To Prospective FY 2026 Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) Applicants 

On June 24, 2026, FEMA released the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the FY2026 Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP).  This grant provides $300,000,000 in funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities to eligible nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack and other extremist attacks. 

 The 2026 NSGP has two components: 1) $150,000,000 Million for eligible nonprofit entities that are within designated major urban areas (NSGP-UA); 2) $150,000,000 Million for eligible nonprofit entities that are not within those designated major urban areas, through a state-level application (NSGP-S).  

The District of Columbia and the surrounding National Capital Region urban area is only eligible to apply for the urban area NSGP program (NSGP-UA). It is estimated that the National Capital Region urban area will receive an amount of $6,740,564 in NSGP awards.

 The National Capital Region urban area (NCR) includes the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia. Any nonprofit applicants in Maryland and Virginia that are not within the boundaries of the NCR must submit their applications to the Maryland Department of Emergency Management or Virginia Department of Emergency Management, respectively.  

 Below are instructions for applications for FY2026 NSGP for the National Capital Region urban area: 

• Applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations to be eligible.
• Applicants must be located within the National Capital Region.
• The maximum amount for an individual application is $200,000. An applicant with multiple locations may submit up to three (3) separate applications for different locations in total, for a maximum of $600,000 per organization. 
• Applicants must only request funding for equipment/activities that are consistent with the allowable costs guidance listed on pp.9-19 of the NSGP NOFO (and in Appendix A, on pp. 58-67). 
• Applications are due to DC HSEMA no later than Friday, July 10, at 11:59pm.
• Applicants must submit the following three (3) documents to the SAA for a complete application (see pg. 27-28 of the NOFO) 

1. A completed FY2026 NSGP Investment Justification template  
2. A “mission statement” which explains the nature of the applicant organization’s purpose and mission.  This will primarily be used to validate the organization’s type identified in the IJ as either: 1) Ideology-based/spiritual/religious; 2) Educational; 3) Medical; or 4) Other. 
3. A copy of the vulnerability/risk assessment on which the request in the application is based.

​To view application documents & supporting resources for the FY 2026 NSGP, including Notice of Funding Opportunity and Investment Justification, please refer to the Grants.gov NSGP webpage.

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) 

As of April 4, 2022, the federal government requires all recipients and subrecipients of federal funding to use a Unique Federal Identifier (UEI) to identify their organization.  The UEI must be acquired through the SAM.gov website and is free of charge.  For FY2026 NSGP applicants, if you have a UEI, enter it in the FY2026 application template where it is indicated.  If you do not yet have a UEI you may leave that field in the application template blank, and your application will be accepted.  However, continue your efforts to get a UEI, as DC HSEMA must have a UEI for all successful applicants in order to issue sub-grants in the coming months.  Please refer to the UEI instructions in the Preparedness Grants Manual and the FY2026 NSGP NOFO. 

A helpful guide explaining how to acquire a UEI is available on GSA's YouTube page:  Get a Unique Entity ID in SAM.gov. NSGP applicants do not need to register their UEI’s (that is a much more complicated process). 

Nonprofit applicants must use the following naming convention for the files submitted to the SAA: 

• The Investment Justification file name should follow this format: “FY2026_NSGP_UA_DC_NCR_<Nonprofit Name>”;  As an example, an application from an organization named ABC School would name their Investment Justification file “FY2026_NSGP_UA_DC_NCR_ABC School”. 
• The Mission Statement file name should be:  “<nonprofit name> Mission Statement”
• The Vulnerability Assessment file name should be: “<nonprofit name> Vulnerability Assessment” 

Submit applications by email to [email protected] and  [email protected]. Do not submit anything to FEMA or grants.gov—DC HSEMA will do that on behalf of the region. 

The scoring criteria for the applications is included in the NOFO on pages 69-77 - applicants should review the scoring criteria to understand how your applications will be reviewed and scored.

DC HSEMA will conduct an initial review and scoring of the applications received and will submit a combined application to FEMA on behalf of the National Capital Region urban area that includes all eligible applications. FEMA will make the final selection of award recipients, and will announce those results at a later date.