FY 2027 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program is a federal funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of Academic Exchange Programs. The FY 2027 notice seeks one cooperative agreement for an organization to design, implement, and oversee the Humphrey Fellowship, a Fulbright exchange program established in 1978. The program is framed as a tool for advancing U.S. foreign policy goals by bringing influential mid-career professionals from more than 100 eligible countries to the United States for academic and professional exchange. The selected recipient will administer both the longer academic-year Humphrey Fellowship and the shorter Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program, with substantial involvement from the Department of State throughout implementation. The purpose of the program is to build strategic partnerships, strengthen expertise in fields important to U.S. foreign policy, and deepen fellows' understanding of American institutions, standards, and perspectives. The academic-year component supports non-degree study in multinational thematic cohorts at approximately eight U.S. host campuses and includes at least six weeks of professional affiliation with U.S.-based private, governmental, non-governmental, or international organizations. The shorter-term Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program supports thematic cohorts through selected host institutions and includes approximately one week of professional experiences. Across both components, the recipient must support candidate recruitment and selection, host institution recruitment and oversight, fellow placement, professional development activities, alumni engagement, communications, participant monitoring, visa administration, stipend and allowance disbursement, and performance monitoring. Funding is structured as a cooperative agreement with an anticipated period of performance of up to 36 months. The notice states an award amount and total available funding of approximately 10,250,000 dollars, pending the availability of funds, with one award anticipated. The Bureau also notes its intent, contingent on satisfactory performance and future funding, to renew the award for up to two additional consecutive fiscal years before openly competing it again. Allowable costs may include living stipends, international travel allowances, host campus expenses, professional development and affiliation costs, educational materials, staff travel and per diem, Global Leadership Forum costs, Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program costs, review committee expenses, reasonable accommodations, supplemental insurance or healthcare, tax withholding, staff salaries and benefits, communications, office supplies, printing, postage, audit costs, other direct costs, and indirect costs. The notice also emphasizes cost containment, reasonable and appropriate expenditures, and coordination with ECA on the use of unused funds. There is no minimum or maximum cost share requirement, though cost sharing is encouraged and must be documented if proposed. Eligibility is limited to U.S. not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society or non-governmental organizations, and U.S. not-for-profit public and private educational institutions. Applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier and active SAM.gov registration, and because the anticipated federal funding exceeds 130,000 dollars, they must demonstrate at least four years of experience conducting international exchanges. Only one proposal per applicant organization will be considered. The application must comply with the notice and Proposal Submission Instructions and include an SF-424, executive summary, proposal narrative, SF-424A, detailed line-item budget, and budget narrative. Applications are submitted electronically through Grants.gov, and award recipients and recipient contacts must also be registered in MyGrants for post-award administration and reporting. The submission deadline is May 18, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, Washington, DC time. Applications uploaded after that deadline are automatically rejected by Grants.gov and treated as technically ineligible. The notice directs applicants to begin submission well in advance because registrations may take several weeks and transmission delays can occur. No letter of intent, concept paper, or other formal pre-application gate is specified in the notice itself. Applicants may direct questions to Jennyfer Wong at the U.S. Department of State, Office of Academic Exchange Programs, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 202-674-3481. After the deadline passes, ECA staff will not discuss the competition with applicants until the review process is complete. Applications that meet technical requirements will first be checked for eligibility and completeness and then reviewed by the program office and an ECA grants panel, with possible review by overseas Public Diplomacy sections, regional bureaus, or other State Department offices. Review criteria are equally weighted and include quality of the program idea and planning, institutional capacity and record, multiplier effect and follow-on activities, performance monitoring and evaluation, and cost-effectiveness. Proposals must include a developed monitoring and evaluation approach aligned with the ECA MODE Framework and MyGrants RPM reporting requirements. Final funding decisions are made by the Assistant Secretary, and only an ECA Grants Officer may issue an award. The anticipated award date is October 1, 2026. During implementation, the recipient will be subject to programmatic, financial, branding, reporting, visa-administration, and participant-monitoring requirements, as well as the Department's substantial involvement in selections, host campus approvals, professional development activities, alumni activities, and communications strategy.

Align the proposal closely to U.S. foreign policy priorities and the Humphrey program design; show strong institutional capacity in international exchanges and federal fund management; present a detailed host institution, fellow selection, placement, and participant support plan; include a clear MODE-aligned monitoring and evaluation approach; keep costs reasonable and overhead low while maximizing program impact.