Search opportunities

Updated 9/17/2025 see our OpenAPI doc for most recent changes.

Endpoint: POST /v1/opportunities/search

Search for grant opportunities using various filters and criteria.

Caveats

• Search will only return a maximum of 10,000 opportunities. Any opportunties past that will be culled for performance. If you are receiving the maximum amount of opportunities as a response there is a good chance that you are not getting all possible results returned. In that case it is recommended to add more filters to get a smaller subset of opportunities. If you want to get an export of all opportunities see the extracts endpoint.

• Search should return the same data as GET opportunity, except attachments are not included and the data is cached in search hourly.

Get Opportunity Details

Endpoints:

• GET /v1/opportunities/{opportunity_id} (UUID format)

Retrieve detailed information about a specific opportunity.

Search Parameters

The opportunity search endpoint accepts the following parameters:

Query Parameters

• query (string, optional): Free-text search across multiple fields

  • Example: "research", "education funding"

  • Maximum length: 100 characters

• query_operator (string, optional): How to combine search terms

  • Values: "AND" (default), "OR"

Filters

Agency & Organization

• top_level_agency: Filter by agency code

  • Example: {"one_of": ["USAID", "DOC"]}

Funding Details

• funding_instrument: Type of funding

  • Values: "cooperative_agreement", "grant", etc.

  • Example: {"one_of": ["grant"]}

• funding_category: Category of funding

  • Values: "recovery_act", "arts", "natural_resources", etc.

Eligibility

• applicant_type: Who can apply

  • Values: "state_governments", "county_governments", "individuals", etc.

  • Example: {"one_of": ["state_governments", "nonprofits"]}

Status & Timing

• opportunity_status: Current status

  • Values: "forecasted", "posted", "closed", "archived"

  • Example: {"one_of": ["posted", "forecasted"]}

• post_date: When opportunity was posted

  • Example: {"start_date": "2024-01-01", "end_date": "2024-12-31"}

• close_date: Application deadline

  • Example: {"start_date": "2024-06-01"}

Financial Filters

• award_floor: Minimum award amount

  • Example: {"min": 10000}

• award_ceiling: Maximum award amount

  • Example: {"max": 1000000}

• expected_number_of_awards: Expected number of awards

  • Example: {"min": 5, "max": 25}

• estimated_total_program_funding: Total program funding

  • Example: {"min": 100000, "max": 250000}

Other Filters

• assistance_listing_number: Specific CFDA number

  • Format: ##.### (e.g., "45.149")

  • Example: {"one_of": ["45.149"]}

• is_cost_sharing: Whether cost sharing is required

  • Example: {"one_of": [true]}

Pagination & Sorting

• pagination (required): Controls result pagination and sorting

  {
    "page_offset": 1,
    "page_size": 25,
    "sort_order": [
      {
        "order_by": "opportunity_id",
        "sort_direction": "descending"
      }
    ]
  }

  Sort Options:

  • relevancy, opportunity_id, opportunity_number

  • opportunity_title, post_date, close_date

  • agency_code, agency_name, top_level_agency_name

  • award_floor, award_ceiling

Response Format

• format (optional): Response format

  • Values: "json" (default), "csv"

  • CSV format returns a downloadable file

Code Examples

Python

import requests
import json

# Your API configuration
API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
BASE_URL = "https://api.simpler.grants.gov"

headers = {
    "X-API-Key": API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

# Basic search request
search_payload = {
    "query": "research",
    "filters": {
        "opportunity_status": {"one_of": ["posted", "forecasted"]},
        "funding_instrument": {"one_of": ["grant"]},
        "agency": {"one_of": ["NSF", "NIH"]}
    },
    "pagination": {
        "page_offset": 1,
        "page_size": 25,
        "sort_order": [
            {
                "order_by": "post_date",
                "sort_direction": "descending"
            }
        ]
    }
}

# Make the request
response = requests.post(
    f"{BASE_URL}/v1/opportunities/search",
    headers=headers,
    json=search_payload
)

if response.status_code == 200:
    data = response.json()
    opportunities = data["data"]
    print(f"Found {len(opportunities)} opportunities")
    
    for opp in opportunities:
        print(f"- {opp['opportunity_title']}")
        print(f"  Agency: {opp['agency_name']}")
        print(f"  Deadline: {opp.get('close_date', 'No deadline specified')}")
        print()
else:
    print(f"Error: {response.status_code} - {response.text}")

JavaScript/Node.js

cURL

Response Format

JSON Response Structure

{
  "message": "Success",
  "data": [
    {
      "opportunity_id": "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012",
      "opportunity_number": "EPA-R9-SFUND-23-003",
      "opportunity_title": "Superfund Site Remediation Research",
      "agency_code": "EPA",
      "agency_name": "Environmental Protection Agency",
      "post_date": "2024-01-15",
      "close_date": "2024-06-30",
      "opportunity_status": "posted",
      "funding_instrument": "grant",
      "funding_category": "environment",
      "award_floor": 50000,
      "award_ceiling": 500000,
      "estimated_total_program_funding": 2000000,
      "expected_number_of_awards": 4,
      "applicant_types": ["nonprofits", "universities"],
      "summary": "Funding for research into innovative remediation technologies...",
      "is_cost_sharing": false
    }
  ],
  "pagination_info": {
    "page_offset": 1,
    "page_size": 25,
    "total_pages": 15,
    "total_records": 367
  },
  "facet_counts": {
    "agency_name": {
      "EPA": 45,
      "NSF": 32,
      "NIH": 28
    },
    "funding_instrument": {
      "grant": 89,
      "cooperative_agreement": 16
    }
  }
}

Error Handling

Common HTTP Status Codes

• 200 OK: Request successful

• 400 Bad Request: Invalid request parameters

• 401 Unauthorized: Missing or invalid API key

• 403 Forbidden: API key lacks required permissions

• 429 Too Many Requests: Rate limit exceeded

• 500 Internal Server Error: Server error

Error Response Format

{
  "message": "Error description",
  "status_code": 400,
  "errors": [
    {
      "field": "pagination.page_size",
      "message": "Must be between 1 and 100"
    }
  ]
}