Promoting Technology for the Common Good and Countering Authoritarian Influence

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, is offering the Promoting Technology for the Common Good and Countering Authoritarian Influence funding opportunity, opportunity number DFOP0019655, under Assistance Listing Number 19.345. The program is global in scope and is supported with FY 2025 Democracy Fund funds under the Foreign Assistance Act. The Department anticipates making one cooperative agreement award of $1,973,359, with total available funding of $1,973,359, subject to availability of funds. The anticipated project start date is September 30, 2026, and projects may run for 18 to 36 months but should be completed within 36 months. Continuation funding beyond the initial budget period may be considered on a non-competitive basis, subject to availability of funds, satisfactory program progress, and a determination that continued funding is in the best interest of the Department of State. The program seeks to support ethical, U.S.-led technology development that aligns with U.S. values, promotes human flourishing and human dignity, and counters malign authoritarian influences that undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms. The first objective is to engage international stakeholders from governments, academia, civil society, industry, and religious organizations in promoting innovative and human-centered technology development. Activities may include stakeholder dialogues concerning artificial intelligence and subjects such as education, bioethics, lethal autonomous weapons, governance, and information integrity; actionable research and best practices for integrating human rights principles into technology development; exchanges among industry experts, religious leaders, civil society advocates, and other stakeholders; and efforts to build consensus around a shared vision for the future of artificial intelligence that incorporates rights-respecting concepts. The second objective focuses on countering malign authoritarian influence that erodes freedom of religion or belief and other fundamental freedoms. Activities may include dialogues, workshops, advocacy, research and reporting on digital authoritarianism, use of innovative technologies to support fundamental freedoms, and multidisciplinary analysis of the effects of digital authoritarianism on global faith communities. Competitive proposals should include participants representing academia, civil society, industry, and religious organizations who are open to directly engaging with foreign governments. Applicants should explain how beneficiary feedback will inform program adjustments and how lessons learned will be documented and shared. Proposed activities must be nonpartisan, offered on a fair and equitable basis to all democratic political parties, and must not seek to influence election outcomes. Applicants should demonstrate management capacity for working with varied stakeholders around the world. Consortium and other teaming arrangements are permitted. Applicants may also allocate funding through subawards that support the program objectives. Inclusion of at least one or two identified subrecipients with letters of commitment at the application stage will strengthen an application, although additional subrecipients may be identified and approved by DRL during the award period. Award funds may not be provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and alcoholic beverages may not be charged to the award. Cost sharing or matching is not required, although significant cost sharing can improve an application's competitiveness after evaluation against the other factors. Eligible applicants include U.S. or foreign not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society or nongovernmental organizations; U.S. or foreign public and private educational institutions; U.S. or foreign for-profit organizations; Public International Organizations; and governmental institutions. Organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier and an active SAM.gov registration unless an approved exemption applies. Applicants requesting an exemption must contact the program point of contact at least two weeks before the application deadline and obtain approval from the warranted Grants Officer. Each organization may submit only one proposal; submission of more than one proposal by the same organization makes all proposals from that institution ineligible. Organizations may nevertheless participate as subrecipients on an unlimited number of applications. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov or MyGrants no later than 11:59 PM EDT on August 31, 2026. Required application materials include the applicable SF-424 forms, a proposal narrative of no more than 15 pages, a budget justification narrative, a line-item budget, key personnel position descriptions or selection criteria, and letters of support from program partners. A summary page is optional. The proposal narrative must address the proposal summary, organizational background and previous government grants, problem statement, project goals and measurable objectives, project activities, methods and design, project schedule and timeline, key personnel selection criteria, project partners and subawardees, monitoring and evaluation, and future funding or sustainability. Applicants using a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement in the budget must attach their latest NICRA as a PDF, and official permission letters must be included when required for program activities. All documents must be in English, budgets must use U.S. dollars, pages must be numbered, and documents must comply with the stated page and formatting requirements. Applications will be evaluated by a review committee according to the quality and feasibility of the program idea, organizational capacity and record on previous grants, program planning and ability to achieve objectives, budget quality and reasonableness, monitoring and evaluation, and sustainability. The Department will also conduct a risk review considering financial stability, management systems and standards, history of performance, audit reports and findings, and the applicant's ability to implement award requirements. If two or more applications receive equivalent scores, the applicant with the lower indirect cost rate will receive preference as a tie-breaking mechanism. Because this is a cooperative agreement, DRL expects substantial involvement, including collaboration on implementation, select events and outputs, annual workplans, workshop and event plans, activity locations, participants, training topics, and travel. Specific areas of substantial involvement will be negotiated before award issuance. The application deadline is August 31, 2026, at 11:59 PM EDT. No separate letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, or other pre-application gating submission is identified. The anticipated project start date is September 30, 2026, and unsuccessful applicants are expected to be notified by October 30, 2026. The notice does not state that this opportunity recurs annually or on another regular schedule. Questions concerning the grant application process may be directed to DRL-PRU-Solicitation@state.gov. Recipients will be required to submit financial and program reports at intervals specified in the award document and comply with applicable federal requirements, Department of State terms and conditions, Foreign Assistance Data Review requirements, and branding and marking guidance.

Directly address both program objectives and provide a feasible implementation timeline. Demonstrate capacity to manage federal funds and subawards. Use measurable objectives, output and outcome indicators, and milestones. Provide a detailed and realistic budget tied to activities and results. Explain sustainability beyond the award. Include a cross-section of academia, civil society, industry, and religious participants and explain how beneficiary feedback will inform adjustments. Significant voluntary cost sharing can improve competitiveness after other factors are evaluated. Identifying at least 1-2 subrecipients with letters of commitment can strengthen the application.