FY2022 NOAA Ruth Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant Program | NOAA NMFS HCPO 2022 2007121

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NMFS HCPO 2022 2007121

The FY2022 NOAA Ruth Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant Program is a discretionary federal funding opportunity run by the Department of Commerce through NOAA, with funding administered by NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation in coordination with the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The program was created as a tribute to Dr. Ruth Gates and is focused on tackling the ongoing decline of coral reef health by supporting forward-looking, practical research that can be translated into real-world restoration work. At its core, the grant is meant to help shift coral intervention science out of the lab and toward field application, with the end goal of improving coral survivorship and building coral populations that are resilient, genetically diverse, and capable of reproducing successfully over the long term.

Projects are expected to clearly connect research and development to applied restoration outcomes. NOAA is looking for proposals that either advance coral interventions designed to improve resilience to environmental stressors (such as heat stress and other changing ocean conditions) or develop innovations that increase the survival of corals produced through sexual reproduction, including the post-settlement stages (often described as sexually derived propagules). Emphasis is placed on approaches that make restoration more effective and scalable, particularly by enabling restoration practitioners to incorporate hardier corals and by improving the efficiency and success rates of sexual coral restoration as a pathway to increasing genetic diversity in restored reefs.

Awards are issued as cooperative agreements, meaning recipients should expect substantial NOAA involvement compared with a standard grant. NOAA will consider projects lasting one, two, or three years. Applicants can propose multi-year work, but they need to provide detailed cost expectations for years two and three in the initial FY22 submission. Importantly, funding beyond the first year is not guaranteed; it depends on future federal appropriations in FY23 and FY24 and on satisfactory progress toward project milestones, with final year-to-year funding levels set later.

In terms of budget size, NOAA expects typical federal funding to fall in the range of $100,000 to $250,000 per year, with most projects totaling roughly $100,000 to $750,000 across one to three years. Proposals requesting less than $100,000 in total federal funds are not accepted, and the maximum request allowed is $1,000,000 total over three years (the award ceiling). NOAA anticipated about $500,000 available under this announcement in FY22 and projected that an additional $500,000 to $1,500,000 might become available across FY23 and FY24 to support selected awards, again dependent on appropriations. NOAA also notes that funding may be distributed across U.S. Pacific and Atlantic regions to maintain geographic balance in the CRCP portfolio, consistent with the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000.

Eligibility is fairly broad and includes state, county, and city or township governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. Applicants must be U.S.-based. International partners can participate, but any NOAA-funded in-water work must occur in U.S. jurisdictions. The eligible in-water locations specified include American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, reflecting NOAA's focus on directly supporting coral reef conservation and restoration within U.S. coral reef regions.

Key administrative details from the announcement include the funding opportunity number NOAA NMFS HCPO 2022 2007121 and CFDA number 11.482. The opportunity was posted on November 12, 2021, with an original application deadline of February 23, 2022. NOAA expected to make about three awards under this competition, reinforcing that the program is designed for a limited number of relatively substantial, high-impact projects that can demonstrate clear progress toward making coral intervention and sexual propagation approaches more viable for on-the-ground restoration.

• The Department of Commerce in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2022 NOAA Ruth Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.482.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 12, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 23, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for NOAA NMFS HCPO 2022 2007121

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