The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) has two funding streams, and applicants are often unsure which one they belong to. The short answer: you do not choose. Your facility’s physical address determines it, checked against the list of designated urban areas for the current cycle.
This guide explains what each stream funds, how to confirm which one applies, how the two competitive pools differ, and what to do when an organization runs facilities on both sides of the line.
Two Streams Under One Program
NSGP is one program with two funding streams. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) publishes a single Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) each cycle that covers both. NSGP-UA serves nonprofits located inside a designated high-risk urban area. NSGP-S serves nonprofits located outside those areas.
Congress sets separate allocations for the two streams, and each is scored and awarded on its own. A nonprofit in Brooklyn does not compete against a nonprofit in rural Ohio. They sit in different pools, with different dollar amounts and different funded percentages each cycle.
Stream determination is the first step in any NSGP application. Submitting to the wrong stream leads to disqualification before scoring begins.
What NSGP-UA Covers
NSGP-UA funds nonprofit organizations whose facilities sit inside a FEMA-designated high-risk urban area for that fiscal year. These areas fall under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), which is part of FEMA’s Homeland Security Grant Program and directs preparedness funding to high-threat, high-density urban regions.
Designated urban areas in recent cycles have included major metropolitan regions such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, the Washington D.C. National Capital Region, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth, Boston, Philadelphia, and Miami and Fort Lauderdale, among others. The list changes from year to year. The authoritative list for any given cycle is published in Appendix B of that cycle’s NSGP NOFO.
The boundary is administrative, not intuitive. A nonprofit in a suburb inside the designated footprint is NSGP-UA. A nonprofit just outside the same footprint is NSGP-S. NSGP-UA applications route through the State Administrative Agency (SAA) for the state in which the urban area sits.
What NSGP-S Covers
NSGP-S funds nonprofit organizations whose facilities sit outside any designated high-risk urban area. This covers smaller metros, mid-sized cities, towns, and rural areas across all fifty states and the territories.
NSGP-S applicants include synagogues, churches, mosques, day schools, community centers, and cultural institutions in mid-sized capitals not in a designated area, college towns, non-urban suburban counties, rural congregations, and tribal community organizations.
NSGP-S applications also route through the SAA, but compete against other NSGP-S applicants within the same state, separate from the NSGP-UA pool.
The eligibility rules for the nonprofit itself are the same across both streams. What differs is the competitive pool and the funded percentages in any given cycle.
How to Confirm Your Stream
Stream determination starts with the current cycle’s list of designated urban areas and your facility’s physical address. It is not a one-time exercise. Organizations that relied on a prior year’s designation have submitted to the wrong stream and been disqualified.
The verification steps:
- Pull the list of designated urban areas from the current NSGP NOFO (Appendix B).
- Identify the urban area nearest your facility.
- Check whether your facility’s location falls inside that urban area’s footprint as defined for the current cycle.
- If your facility is anywhere near the boundary, confirm with the SAA. The footprint is set by the Urban Area Working Group and does not always follow city or county lines.
Common edge cases:
- Facility near the boundary. A congregation whose address sits close to the edge of a designated area needs SAA confirmation. The SAA has the final administrative answer because it routes the application.
- Recently added or removed area. A metro added or removed this cycle changes the stream for every nonprofit in that footprint. Prior-cycle assignments do not carry forward.
- Multi-site organization. Some facilities inside a designated area, some outside. Each is evaluated independently.
- Suburban facility, urban mailing address. The mailing address is irrelevant. Physical location determines the stream.
The check is short, but the cost of getting it wrong is the full cycle.
Comparison Table
| Factor | NSGP-UA | NSGP-S |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | Nonprofit located inside a designated high-risk urban area | Nonprofit located outside any designated urban area |
| Funding source | UASI-area NSGP allocation | State NSGP allocation |
| Competitive pool | Other nonprofits within the same urban area | Other non-urban nonprofits within the same state |
| Maximum per site | $200,000 | $200,000 |
| Maximum per organization | Up to three sites per stream, $600,000 per state. An organization with sites in both UA and S areas in a state may apply for up to six sites total, three per stream, still capped at $600,000 per state. | Same |
| Allowable cost categories | Planning, Organization, Equipment, Training and Exercises, Maintenance and Sustainment, Construction and Renovation, Contracted Security Personnel (M&A capped at 5%) | Same |
| Investment Justification | Same federal IJ form, same scored sections | Same |
| Vulnerability assessment | One per site, required | One per site, required |
| Mission statement | Required | Required |
| Submission route | Through the SAA | Through the SAA |
| Period of performance | 36 months | 36 months |
Per-site and per-state caps and allowable cost categories can change between cycles. Confirm them in the active NOFO before applying.
