Funding Curves: Grantmaking over Time by Agency

The following interactive funding curves are adapted from Jeremy Berg, using data publicly available on NIH RePORTER and NSF. These visualizations demonstrate differences in the cumulative number of awards and cumulative amount obligated across NIH or NSF awards from fiscal year (FY) 2021 to 2026.

For more discussions about these funding curves, read the related articles published by Nature and Science.

NIH Graphs

Click or move your cursor along the graph to compare data across FY 2021 to 2026.

The tooltip will provide information about a given day compared to previous fiscal years. The black dotted line represents today’s date, while the bolded orange line demonstrates the trends for FY 2025 and the bolded red line demonstrates the current trend for FY 2026, with the remaining lines demonstrating trends from FY 2021-2024. The FY runs from October 1st of the previous year through September 30th of the current year.

Overview

The above visualizations are restricted to Type 1 (new) and Type 5 (non-competing continuation) grants, to be consistent with the method that NIH RePORTER chose to display funding curves. More information about the different types of NIH grants can be found here.

From these graphs, we can see that there was a significant lag in FY 2025 funding, which occurred during the spring and into the summer (March through August). This is consistent with reported disruptions to grant review and funding processes that occurred in 2025.

  • Specifically, the total number of awards made in FY 2025 is .
  • This total number is less than the average number of awards across FY 2021 - 2024, which was .
  • Similarly, the total funding obligated across these awards was less in FY 2025, which was .
  • This is compared to the average amount obligated across FY 2021 through 2024, which was .
  • Additionally, we are seeing a lag in awards made in FY 2026 so far, with only awards.
  • The cumulative cost from these obligations in FY 2026 is .

By Award Type

The following graphs visualize funding across FY based on award types, comparing new and competitive renewal awards (Type 1, 2, 4, 9) with non-competitive renewal awards (Type 5, 6, 7, 8). More information about the different types of NIH grants can be found here.

  • New applications are the first request for funding for a project that has not previously received that specific grant.
  • Competitive Renewals are requests for continued funding after the original project period ends; these applications go through full peer review and must compete again for funding.
  • In contrast, Non-Competitive Renewals provide continued funding for the next budget period within an already approved multi-year project and generally do not undergo full peer review, assuming satisfactory progress and compliance with administrative requirements.
  • In FY 2025, the total number of New and Competitively Renewed awards (n = ) was lower than previous years.
  • The average annual total in the previous four FYs was awards.
  • So far, in FY 2026, New and Competitive Renewal awards have been made.
  • Similar trends are observed for Non-Competitive Renewals, where by the end of FY 2025, awards had been made.
  • This is compared with an average year-end total of awards across FY 2021–2024.
  • Currently in FY 2026, only Non-Competitive Renewal Awards have been made so far.

By Institutes and Centers (ICs)

Use the following drop-down to compare FY trends in award types based on NIH Institute or Center.

These visualizations demonstrate that there is a difference in the number of awards and amount of funding obligated in FY 2025 to 2026 when filtering by IC.

For example, based on your selection of Awards in , the following totals are determined:

  • In FY 2025, only awards had been awarded.
  • This is less than the average number of awards granted from FY 2021-2024, which was
  • Currently, in FY 2026, grants have been awarded.

To compare these totals with a different award type from “Advancing Translational Sciences”, select a different “Award Type” radio button.

NSF Graphs

Click or move your cursor along the graph to compare data across FY 2021 to 2026.

The tooltip will provide information about a given day compared to previous fiscal years. The black dotted line represents today’s date, while the bolded orange line demonstrates the trends for FY 2025 and the bolded red line demonstrates the current trend for FY 2026, with the remaining lines demonstrating trends from FY 2021-2024. The FY runs from October 1st of the previous year through September 30th of the current year.

Overview

Similar to the NIH visualizations, through these NSF funding curves, we can see that there was a significant lag in funding during FY 2025 occurring during the spring and into the summer (March through August), which is consistent with reported disruptions to award review and funding processes.

  • The average number of awards across FY 2021 - 2024, which was .
  • That average is greater than total number of awards made in FY 2025, which was only .
  • Similarly, the total funding obligated across these awards was less in FY 2025, which was .
  • This is compared to the average across FY 2021 through 2024, which was .
  • Additionally, we are seeing a lag in awards made in FY 2026 so far, with only awards.
  • The cumulative cost from these obligations in FY 2026 is .

By Directorate

Use the following drop-down to compare trends in FY funding for each NSF Directorate.

These visualizations demonstrate that there is a difference in the number of awards and amount of funding obligated in FY 2025 to 2026 when filtering by NSF Directorate

For example, based on your selection of the , the following totals are determined:

  • However, in FY 2025, only grants had been awarded.
  • This is less than the average number of awards granted from FY 2021-2024, which was
  • Currently, in FY 2026, grants have been awarded.

To compare these trends with other research focuses, use the drop-down menu to select another NSF Directorate.