Agility Grant FAQ'S

Agility Grant awards range between $20,000 – $40,000. We recommend aligning your funding request within that range.

The Summer/Fall 2024 grant round application deadline is August 22, 2023 at 11:59pm ET. Applications open on July 11, 2023.

The next application round will open in January 2024.

Agility Grants are submitted online via an OpenWater platform. You can access the application portal here. For those who need further assistance accessing the application portal, please reference the log in guide here.

Yes! The primary applicant can add collaborators so multiple people can work on the grant application. For information on how to add collaborators to your application, please see the log in guide (page 7-10).

Fall 2023 Agility Grant award announcements will be made in October 2023.

The grant period for the Summer/Fall 2023 Agility Grants is from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. All program activities for the grant funded project must take place within the grant period.

Agility Grants have two pillars, Prevention Innovation and Prevention Amplification.

The Prevention Innovation pillar aims to foster and accelerate the development, deployment, research, and evaluation of problem gambling prevention programs and curricula to address key at-risk and priority populations such as high school and college athletes, communities of color, and middle school students. In short, the prevention innovation pillar aims to launch innovative new prevention programs, support the expansion of promising programs, or validate existing program effectiveness through research.

The Prevention Amplification pillar aims to increase community awareness, response and support through the identification and elevation of new leaders, new partnerships and new voices within the problem gambling community, prioritizing youth as well as leaders of color. In short, Prevention Amplification projects are meant to amplify or promote new leaders and perspectives around prevention initiatives meant to educate and prevent problem gambling within new, underserved audiences.

If you are still unsure about which pillar your program best fits into, we recommend signing up for an office hours appointment with our Agility Grants team.

No. We recognize that treatment and responsible gambling programs are valuable and impactful programs worthy of funding. However, these programs fall outside the scope of the Agility Grants strategic goals. Agility Grants are meant to fund problem gambling prevention programs. Problem gambling prevention programs are those designed to minimize harm among those who have not yet gambled or among those who have limited gambling experience. 

Examples of programs/projects that we do NOT consider prevention programs include, (but not limited to):

  • Hiring of additional counselors who would provide counseling to those recovering from gambling addiction.
  • Training for mental health professionals to gain problem gambling treatment credentials.
  • Expansion of gambling addiction/problem gambling call support line.
  • PSA campaign promoting existing services to treat those with an active gambling addiction.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework prior to submission.

If you still have questions about your project/program eligibility, we strongly encourage you to sign up for an office hours appointment with the Agility Grants team to discuss further.

Agility Grants aim to fund projects reaching our priority audiences including:

  • high school and college athletes;
  • marginalized communities, especially communities of color; and
  • middle school students

Furthermore, Agility Grants will fund problem gambling prevention programs that minimize harm on a primary level or secondary level.

  • Primary level: among those who have NOT YET gambled.
  • Secondary level: among those who have LIMITED gambling experience.

Priority will be given to projects/programs that target prevention on the primary level.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework prior to submission. If you still have questions about your project/program alignment with our strategy and audience goals, we strongly encourage you to sign up for an office hours appointment with the Agility Grants team to discuss further.

No, grant funding amounts do not differ based on pillar. Both Prevention Innovation and Prevention Amplification grants will be within the $20,000-$40,000 award range.

Yes! Organizations who are not NCPG members or affiliates are welcome and encouraged to apply. Membership status has no impact on the application scoring and evaluation process. NCPG members and non-members are invited to apply for Agility Grants.

Yes! Grant funding can be used to pay contractors or staff who are designing, deploying, or launching the grant program. Administrative expenses cannot make up more than 15% of your grant expenditures, however staff costs (including contractors) tied directly to creation and launch of a program are NOT considered administrative expenses.

If you still have questions about your project/program budget, we encourage you to sign up for an office hours appointment with the Agility Grants team to discuss further.

On the application form, you will be prompted to submit letters of support from any partners involved in your program/project. We recognize that until funding is deployed, it can be difficult to obtain signed commitment letters. To that end, we ask that you submit a letter of support where partner organizations can outline their intent to work with you on the project should funding be awarded. We offer an optional template letter of support for your use or reference. You are welcome to use this for the organizations’ letter(s) of support. If you choose to use your own, please reference the template to ensure your letter includes the desired information. 

Agility Grant awardees are required to submit a final impact report no more than one month after the grant period closes. This impact report requests program activity data, demographic data about participants/beneficiaries, and qualitative questions on program impact, achievements, lessons learned, and evaluation methods.

If you have questions about impact + evaluation best practices, we encourage you to watch the webinar recording from NCPG’s “The Basics of Program Evaluation” which took place on 1/12/23.

Agility Grant awardees are welcome to reapply for funding after their grant period has ended, however renewal funding is not guaranteed.

If you still have questions about the Agility Grants program or application, we invite you to make an office hours appointment with our team. We also recommend that you attend the Agility Grants Informational Session Webinar on July 13, 2023.