About CDC Grants

CDC’s Office of Financial Resources awards and administers grants and cooperative agreements to state and local governments, foreign ministries and associations, domestic non-profits/educational institutions, and domestic for-profit groups. Individuals are ineligible to apply for and cannot receive funding through CDC grants and/or cooperative agreements.

Grants and cooperative agreements provide the means to transfer money, technical assistance, and expertise to partners in exchange for their contributions to federal public health goals and objectives. Assistance or “financial assistance mechanisms” are terms used to refer to grants and cooperative agreements collectively, although they have different meanings.

CDC awards financial assistance in the form of grants when there is not a demonstrated need for substantial agency involvement beyond normal oversight and monitoring activities throughout the life of the grant. CDC awards financial assistance in the form of cooperative agreements when CDC anticipates substantial involvement beyond normal oversight and monitoring activities. Specific activities are identified in the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO).

Further, CDC awards non-discretionary and discretionary grants. Non-discretionary grants are those that a federal agency is required by statute to award if the recipient, usually a state, submits an acceptable State Plan or application and meets the eligibility and compliance requirements of the statutory and regulatory provisions of the grant program. Discretionary grants permit the federal government, according to specific authorizing legislation, to exercise judgment, or “discretion,” in selecting the applicant/recipient organization, through a competitive grant process.