Understanding and Responding to the Current Federal Grant Landscape

With thousands of grants significantly impacted, rescinded, or not offered, many in higher education are navigating increased uncertainty about federal funding. Here, we explore the shifting landscape of federal funding, examine possible alternative sources, and offer suggestions for how institutions can better tell their story to be competitive in the current environment.

The Current Landscape

In 2025, approximately 1,400 grants totaling $427 million were terminated at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and an estimated 2,300 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaling close to $3.8 billion were cancelled. Many of the cancelled NEH grants were for summer institutes for teachers or funding for local humanities organizations.

While there is no reliable figure to represent what percent of all grants were affected at either the NEH or NIH, a New York Times interview with a NEH official suggests that 85% of all NEH grants were rescinded. Following various court orders and decisions, cancelled grants have been ordered to be restored, including roughly 800 of the 2,300 NIH grants.

Future National Endowment for the Humanities Funding

Despite funds being rescinded early in the year, in August 2025 the NEH announced that it had awarded $34.79 million for 97 projects.

The winning grants and future grant opportunities at the NEH focus on “projects that celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.” Many of the awarded grants involved American historic preservation, American heritage, and Western philosophy; another significant winning category focused on how AI can be applied to humanistic inquiry. A complete list of the grants is available in PDF format.

The NEH has listed future grants and deadlines for 2025 and 2026. Grants for individuals include the Public Scholars program, awards for faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and individual Fellowships. For these three programs, the only guidelines for the upcoming application cycle that are currently available are for the Public Scholars program; they state that “In honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of America’s Founding, the 2026 Public Scholars competition will only accept projects that promote a deeper understanding of our nation’s extraordinary heritage….NEH particularly encourages projects focused on American military history; projects that explore the concept of the American Dream through the lens of economic freedom, entrepreneurship, and innovation; and projects that elucidate the historical and ongoing role of the United States as a leader in global affairs, emphasizing themes of American exceptionalism, moral leadership, and constructive diplomacy.”

Future National Institutes of Health Funding

The non-partisan Institute for Science & Policy at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science writes that “The Administration’s proposed budget for 2026 attempts to further reduce the scope and impact of the NIH through an overall budgetary reduction of 40% and by establishing an indirect cost recovery rate of 15% for all research grants.” The proposal also aims to shift grants that are paid over multiple years to be paid in one lump sum. As of when this article was written, the proposed 2026 budget has not been approved, though there is a temporary spending bill that funds the government through January 30, 2026. Funding for “HIV/AIDS, COVID, and other infectious disease research” and “public health and the environment” has been reduced. However, statistics on exactly how much different research categories were cut in 2025 are not available on the NIH website. The NIH has posted updates on new grants and funding policies, as well as a list of specific grant opportunities and funding categories.

Alternative Humanities Funding

Dr. Stephen Kidd, the executive director of the National Humanities Alliance, states that “While there are some other sources of humanities research funding, there is nothing to replace the scale and reach of the NEH’s funding.”

Potential humanities grant applicants will likely have to look more toward research grants from libraries, universities, research centers, private and nonprofit organizations, and professional organizations. Private databases such as Pivot-RP or GrantForward can be helpful in identifying alternate funding sources, so faculty and administrators can encourage their libraries to subscribe to such databases. Professional organizations like the MLA also provide funding and may keep a list of external funding sources.

Alternative Science Funding

Dr. Scott W. Delaney, a former research scientist at Harvard and the founder of Grant Witness, which tracks rescinded grants, says “Bluntly, there is no replacement for NIH or NSF or EPA, DOE, NASA, etc. While the nonprofit and foundation sectors have stepped up their grantmaking activity in an attempt to fill the vacuum…and while some other countries have sought to do the same — they simply aren’t big enough to make up for what’s been lost.”

While many institutions and organizations such as the Cancer Research Institute have responded to the NIH cuts with increases in funding, such measures cannot be sustained long-term.

The Institute for Science & Policy suggests that if these kind of cuts continue, institutions will have to find and maintain the funds needed to support researchers: “We are encouraging a move towards integrated research teams addressing critical problems, such as obesity and diabetes, that have a mixed funding base that includes more than NIH support. We also urge a shift from internal organizational models with researchers as strictly independent agents to approaches providing more institutional support and commitment. The long-standing model of academic researchers independently maintaining funding across their careers was already failing, and its decline will accelerate sharply with proposed changes at the NIH.”

Possible Paths Forward

Tell Your Story to Elected Officials:

Because the 2026 federal government budget has not yet passed, now is an excellent time to communicate to legislators about the essential work you do and the potential impact of continued significant lack of science and humanities funding. Kidd says, “We would encourage faculty and administrators impacted by grant cancellation to continue urging Congress to support the NEH and restore it to its full capacity. We would also urge them to consider applying to NEH for a new grant. We have seen organizations that received grant cancellations subsequently receive new grant awards from the NEH.”

Evaluate the Efficacy of Legal Options:

Institutions with the legal resources can consider bringing court cases against the appropriate federal agencies to try to recover rescinded funds. Notably, a judge in September of 2025 ruled that Harvard should receive tens of millions of dollars in rescinded funds. Delaney is able to confirm that Harvard has received “at least the vast majority of funds it’s owed.” However, he notes that there has been a dearth of other colleges that are willing or able to legally challenge the administration to recover rescinded funds.

Within their own institutions, Delaney suggests that “Faculty — especially senior faculty with tenure, but also everyone else (this will take all hands on deck) — should speak publicly to pressure their university administrators, or they can band together through a union, as folks have done via the [American Association of University Professors], which has led multiple lawsuits and other efforts” to restore the funding. Dr. Delaney continues, stating that

“The AAUP has really done incredible work advocating for faculty, scientists, and American scientific research,” Delaney says. “By speaking publicly, faculty can connect with other folks in similar positions, and they can organize and act together.”

Tell Your Story Publicly:

With these increased funding pressures, humanists and scientists now find themselves increasingly compelled to advocate for the public value of their research. Those who have been affected by lost funding could consider making public statements about what has been lost for their profession and the public interest.

Final Thoughts

Prospective grantees from both science and humanities backgrounds would do well to study the new funding priorities at the NIH and NEH. Those who are able to propose research aligned with these institutions’ new goals and prerogatives may find success. Those researchers whose projects are not in alignment with these institutions’ goals will likely need to search for support from other institutions — from nonprofits and research foundations to university support or state-level organizations.