The Application Is the Same Across Both Streams
The federal application package is structurally identical for NSGP-UA and NSGP-S. An organization that builds a complete package for one stream has built it for the other.
The documents that look the same in both streams:
- Investment Justification (IJ): one per site, same federal form (FEMA Form FF-207-FY-21-115)
- Vulnerability assessment: one per site, same format
- Mission statement: same purpose and content
- Budget detail: same allowable cost categories
- IRS 501(c)(3) status
- Authorizing official signatures
What differs is routing. The SAA places UA submissions in the urban-area pool and S submissions in the state pool, and some SAAs ask for additional cover documents specific to one stream.
The narrative inside the IJ is written the same way regardless of stream. The IJ is scored against the same federal sections in both: background, risk (threat, vulnerability, and consequence), facility hardening, milestones, project management, and impact. The IJ is where most applicants succeed or fall short, in either stream.
Multi-Site Applicants Spanning Both Streams
A nonprofit operating multiple facilities can apply for up to three sites per stream. When some facilities sit inside a designated urban area and others sit outside, the organization runs parallel applications: NSGP-UA for the urban-area facilities and NSGP-S for the others.
How the structure works:
- One organization-level mission statement, reused across both applications, with location-specific framing where needed.
- One IJ per site, on the federal form.
- One vulnerability assessment per site.
- One budget per site.
- SAA cover documents identify which site goes to which stream.
Here is the point most applicants get wrong. An organization with sites in both UA and S areas in a state may apply for up to six sites total: three under NSGP-UA and three under NSGP-S. The total request still cannot exceed $600,000 per state. So an organization can submit for both streams in the same cycle, as long as each site is assigned to the stream that matches its physical address.
Multi-site applicants spanning both streams often see one site funded and another denied in the same cycle, because the two pools have different funded thresholds. That is expected. The strategy is to make each site’s IJ stand on its own against its own pool.
Funded Percentages and Award Trends
Funded percentages vary between cycles and between streams. The funded percentage in any given state for any given cycle depends on the appropriation level set by Congress and on the number of applicants, and it varies by state because SAA-level ranking happens before FEMA’s review.
Cycle-level percentages change every year. The funded percentage in the prior cycle is not a guarantee for the current one. Appropriations move, applicant counts move, and SAA ranking thresholds move with them.
What does not move is the scoring framework and the structural requirements of the application. An IJ that scores in the funded range under one cycle’s percentages typically scores in the funded range under the next, because the score reflects document quality against a stable rubric, not the funding environment.
What This Means for Your Organization
Before anything else, confirm your stream. Pull the current cycle’s designated-area list, check your facility address, and contact the SAA if you are anywhere near a boundary. Getting this right is the difference between a scored application and a rejected one.
After that, the work is the same in either stream: a vulnerability assessment for each site, an Investment Justification that ties proposed projects to documented risk, a mission statement, and a budget within the allowable categories and caps. If you operate in both urban and non-urban areas, you may be eligible for more sites than you think, up to six in a single state, split three and three across the two streams.
What We Do
Security Grant Advisors handles stream verification, Investment Justification drafting, vulnerability assessment review, budget assembly, and submission through the SAA for NSGP-UA and NSGP-S applicants in all fifty states. Stream determination is the first step in every engagement. For multi-site organizations spanning both streams, we structure parallel applications so each site competes effectively in its own pool.
Still Have Questions?
If any of this is confusing, or you want to talk through how it applies to your organization, we are happy to help. You can book a free consultation with SGA here: [link]. You can also call us at (855) 674-7946.
Related reading
- Understanding the NSGP Investment Justification
- What a vulnerability assessment really requires
- Book a free consultation
Official sources
- FEMA Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP): https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/nonprofit-security
- FEMA Homeland Security Grant Program (includes UASI): https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/homeland-security
- Grants.gov opportunity portal: https://www.grants.gov/
- SAM.gov (Unique Entity Identifier registration): https://sam.gov/
- FEMA State Administrative Agency (SAA) contacts: https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/state-administrative-agency-contacts
State Administrative Agencies publish state-specific instructions, stream routing, and submission portals. Confirm the current cycle’s designated urban areas (Appendix B of the active NSGP NOFO) and your SAA contact before submitting.