THPO Grant Application Information

The Historic Preservation Fund provides annually appropriated funding to Tribes that have signed agreements with the National Park Service designating them as having an approved Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) to protect and conserve important Tribal cultural and historic assets and sites. The grant funding assists THPOs in executing their Tribe's historic preservation programs and activities pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, and other relevant laws.

How do I Find the Application?

Full, complete application instructions are posted on grants.gov, the government wide database for financial assistance opportunities. You can search for the application (called an "opportunity") on grants.gov using keywords like "Historic Preservation Fund" or other search terms.

In addition to searching by keywords on grants.gov, you can also search by the Assistance Listing 15.904. Assistance Listings were previously referred to as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number.

Once you have located the opportunity, carefully review all information, paying particular attention to documents under the "Related Documents" tab. This tab will contain the full announcement, also called the "Notice of Funding Opportunity" that you should read first before proceeding. Once you have read the announcement and are ready to apply, click the red Apply button on the opportunity page.

Funding Opportunity Number versus Grant Number

Funding opportunities from the National Park Service are numbered according to the following formula:
P for "National Park Service" + last two digits of the Federal fiscal year in which the opportunity is posted + AS + a five-digit number.

Example: P20AS00020

Grant numbers from the National Park Service are numbered according to the following formula:
P for "National Park Service" + last two digits of the Federal fiscal year in which the opportunity is posted + AF + a five-digit number.

Example: P18AF98765

Preparing to Apply

In order to receive a grant, the applicant must:

  • Have a Signed THPO Partnership Agreement with the National Park Service
    • If you are unsure if your Tribe has an existing THPO partnership agreement with the National Park Service, you can search the THPO database of existing partners.
  • Be Registered with Grants.gov
  • Apply for Funding Following the Program-Specific Instructions
    • Additional instructions for completing grant application forms can be found in Notice of Funding Opportunity included in the funding opportunity on Grants.gov.

Completing the Application

Application requirements change from year to year. Please read through and follow the application instructions included in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) which can be downloaded from the application package on www.grants.gov under the tab labeled "Related Documents."

Application Signatures
The Grants.gov application contains electronic signature authorization for the THPOs; therefore, no hard copies of the application need to be submitted to NPS.

Application Deadline
The grant opportunity summary on grants.gov states the last day an application can be submitted. NPS will withdraw its offer of annual funding to Tribes that do not submit an acceptable application by the application deadline.

Application Review
NPS reviews applications submitted through grants.gov. If no errors or problems exist, an application can be processed within a couple days. If there are issues to be addressed, NPS will contact the THPO to resolve the problem(s).

Application Approval
When the application is approved and the grant is processed, NPS emails notification of the approval to the THPO along with a copy of the active grant agreement. Grant funds are placed into the tribe's ASAP grant account within 48 hours of receiving the approval email.

PLEASE NOTE:
Drawing down funds from the tribe's ASAP account constitutes the THPOs acceptance of all terms and conditions of the grant agreement. In addition to special conditions in each financial assistance award, the Department of the Interior's general terms and conditions also apply to all grants.
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Duration:
31 minutes, 53 seconds

Step by step instructions for completing these forms can be found in this 30 minute video.

Last updated: October 27, 2022