Emergency Assistance for Fundamental Freedom Defenders

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, is offering the Emergency Assistance for Fundamental Freedom Defenders funding opportunity under opportunity number DFOP0019749 and Assistance Listing Number 19.345. The program is funded with FY25 Democracy Fund resources and will be implemented through a cooperative agreement. The Department anticipates making one award of $983,500 from total available funding of $983,500. The anticipated project start date is October 1, 2026, and the performance period is 12 to 18 months, with proposed projects required to be completed within 18 months or less. Continuation funding beyond the initial budget and performance period may be considered on a non-competitive basis subject to funding availability, satisfactory program progress, and a Department determination that continuation is in its best interest. The purpose of the program is to make on-demand emergency assistance available to individuals and organizations facing imminent threats because of their work promoting and defending fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and association. Assistance is intended for defenders facing attack, arbitrary arrest, detention, prosecution, or other imminent risk of harm and is designed to help them survive repression and continue their work. Objectives include ensuring individual defenders have short-term resources needed to resume their work and ensuring emergency assistance is available to civil society organizations and groups so they can withstand risks, threats, and attacks. The program is global and must be capable of assisting potential beneficiaries in geographic areas outside the United States. At this time, assistance is not expected to be provided in Iran or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Program activities may include cash transfers, individual grants, in-kind assistance, accompaniment, legal support, safehouses or safe havening, trauma and psychosocial assistance, counseling, replacement of confiscated computers, phones, or other devices, food and hygiene kits for unjustly detained political prisoners, and visits by family members and legal counsel. Larger grants may support local or regional organizations that connect at-risk defenders with emergency funding or service providers, and organizational grants may enhance an organization's own safety and security. Implementers should also maintain referral networks for services such as pro-bono legal support, digital security assistance, psychosocial support, shelter, and housing. The program will not provide assistance for participants seeking asylum or provide long-term support to individuals or organizations facing repressive conditions. Funds may not be provided to UNRWA and may not be used to encourage, mobilize, publicize, or manage mass-migration caravans toward the United States southwest border or for specified United States asylum counseling or referrals. Other federal restrictions and award certifications described in the notice also apply. Eligible applicants are U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and NGOs with or without 501(c)(3) status, private institutions of higher education, public or state institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations or businesses, and foreign-based nonprofit organizations or NGOs. For-profit and commercial organizations may not earn profit from the assistance award beyond allowable direct and indirect costs. Cost sharing, matching, or cost participation is not required and will not improve an application's competitive ranking. Organizations generally must have a Unique Entity Identifier issued through SAM.gov and an active SAM.gov registration, subject to specified case-by-case exemptions. Applicants may submit only one proposal per organization; if multiple proposals are submitted, only the first time-stamped proposal will be reviewed for technical eligibility. Applicants may apply as a consortium or include subgrants and should demonstrate their ability to reach beneficiaries in closed or highly restrictive environments, establish effective partnerships, start rapidly, and scale the program. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov or MyGrants no later than September 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Required application materials include the applicable SF-424 or SF-424-I, SF-424A, and SF-424B when applicable; a proposal of no more than 15 pages; an itemized budget; a separate budget justification narrative; and required attachments. The proposal must address the proposal summary, applicant background and capacity, problem statement, project goals and objectives, activities, methods and design, schedule and timeline, key personnel positions, project partners, monitoring and evaluation, and future funding or sustainability. Attachments include the line-item budget, partner letters of support, the latest NICRA when applicable and charged to the budget, official permission letters when required, and key personnel position descriptions and criteria. A summary page is optional. Application documents must be in English, budgets must be in U.S. dollars, pages must be numbered, and specified document formatting requirements must be followed. A review committee will evaluate eligible applications. The proposal will not be compared against other proposals but must be sufficiently strong to merit funding. Review considerations include the quality and feasibility of the program idea, organizational capacity and record on previous grants, program planning and ability to achieve objectives, the reasonableness and completeness of the budget, the monitoring and evaluation plan, and sustainability. Risk review factors include financial stability, management systems and standards, history of performance, audit reports and findings, and ability to implement award requirements effectively. If two or more applications receive equivalent ratings, the applicant with the lower indirect cost rate will receive preference as a tie-breaking mechanism. The Department will have substantial involvement through approval of work plans and major activities, review of key program materials, determination of beneficiary eligibility criteria, participation in key activities, monitoring and evaluation oversight, security and risk management coordination, and strategic guidance. The application deadline is September 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, and the anticipated project start date is October 1, 2026. No separate pre-application gating deadline or recurring application cycle is stated. The successful recipient must be prepared to provide on-demand support to initial beneficiaries within 90 days of program start. The first detailed work plan is due within 45 days of the award and annually thereafter, with the next year's draft work plan due at least 30 days before the next 12-month implementation period. A draft security and risk management plan is due within 60 days of the award start date, and a detailed monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan is due within 100 days of the award. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified by email. Questions regarding the grant application process may be directed to DRL-PRU-Solicitation@state.gov.

Develop a detailed and feasible implementation approach with a reasonable timeline; demonstrate capacity to manage federal funds and subawards where applicable; use clear measurable goals and objectives with output and outcome indicators and milestones; provide a detailed realistic budget justification tied to activities and anticipated results; demonstrate sustainable impact; explain how beneficiaries will be reached in closed or highly restrictive contexts; describe partnerships, rapid startup capacity, and ability to scale globally; ensure proposed activities comply with applicable Executive Orders.