Best Grand Forks County Grants for Nonprofits in North Dakota

The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase II aims to enhance technological innovation in the private sector, focusing on improving the lives of individuals with disabilities through research and development. Administered by the US HHS Administration for Community Living, this program supports small businesses in addressing the needs of these individuals. Grants are available for a 24-month project period, allowing projects to expand upon Phase I results to achieve greater commercial application and societal impact.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Phase I, aims to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, enhancing the role of small businesses in meeting Federal research needs. Specifically, ACL's SBIR program focuses on improving the lives of individuals with disabilities through research and development products. The initiative includes 11 grants with a 6-month project period to assess the feasibility of innovative concepts, contributing to economic and social benefits.

The Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT) Program, funded by the US HHS: Administration for Community Living, aims to enhance the skills of researchers in the field of disability and rehabilitation. By providing advanced training over a three-year period, this program focuses on improving community living and participation outcomes for individuals with disabilities. It seeks to equip scholars with the necessary tools to conduct high-quality, multidisciplinary research, ultimately benefiting the disability community.

The Alzheimer's Disease Programs Initiative (ADPI) aims to foster the development of dementia-capable community health worker programs within the National Aging Network. This initiative, supported by the US HHS: Administration for Community Living (ACL), seeks to enhance dementia screening, reduce barriers to care, and improve access to essential services for individuals with dementia and their caregivers. By integrating community health workers into aging services, the program aspires to elevate the quality of life for those affected.

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Recreational, Sport, and Exercise Technologies for People with Disabilities aims to enhance rehabilitation services through innovative technological solutions. This initiative focuses on promoting health and exercise among individuals with disabilities by addressing unique rehabilitation challenges. Funded by the US HHS Administration for Community Living, the project spans 60 months, involving advanced research and development to create effective support mechanisms and overcome environmental barriers.

The Field Initiated Projects Program aims to foster new research and develop solutions that enhance the inclusion and independence of individuals with disabilities. This initiative focuses on generating scientific knowledge and understanding critical issues faced by these populations, particularly those with significant support needs. With a total of 16 grants available over a 36-month period, this program encourages innovative approaches that support employment, living arrangements, and caregiver involvement.

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) focuses on enhancing the lives of parents with disabilities through research, training, and technical assistance. This initiative aims to develop evidence-based services and supports that empower parents in their caregiving roles. Funded by the US HHS: Administration for Community Living (ACL), the project spans 60 months with a commitment to fostering inclusive environments for families. The RRTC will explore innovative interventions and technologies to better support these parents in their daily challenges.

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center aims to enhance services for individuals who are blind or have low vision through innovative technology development. This initiative focuses on overcoming rehabilitation challenges and environmental barriers, promoting independence and community living. A grant of five years will support ongoing research efforts, ensuring advancements in assistive technologies that empower the target population. The project aligns with the Rehabilitation Act's goals, emphasizing the importance of accessibility and inclusion.

The Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (KTDRR Center) aims to enhance the use of relevant disability and rehabilitation research through effective knowledge translation. Serving as a key resource for NIDILRR grantees and the general public, the KTDRR Center's initiatives will support high-quality research dissemination. The project spans 60 months, including five 12-month budget periods, ensuring ongoing support for researchers and stakeholders in the field.

The Burn Injury Model System Centers aim to enhance burn rehabilitation through innovative research. These centers must create knowledge to improve the health, community engagement, and employment outcomes for individuals affected by burn injuries. Funded by US HHS's Administration for Community Living, grants support site-specific and collaborative research while contributing to a longitudinal database. Each grant has a maximum duration of 60 months, divided into five budget periods, ensuring comprehensive support for ongoing studies.

The Field Initiated Projects Program (Development) aims to enhance the inclusion and self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities through innovative research and development. This program supports the creation of tools, methods, and systems that assist people with disabilities, particularly those with significant support needs. With 16 grants available, the initiative will span 36 months, focusing on impactful projects that foster independence, employment, and community integration.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems Centers aim to enhance TBI rehabilitation through evidence-based research. These centers focus on generating knowledge to improve health, community participation, and employment outcomes for TBI individuals. Funded by the US HHS Administration for Community Living, the grants support site-specific and collaborative research, contributing to a longitudinal database. Each center can receive varying funding amounts, depending on eligible database participants, with a project timeline of 60 months comprising five 12-month budget periods.

The Lifespan Respite Care Program invites state agencies to apply for grants aimed at enhancing respite services for caregivers of individuals with disabilities or chronic conditions. This initiative supports both new states and those re-establishing their programs, focusing on collaboration, training, and outreach to address the respite needs of diverse populations. Approximately ten cooperative agreements will be funded over three years, aligning with federal requirements for lifespan respite care.

