U.S. Embassy & Consulate
in Spain and Andorra

This notice is subject to availability of funding in FY 2022

The Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Mission to Spain and Andorra (PD Spain), which includes the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona, announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications in response to issuance of this Annual Program Statement (APS).

Deadlines for Applications:

First Round:  December 2, 2021
Second Round:  January 15, 2022

* Note: Proposals will be reviewed, and grants issued on a rolling basis, so please do not wait until the deadline to submit your application. It is possible that PD Spain will have no remaining funds after the review panel goes through the proposals received during the First Round.

Program Performance Period:

Proposed projects should generally be completed within 6-12 months, or up to 18 months for bigger, more complex projects. (This includes the time for assessment and evaluation.)

Priority Region:

Spain and Andorra

Program Objectives:

PD Spain welcomes proposals for creative, engaging projects that line up with PD Spain’s main objectives. That includes:

1. 1. Encouraging Spaniards and/or Andorrans to take action in the fight against the climate crisis and supporting U.S. climate policy.
   2. Encouraging Spanish and/or Andorran students to choose the United States for their educational needs, for summer work programs, and for English language learning.
   3. Increasing the number of Spaniards who actively promote U.S.-Spain security and defense partnerships and the NATO Alliance.
   4. Increasing support among university students of the value and importance of Spain hosting the 2022 NATO Summit, the role Spain plays within NATO, and the strategic concept of NATO in the near future.
   5. Developing an awareness and understanding among Spanish society of the value of Women, Peace, and Security initiatives.
   6. Building support for entrepreneurship, innovation, and STEM fields to expand new economic opportunities for youth in Spain and/or Andorra.
   7. Planting the seeds to expand Spanish and Andorran foreign direct investment in the United States, increase awareness of the American way of doing business, and help elevate Spain and Andorra as like-minded players in the global digital economy.
   8. Expanding media literacy outreach and support the media literacy programs by Spanish institutions with useful and accurate tools to increase the understanding of fake news and other malign influence tactics and to render ineffective disinformation campaigns targeting Spain.
   9. Increasing the number of Spaniards and/or Andorrans who agree that the United States, Spain, and the EU share the same values and are committed to promoting respect for human rights.
   10. Stimulating collaborations between Spanish and/or Andorran and American organizations working towards the same common human rights goals.
   11. Sparking discussions in schools and universities across Spain and/or Andorra about difficult subjects, such as LGBTQI+, racism, sexism, and disability rights.
   12. Promoting the rights of and equality for women, ethnic and religious minorities, the LGBTQI+ community, refugees and migrants, disabled individuals, and other disadvantaged or vulnerable populations in Spain and/or Andorra. All programs should ensure they promote diversity and inclusion.

Please be aware that projects funded through this APS must include an American element. That could involve a connection or partnership between Spanish and/or Andorran and American organizations or institutions. For example, an American expert could take part, in person or virtually, in your project. Activities might highlight or examine shared values between Spain and/or Andorra and the United States, national interests, etc. You may incorporate a U.S. approach or method you have learned about to addressing an issue or challenge facing your community, institution, or profession.

Grant activities may take any number of forms, including academic competitions, cross-border exchanges, conferences, workshops, courses, curriculum development, exhibits, hackathons or app development, online projects, mock trials or moot court competitions, simulations and role-playing activities (e.g., Model Congress, Model United Nations), performances, or other activities.

Project timelines should start no earlier than December 1, 2021, and start no later than September 30, 2022, with all activities being completed no later than December 2023.  All activities and your evaluation or assessment of the project should be completed within 18 months of starting the project.

Activities should focus on audiences in Spain and/or Andorra.  However, applicants can certainly include participants or partners from neighboring countries, assuming that makes sense in terms of your project’s objectives.  (See “Participants and Audiences” below.)

Participants and Audiences:  

The challenge or problem you are looking at, your goals and objectives, and the activities will help you determine the participants or primary audiences for your project. You might have secondary audiences or beneficiaries, too. For example, if you are training the teachers in a new teaching methodology, they are your primary audience and all their students who benefit from the updated methodology would be the secondary audience or final beneficiary.

Please note that the participants or audiences for the proposed activity should be citizens or legal residents of Spain. See Funding Restrictions below, however, regarding incorporating participants or audiences from other countries into the project activity. Even if some participants come from a regional neighbor or from the United States, PD Spain is primarily interested in the participants from Spain and the project’s impact on them.

Funding Restrictions:  

You may NOT apply for a grant from PD Spain if your project:

• involves partisan political activity;
• involves charitable activities and/or the distribution of humanitarian aid;
• is a fundraising campaign;
• is commercial in nature, i.e., you or a project partner are making money from this project, or the activity supports a current or future business or entrepreneurial venture.
• involves the provision of health care or services, childcare, food subsidies, or other social services to populations.

Please be aware, too, that this funding opportunity aims to support specific projects with objectives which can be achieved within a set timeframe.  We will not accept applications which are aimed more broadly at supporting your organization’s usual or typical daily activities and operations.  Those will be deemed technically ineligible and will not be considered for funding by the review committee.

Grant funding can be used to cover the cost of travel within the region if attendance by participants from neighboring countries is an essential part of the project.  As a general rule, at least half the participants in your project should still be citizens of Spain. Please contact PD Spain if you have further questions about projects involving participants from other countries besides Spain.

Grant funding can likewise be used to cover the cost of travel between the United States and Spain for program participants if that is an essential part of the project.

As a general rule, participants or audiences should not be charged for taking part in any PD-funded activity.  If you envisage that your project activity will not be free for some reason, please contact PD Spain while you are in the process of completing the application to see whether that could be allowed.  Depending on the funding source, PD may be able to support your project, but only if you can demonstrate how the revenue generated will used to support the larger objectives and explain that your organization will profit from the modest entrance fee.

How to Apply:

The official Grant Application Form can be found in the Documents and Forms section of this webpage. Please review sections D, H and Appendix A of the full APS in English for detailed instructions on how to complete the application. Please note that we do not send out hardcopy versions of the application  documents.

All application materials must be submitted by email to SpainPDGrants@state.gov. If PD Spain does not receive a complete project proposal at the above address by the deadline, it will be considered technically ineligible and will not be considered for funding.

Information Session:

PD Spain will hold a virtual information session on  November 10, 2021 at 11:00 CET to discuss this funding opportunity and to answer questions from potential applicants.  Please register here. If you happen to miss that online session for any reason, you can view the recording via this link (will be uploaded after the event).