§7505 Grants

Summary

Within 90 days after money is put into the Fund and the Foundation can use it for administration, the Foundation must create rules for giving out grants. The rules must cover how to apply and review requests; how to pick winners (including talking with the Administrator and the Secretary of the Interior and giving priority to projects where non‑Federal partners share costs); who is eligible (for coastal State grants and for grants to States, local governments, Indian tribes, and groups like nonprofits and universities); how to track performance and keep records; how to run audits of the Fund and of grant recipients (and audit at least once every year if grants were awarded that year); and how to post online a list of all funded projects that shows the recipient, amount, description, and status. The Foundation must send each rule to the Administrator for approval. The Administrator and the Foundation may award grants to coastal States and territories for work consistent with section 7503 and to eligible entities for work consistent with section 7504. When dividing money among States, the Foundation may consider each State’s share of U.S. shoreline miles, coastal population density, and other factors; require a State plan for distributing funds; and set a minimum and maximum share for each State or territory. A State that gets a grant must make sure Indian tribes in the State can take part in any competitive grants. The Foundation may also form an advisory panel to review applications; that panel must include people from ocean/coastal industries, different geographic regions, and academic institutions.