The National Breastfeeding Support Initiative aims to enhance maternity care quality by engaging diverse partners and providing training to healthcare organizations. It focuses on implementing evidence-based practices to support breastfeeding, ensuring safe and effective maternity care in hospitals across the U.S. and territories. By fostering collaboration and utilizing data for quality improvement, the initiative seeks to create a sustainable impact on maternal and infant health.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce leads the efforts to attract, retain and expand wealth and talent in North Dakota.

Talent Pipeline Fly-In Grant Program

The Talent Pipeline Fly-In Grant Program is administered by the Workforce Development Division of the Department of Commerce. 

Background

The #1 recruitment challenge for employers, identified in the 2025 ND Workforce Ecosystem Assessment, is “not enough workers.” With the 3rd lowest unemployment rate across the country, but over 16,000 open jobs, North Dakota must look outside its borders to fill our workforce needs. People can learn about jobs without seeing them, but they cannot understand the lifestyle that North Dakota has to offer without seeing and feeling it. By hosting fly-in events across the state for qualified candidates identified from the Find The Good Life pipeline, we can capitalize on the inviting nature of North Dakota and showcase the good life people can have here while highlighting real career opportunities.

In 2023, a pilot Fly-in was conducted in Grand Forks with 7 participants. 

The goal of the program is to have successful conversions from fly-in participants to North Dakota residents. Consequently, successful awardees must commit to continued follow-up with fly-in events for up to a year post-event.

Purpose

The Talent Pipeline Fly-In Grant Program is designed to connect candidates with public and private sector employers who are hiring out-of-state job seekers while providing an experience of the “good life” in North Dakota. 

A minimum 1:1 match is required. State agencies are not eligible to apply.

About the Commission

The Legislature created the Industrial Commission of North Dakota (“Industrial Commission” “Commission”) in 1919 to conduct and manage, on behalf of the State, certain utilities, industries, enterprises and business projects established by state law. Through the years the Industrial Commission has been given and had removed various responsibilities.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Grant Program

The Oil and Gas Research Program is accepting applications for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) grant program of the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC). The deadline for submitting applications for consideration in the upcoming grant round is Aug. 15, 2025. Applications may be submitted via email at ndicgrants@nd.gov.

The 69th Legislative Assembly appropriated $25 million in Senate Bill 2014 for the new grant program. Additional funding for projects that enhance oil recovery may be available under regular Oil and Gas Research Program funding.

Planned grant round deadlines for the 2025-2027 biennium include:

• Grant Round 1 deadline: Aug. 15, 2025
• Grant Round 2 deadline: Jan. 15, 2026
• Grant Round 3 deadline: June 15, 2026.

Qualifying projects must be completed by June 30, 2027. Funds must be matched by private dollars.

The next meeting of the Oil and Gas Research Council, which assists the NDIC in administering the program, will be held at a date and location to be determined.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5430 - Unlocking Value and Opportunities from Carbon Flows in Water Utilities

Grant Information

• Identify carbon flows across drinking water, stormwater, wastewater, and advanced treatment systems. Carbon flows may include source water, stormwater, process emissions, process inputs, residuals, and biogas.
• Identify the most relevant carbon recovery, capture, conversion, storage, and avoidance opportunities.
• Evaluate value creation pathways, including products, avoided costs, and environmental attributes, and mechanisms and partnerships needed to put them into practice.
• Assess how opportunities vary across system types and local contexts by focusing on more common scenarios for utilities.
• Provide practical, research-based insights to support identification, prioritization, evaluation, and advancement of carbon management opportunities under site-specific conditions and constraints.
• Evaluate implications for greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, environmental attribute claims, and other potential benefits across pathways.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5411 - Practical Playbook for Adaptive Utility Capital Improvement Planning Under Deep Uncertainty

Grant Information

• Assess current utility practices for incorporating adaptive or flexible decision making into capital improvement planning (CIP) at the portfolio or programmatic level.
• Identify where deep uncertainty most affects CIP decision points, including investment areas prone to lock-in or points of no return.
• Document the institutional processes, frameworks, and governance structures that have enabled utilities to embed adaptive and flexible investment strategies.
• Quantify how adaptive capital strategies compare to traditional CIP approaches in terms of lifecycle costs, rate stability, financial risk exposure, and avoided or deferred capital investments across a range of plausible future conditions.
• Establish practical criteria to help utilities determine which types of capital investments are well suited for adaptive approaches.
• Develop a practitioner-focused playbook that equips utilities to apply adaptive CIP in practice, including case studies, decision trees, trigger points, vulnerability assessment tools, financial and risk insights, and governance guidance.
• Produce tiered recommendations that allow utilities to adopt adaptive CIP practices incrementally.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5418 - Optimizing PFAS Treatment Systems for Multi-contaminant Removal and Operational Benefits

Project Objectives

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5426 - Investigation of Non-Point Sources of PFAS in Sewersheds and Potential Mitigation Strategies

Grant Information

Evaluate the impact of non-point or dispersed sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the sewershed (including PFAS-contaminated groundwater infiltration) on PFAS mass loading to wastewater treatment plants.

