The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Veterans Sports Programs & Special Events (NVSPSE) announces the availability of $16,000,000 (subject to the availability of Federal funds) for the VA Adaptive Sports Grant Program to fund adaptive sports opportunities, such as cycling, fishing and pickleball.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/19/2026
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The mission of the NVSPSE office is to provide opportunities for Veterans to improve their independence, well-being, and quality of life through adaptive sports and therapeutic arts programs. The Adaptive Sports Grant Program aids in meeting this mission by awarding grants to Non-Federal Government entities with significant experience in managing a large-scale adaptive sports program to plan, develop, manage, and implement programs to provide adaptive sports opportunities for disabled Veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces. These grants support the President’s priority to increase the excellence of and options for care, benefits, and services for veterans.
The Adaptive Sports Grant Program provides grants to eligible entities to plan, develop, manage, and implement programs to provide adaptive sports activities for Veterans and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities. This program provides opportunities for Veterans to improve their independence, well-being, and quality of life through adaptive sports programs.
Funding Priorities
The primary goal for this NOFO is to seek eligible entities that have expertise to meet the needs and priorities for Veterans with disabilities and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities.
Priorities to be supported by this NOFO are:
- Providing adaptive sports in assorted activities that are of interest to Veterans and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities;
- Providing adaptive sports for Veterans and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities in geographic regions where limited adaptive sports opportunities are available for this population; and
- In-person or web-based training for VA adaptive sports providers that minimizes required travel and maximizes effectiveness.
Goals and Objectives
- The objective of the NVSPSE office is to provide opportunities for Veterans to improve their independence, well-being, and quality of life through adaptive sports and therapeutic arts programs. VA makes awards to qualifying organizations to plan, develop, manage, and implement programs to provide adaptive sports and recreation opportunities for disabled Veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces. These grant programs expand the reach of VA to provide adaptive sports opportunities to Veterans with disabilities.
- VA will submit a Congressional Mandated Report (CMR) on the impact of the programming provided through the Adaptive Sports Grant Program funded by this NOFO. Outcomes reported include total adaptive sports opportunities provided, geographic diversity of programming provided, number of unique Veterans served, and funding utilization.
Funding Information
Maximum funding set per organization at $750,000.
Grant Period
12 months
Eligibility Criteria
- An applicant must qualify as a Non-Federal Government entity with significant experience in managing a large-scale adaptive sports program, as defined for persons with disabilities if those disabilities are the same as those of Veterans with disabilities, and members of the Armed Forces with disabilities.
- To demonstrate significant experience, all the key personnel identified in the adaptive sports grant application of the entity must have experience implementing the adaptive sports activities to be provided and have experience working with persons with disabilities that many disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces to be served through the adaptive sports grant have. The experience must be for two continuous years immediately prior to the date of submission to VA of the grant application. When more than one entity would be engaged in the provision of the adaptive sport activities, the entity applying for the adaptive sports grant must provide documentation that verifies that through the partnership, it has the experience necessary to implement all the adaptive sports activities proposed in the adaptive sports grant application. 38 C.F.R. 77.2 defines a large-scale adaptive sports program as:
- An adaptive sports program of a National Paralympic Committee (NPC) or of a National Governing Body (NGB) that is authorized to provide Paralympic sports programs in one or more States;
- An adaptive sports program of a NGB that has been recognized by an external validating authority if the programs validated by that authority would meet the requirements of paragraph (3) of this definition if considered one program; and
- An adaptive sports program in which at least 50 persons with disabilities participate or in which the persons with disabilities who participate in the program reside in at least five different congressional districts.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
