The 2008 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

1. The 2008 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

2. Overview • The Catalog brings together, in one publication, all of the federal programs that are available from federal departments and agencies. • These programs provide assistance, both financial and non-financial, to the American public. • Contains information for organizations or individuals who want to apply for the benefits available from these programs.

3. The GSA • The Catalog has been published by the GSA (General Services Administration) since 1984, when responsibility for the Catalog was transferred from the Office of Management and Budget to the GSA, which is an independent government agency. • The GSA was created, in part, to help streamline the functions of all federal agencies. The Catalog is one of the products of this effort.

4. 20 Basic Categories

5. Organization • There is an introductory section, which gives a background of the Catalog and also has information about the content and organization. • The introduction has a list of all the different types of assistance, lettered A-O, for example ‘Project Grants’ has been assigned the letter ‘B’ as its code. • There are three major sections: the indices, the program descriptions, and the appendices.

6. The Indices • An important place for any user to start. • Six indices: the Agency Index Summary, the Agency Program Index, the Functional Index Summary/Functional Index, the Subject Index, the Applicant Eligibility Index, and the Deadlines Index. • The indices give the user several options when looking up a program. For instance, if a user knew the name of the program he or she was looking for, the Agency Program Index could be consulted.

7. The Program Descriptions • There are over 1500 pages of program descriptions. • Listed by Categories and subcategories in the indices. • Programs are assigned a five-digit program identification number and listed under a department heading, such as ‘Department of the Interior’. • For example, under the category, ‘Department of the Interior,’ one could find the program ‘Forests and Woodlands Resource Management,’ which has been assigned the program number ’15.233’.

8. The Appendices • There are seven appendices, which contain information on laws that authorize the different programs, department and agency contact information, sources of additional information, tips on how to write grant proposals, and a historical profile of catalog programs.

9. The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (45.313) “…to support projects to develop faculty and library leaders, to recruit and educate the next generation of librarians, to conduct research, to attract high school and college students to consider careers in libraries, to build institutional capacity in graduate schools of library and information science, and to assist in the professional development of librarians and library staff.”

10. Additional Resources • http://www.cfda.gov • The 2008 and 2009 editions of the Catalog are available online as a free downloadable PDF file.