Assess how PFAS loading from non-point or dispersed sources of PFAS in the sewershed may affect treatment efficiency and reuse water quality.

Improve understanding of PFAS precursor contributions.

Identify potential strategies to mitigate PFAS loading from non-point or disbursed sources of PFAS in the sewershed.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5416 - Innovative Approaches to Extend Lifetime and Minimize O&M for Nature-based Installations

Grant Information

• Identify and evaluate innovative design, construction, and management approaches that extend the functional lifetime of nature-based installations and reduce ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M) requirements.
• Develop practical guidance on key factors affecting nature-based solution (NbS) longevity, including hydraulic optimization, engineered media selection and replacement, plant selection, sediment management, and construction-phase best practices.
• Survey utilities and other NbS owners to document current maintenance practices, costs, and hours, and establish benchmarks to inform targets for improvement.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5415 - Guidelines to Develop Best-In-Class Maintenance Strategies for Vertical Assets

Grant Information

• Develop a clear understanding of the background and benefits associated with implementing well-rounded maintenance strategies for vertical assets.
• Develop a structured approach to identify and implement best-in-class maintenance strategies for vertical assets that improve reliability, increase asset availability, reduce unplanned work and emergency shutdowns, support the transition from reactive to proactive maintenance, and minimize total lifecycle cost.
• Apply leading practices such as Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and cutting-edge technologies and analytics to vertical assets.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5429 - Bioavailability and Transformation of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen and Phosphorus Across WRRFs

Project Objectives

• Survey and characterize dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphorus (DON/DOP) concentrations and speciation across North American wastewater facilities, including but not limited to influent, secondary effluent, tertiary effluent, digester supernatant, thermal hydrolysis process (THP) centrate, autothermal thermophilic digestion (ATAD) sidestreams, and dewatering recycle streams.
• Understand the dynamics of DON/DOP in effluent, including quantifying the bioavailable fraction of DON/DOP in different relevant process streams, evaluating their transformation into nitrogenous disinfection by-product (N-DBP) precursors, determining bio-uptake rates representative of receiving water conditions, and measuring the timescale for biodegradation in receiving waters.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5427 - Advancing Actionable Climate Resilience Metrics for Water Supply Planning

Grant Information

• Catalog existing performance metrics that consistently drive water utility operational and capital decisions, assess their applicability to support future resilience-based decision making under nonstationary climate conditions, and identify adjustments or alternative metrics needed to support forward-looking, resilience-based decision making for water utilities.
• Determine the appropriate level of climate resilience analysis needed to evaluate and apply climate resilience metrics, with requirements scaled based on metric sensitivity to climate change, decision context, and utility characteristics.
• Develop guidance to integrate climate resilience metrics into planning and decision processes.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5409 - Smarter Water Governance with AMI: Conservation, Affordability, and Rate Design

Grant Information

• Evaluate how utilities are currently leveraging advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data to inform pricing, conservation programs (including emergency curtailment practices), affordability programs, and plans for future implementation.
• Analyze AMI data and assess how the data can be leveraged to develop and/or enhance conservation programs, policies, rates, and affordability programs.
• Investigate the potential for advanced analytics, including machine learning, of AMIdatasets to support adaptive or dynamic rate structures, early detection of hardship or atrisk households, categorization of customer classes, dynamic tiering based on household size, and better targeting of affordability and conservation interventions.
• Identify the obstacles utilities and regulators face when balancing conservation, equity, and revenue stability, and how improved AMI data can clarify tradeoffs.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5428 - Establish Standardized Guidelines for Embedding O&M Considerations into the Design Process

Grant Information

• To provide provisions that address common, recurring design issues that drive operations and maintenance (O&M) time and material, including but not limited to standardization of spare parts and consumables, support for condition based and predictive and preventive maintenance, and maintain-in-place design strategies.
• To develop standardized design guidance to measurably reduce lifecycle O&M labor hours for municipal water and wastewater treatment facilities, pumping stations, etc., once required process performance and regulatory compliance are achieved.

About Us

advancing the science of water ®

Who We Are

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is the leading research organization advancing the science of all water to meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. WRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization that funds, manages, and publishes research on the technology, operation, and management of drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems—all in pursuit of ensuring water quality and improving water services to the public.

5412 - Determinants of Workforce Retention in Public-Sector Water Utilities

Grant Information

• Quantify the relative influence of compensation, pension stability, mission alignment, schedule flexibility, leadership support, career development opportunities, and other factors on employee retention in public-sector water utilities.
• Identify and analyze key impediments to retaining talent, including structural, cultural, compensation-related, and organizational barriers.
• Identify and benchmark retention best practices from sectors outside the water industry to assess transferability and develop case studies of high-retention organizations to distill replicable strategies and measurable success factors.