other · DOS-ECA

FY 2027 Fulbright Scholar Program

Bureau Of Educational and Cultural Affairs · DFOP0018696

Closed

Award Range

$8.7M – $8.7M

Expected Awards

Deadline

August 14, 2026

GRANTQUICK SUMMARYPlain-English Overview

State Department's ECA Bureau is awarding one massive $8.65M cooperative agreement for the FY 2027 Fulbright Scholar Program — the flagship U.S. international academic exchange program. This funds the organization that ADMINISTERS the program (recruiting, selecting, placing, and supporting ~970 Fulbright scholars annually). This is not a grant for individual scholars — it's to run the entire program infrastructure.

Who Should Apply

ONLY large nonprofit organizations with decades of experience administering major international academic exchange programs at scale. Must have infrastructure to manage ~970 scholars across 160+ countries.

Who Should NOT Apply

Individual scholars, universities wanting to host Fulbrighters, small nonprofits, or any organization without massive international exchange program management capacity.

Key Requirements (Plain English)

•Must administer the entire Fulbright Scholar Program
•Must manage ~970 annual awards across 160+ countries
•Single award of $8.65M
•Must handle recruitment, selection, placement, and support
•Must have existing international exchange infrastructure
•No cost-sharing required

💡 GrantQuick Tip

The Fulbright Scholar Program has been administered by the same organization (IIE/CIES) for decades. This re-competition has an extremely strong incumbent. Unless you can demonstrate equivalent global academic exchange infrastructure managing nearly 1,000 scholars annually, this isn't a realistic opportunity. The Fulbright brand and its institutional relationships are irreplaceable short-term.

Competitiveness: Effectively non-competitive — strong incumbent with decades of program history. Only 1-2 organizations globally could credibly propose.

What This Grant Funds

The Fulbright U.S. and Visiting Scholar Programs annually provide approximately 970 awards to U.S. scholars and professionals to lecture and/or conduct research overseas and approximately 1,025 awards to visiting (non-U.S.) scholars to lecture and/or conduct research in the United States. In addition to the core U.S. and Visiting Scholar Program components, the agreement also includes, but is not limited to, the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program (S-I-R); Global Scholars Program; International Education Administrator Seminars (IEA) seminars; Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund (OLF); research-based, cohort programs to address priority policy areas; and other special awards that align with U.S. government priorities.

Please read the Notice of Funding Opportunity and POGI for additional details.