On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” which directs federal agencies to strengthen oversight over the discretionary grant process to ensure grants advance American interests, reflect presidential priorities, and eliminate funding for activities deemed inconsistent with those values. 

Under the order, there are some  structural shifts  that could impact the grantmaking process, including: an effort to streamline the grant application process; a focus on making awards to a broad range of recipients and discouraging awards to repeat recipients;  a move to centralize control under senior political appointees; and an emphasis on the potential for an award to be terminated if it is deemed to no longer be in alignment with “agency priorities or the national interest.”  

 For future grants and discretionary awards, every new award must be reviewed and approved by a senior appointee or their designee. This includes both the pre-award phase (before a grant is announced) and the post-award phase (review of performance and continued alignment with agency priorities). This has the potential to introduce delays into the grantmaking process. 

Potential Impacts to Grantees 
The executive order introduces a number of changes that may directly affect how NADO members engage with federal grant programs. Below is a summary of the most relevant potential impacts: 

• Simplified Applications: The executive order calls for simplified and more accessible grant applications. This could benefit smaller or newer organizations that may lack the legal or technical infrastructure to navigate traditionally complex federal grant processes. 

• Increased Scrutiny: Federal agencies are now required to conduct more rigorous reviews of grant applications to ensure alignment with both agency-specific objectives and broader national priorities. This added layer of review could result in delays in funding decisions or increased documentation requirements. 

• Restricted Project Types: Grants supporting activities that involve racial preferences, gender ideology, assistance to undocumented immigrants, or initiatives perceived as “anti-American” are now deemed ineligible for federal funding. Organizations involved in such programs may need to reassess current or planned initiatives to avoid ineligibility. 

• Termination Risk:  The executive order emphasizes changes to the Uniform Guidance that would require all discretionary grants to be terminated in the event that a funding opportunity “no longer advances agency priorities or the national interest.” This may introduce greater funding uncertainty, particularly for multi-year grants or long-term initiatives. 

• Cost Limits: The order places caps on administrative and facility cost reimbursements, which could disproportionately affect institutions with higher overhead rates, such as research universities and hospitals. 

•  Range of Recipients: Agencies are encouraged to make awards to a broad range of recipients, rather than to a “select group of repeat players.” . While this may create access for new and diverse organizations, it could also introduce new competition for experienced applicants who have historically received repeat funding. 

• Scientific Rigor: There is a renewed emphasis on “Gold Standard Science” and research reproducibility. Institutions with strong records of scientific integrity may benefit, while those with fewer resources or emerging programs may face higher barriers to demonstrating rigor. 

• Compliance Burden: New requirements for detailed justifications of grant fund drawdowns are expected to increase administrative responsibilities, particularly for finance and compliance teams tasked with managing federal awards. 

Looking Ahead 
NADO will continue to monitor developments closely—such as agency guidance, legal challenges to the order’s provisions, and potential adjustments in implementation that could affect grant eligibility, compliance requirements, and administrative processes.