346 of 459 Federal Grant Listings Do Not Say If You Need Matching Funds
Matching funds decide whether an award is worth chasing. A $900,000 grant with a dollar-for-dollar match is a $900,000 fundraising problem bolted to a $900,000 award. We read the cost-sharing field on every grant in our database to see how often you are told.
113 of 459 listings state a cost-sharing position. The other 346 say only that none "is indicated". That phrase records the absence of a statement, not the absence of a requirement, and the two are easy to read as the same thing when you are building a budget.
The habit is not the grant's, it is the agency's: 3 agencies state a position on every grant we hold, and 7 state one on none.
Two kinds of "no matching funds required"
Stated
113 listings
Carry a real cost-sharing sentence: 113 describe a requirement, 33 explicitly rule one out. These you can budget against. Median maximum award: $900,000.
Not indicated
346 listings
Carry only the boilerplate. It may mean no match is required. It may mean nobody recorded one. Nothing in the listing distinguishes those. Median maximum award: $750,000.
The two groups are not different kinds of grant. Their median maximum awards are $900,000 and $750,000, close enough that you cannot use award size as a proxy for whether the terms were documented.
The same field, filled in by some agencies and never by others
This is the part that makes silence hard to interpret. Across the 20 agencies with at least six grants in the database, covering 283 of the 459 listings, the disclosure rate runs the full range.
| Agency | Grants | Share that state a cost-sharing position |
|---|---|---|
| Small Business Administration (SBA) | 8 | |
| US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | 8 | |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) | 6 | |
| Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB | 7 | |
| Administration for Community Living | 37 | |
| Department of Homeland Security - FEMA | 18 | |
| National Institute of Food and Agriculture | 9 | |
| Community Oriented Policing Services | 8 | |
| Health Resources and Services Administration | 31 | |
| Office on Violence Against Women | 7 | |
| National Park Service | 7 | |
| Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis | 44 | |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | 10 | |
| National Institutes of Health | 19 | |
| U.S. National Science Foundation | 18 | |
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health | 17 | |
| Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA | 9 | |
| Food and Nutrition Service | 7 | |
| Bureau of International Narcotics-Law Enforcement | 7 | |
| National Institute of Food and Agriculture-eRA | 6 |
A red mark on the bar means a true zero, not a small number. National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA, Food and Nutrition Service, Bureau of International Narcotics-Law Enforcement, National Institute of Food and Agriculture-eRA between them account for 83 listings, none of which say anything about cost sharing. Reading "not indicated" as "not required" across those agencies is reading a habit as a fact.
The 16 listings that give you an actual number
Among the 113 that address cost sharing at all, most do it qualitatively: "significant leverage of public and private resources", "in-kind contributions", "applicants must contribute equity". Only 16 state a percentage.
| Programme | Match | As stated |
|---|---|---|
| DOE Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program Department of Energy (DOE) |
90% | borrowers must fund a portion of project costs. DOE guarantees up to 90% of the loan amount |
| DOE Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Department of Energy (DOE) |
80% | borrowers must contribute equity and pay a credit subsidy fee. Guarantee covers up to 80% of project costs |
| EPA Pollution Prevention (P2) Grant Program Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
50% | 50% match required (federal share cannot exceed 50% of total project cost) |
| USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
50% | grants cover up to 50% of project costs for energy efficiency and 50% for renewable energy. Applicants must fund the rem |
| USDA Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
50% | No matching required. Program reimburses up to 50% of certification costs (max $500 per scope) |
| ED Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) Department of Education (ED) |
50% | 1:1 matching required for partnership grants (50% federal, 50% non-federal). State grants require dollar-for-dollar matc |
| DOL YouthBuild Program Department of Labor (DOL) |
25% | 25% match required (cash or in-kind) |
| USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
25% | 25% match required (cash or in-kind contributions) |
| USDA Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) |
25% | 25% match required (cash or in-kind) |
| HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) |
25% | 25% match required for new projects (cash or in-kind). Renewal projects may have different requirements |
| ED Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Department of Education (ED) |
25% | institutions must contribute 25% of the total FSEOG awards from institutional funds |
| EPA Environmental Education Grants Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
25% | 25% non-federal match required (cash or in-kind contributions) |
| ARPA-E Energy Innovation Projects Department of Energy (DOE) |
20% | Cost-sharing required for large businesses (at least 20% of total project cost). Waived for small businesses, universiti |
| DOE Small Business Vouchers (SBV) Pilot Department of Energy (DOE) |
20% | small businesses must contribute at least 20% of the project cost as a cash match |
| EPA Brownfields Assessment Grants Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |
20% | No matching required for assessment grants. Cleanup grants require 20% cost share |
| DOL Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) Department of Labor (DOL) |
10% | grantees must provide 10% non-federal share (cash or in-kind) |
How to use this before you write anything
- Find the cost-sharing line in the notice, not the listing. Any database, ours included, reflects what was captured. The notice of funding opportunity is the document that binds you.
- Treat "not indicated" as an open question. On 75% of listings that is all you have. It is a one-line email to the programme officer and it changes your budget by up to 90% of project cost.
- Check your agency's habit. If you are applying to an agency in the zero row above, the absence of a statement tells you nothing at all about that specific programme.
- Budget in-kind carefully. Several of the requirements here accept in-kind contributions, which is a very different cash position from a dollar-for-dollar match, and the listing rarely separates them.
What this does not show
Bottom line
Ask a federal grant database whether you need matching funds and 75% of the time it will tell you nothing, in a sentence that sounds like an answer.
The 113 listings that do answer are worth reading closely, because when a number appears at all it runs as high as 90% of project cost. On the rest, the honest position is that you do not know yet.
Method: every grant in the GrantProbe database, classified on its cost-sharing field, 2026-08-28. A listing counts as silent only when the field is exactly the boilerplate "no cost sharing or matching requirement is indicated for this program". Browse the underlying records at the grant directory.