second factor imposes challenges for applicants. Increasingly, federal agencies are forecasting grant opportunities ahead of time but greatly shortening the window for applications — in many cases from months to weeks. As anyone who has completed a complicated federal grant application knows, this can impose drastic challenges on the need to submit high-quality proposals.
It becomes essential to monitor forecasted opportunities across departments very carefully to prepare for a shortened window once RFPs of interest open.
How to Stay Ahead of Shortened Deadlines
That’s a key reason Grants Republic created RFP Search. It pulls directly from Simpler.Grants.gov and lets you quickly search by funding agency, such as the U.S. Departments of Labor or Health and Human Services, to make sure you stay on top of opportunities that align with your services. We currently offer this for both federal grants and for California, and we hope to expand this search to other states of interest for our clients in the near future.
If you find an opportunity with a tight window, contact us early. A full federal proposal typically takes 80–100 hours to complete, and starting the moment the RFP opens — rather than a week later — can make the difference between a competitive submission and a rushed one. See our grant writing services page for more on how we work, or use our free reporting deadlines calculator to get a sense of post-award compliance timelines if you’re also managing active awards.