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State and federal grants portals central to CFCC funding fair; presenters outline where to look and how to apply
Summary
Presenters at the CFCC fall funding fair walked attendees through the CFCC website, the California Grants Portal and Grants.gov, and gave practical tips for finding, applying for and tracking state and federal grant opportunities.
The California Financing Coordinating Committee’s fall funding fair opened its online resources overview with guidance on where applicants should look for grant opportunities and how to apply.
The CFCC website and two centralized portals — the California Grants Portal (grants.ca.gov) and the Federal Grants Portal (grants.gov) — were identified as the primary places to find state and federal funding opportunities, presentation materials and past recordings. Sarissa Hartwell, facilitation lead for the event and identified as representing the State Water Resources Control Board, directed attendees to the CFCC website where links, a handbook and presentations will be published.
Why it matters: central portals reduce search time for applicants and provide official documents and NOFOs (notices of funding opportunity) needed to prepare competitive applications.
Presenters emphasized practical steps for applicants. David White of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a CFCC presenter (identified in the program as the CFCC website presenter) described the difference between searching archived and posted NOFOs, using agency filters, and registering for notifications. White said applicants should read the NOFO carefully and follow application instructions exactly: "If we ask a yes or no question, please begin with a yes or no answer, and then you can clarify." He also warned applicants to confirm the submission timezone for federal deadlines.
The CFCC website contains a Fall Funding Fair handbook, links to presentation recordings and quick links to the state and federal grants portals. The presenter who demonstrated the CFCC website noted brief recorded walkthroughs are available on the CFCC site for users who want short tutorials rather than live presentations.
Several practical tips were repeated across presenters: start early, prepare required standard forms (SF forms) and detailed budgets, copy NOFO questions into your responses and use any required formulas exactly. Presenters noted that federal application windows and online portal updates may be affected by federal staffing changes and lapses in appropriations; Grants.gov may display a warning or be slower to update during a federal lapse in appropriations.
The presentations closed with reminders that each NOFO lists a point of contact — use that contact for clarifying questions — and that the CFCC handbook and individual agency pages (linked from CFCC) will host slides and recordings for later review. Attendees were directed to agency-specific breakout rooms for one-on-one follow-up.
Attendees were advised to consult the CFCC homepage for the Fall Funding Fair handbook and to check both grants.ca.gov and grants.gov when looking for opportunities.
