How to use The Grant Map

Public feature | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

1. Find your city

Use the homepage city search or the full city list to open the research directory for your location.

Steps

1. Open the homepage and type a city name into the search field.
2. Choose the matching city and state from the real result links. If several places share a name, confirm the state before opening one.
3. If your city is not found, open Browse cities to check the full list before requesting future research.

Expected result: A public city page opens with program cards, research controls, source status, and local actions.

If you do not find your city

• Try the city without a neighborhood, county, or ZIP code.
• Use the request form on the homepage to help prioritize research. Coverage and a later notification are not guaranteed.

Related: National research and how to find home-improvement assistance.

Public feature | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

2. Filter a city directory

City filters help you narrow a research list by repair type and other public categories.

Steps

1. Open your city page and review the explanation above the results.
2. Select a project or household filter that describes what you want to research.
3. Read the remaining card summaries. Open a program detail page before acting on a result.
4. Clear or change filters when the result list is empty. Broadening a filter does not change the underlying records.

Expected result: The city page shows a narrower set of research records without calling them approved or guaranteed matches.

Limits and recovery

• An empty filtered list can mean no stored card has those tags. It is not proof that no assistance exists.
• Return to the unfiltered city list and contact the relevant administrator if the repair is urgent.

Related: How we verify data.

Public feature | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

3. Read a program record and verify its source

A program detail page organizes the stored description, review information, possible fit, paperwork notes, and cited source controls.

Steps

1. Open a program card and read the full detail page, including the benefit type and any repayment language.
2. Check the visible review status and date. Treat missing, partial, or older evidence as a reason to verify more carefully.
3. Open the official source and confirm service area, applicant rules, current funding, deadline, benefit terms, and how to apply.
4. Contact the administrator when the official page is unclear or conflicts with the directory record.

Expected result: You leave with a cited question list and an official next contact, not a promise of eligibility or money.

If the source is unavailable

• Do not rely on a cached amount or deadline as current.
• Use the correction link on the record or contact us with the public source you found.

Related: Research methodology and grants compared with loans.

Public Farm & Rural pilot | UI and sources reviewed July 25, 2026

Use the Farm & Rural map

The map lets you browse every reviewed pilot record, filter the catalog, and optionally compare a privacy-minimal profile with stored program facts.

Steps

1. Open Farm & Rural. Browse all records or filter by mechanism, reviewed status, and Iowa or national scope.
2. If you want screening, choose only the applicant, project, location, and reviewed definition categories you can answer. Leave uncertain answers unselected.
3. Select Screen programs. Your saved choices stay on this browser and device for up to thirty days and are sent to The Grant Map only when you submit the screening form.
4. Open a record and read its audience, project scope, availability note, evidence boundary, and dated official sources.
5. Ask the administrator to confirm current eligibility, funding, timing, forms, and any rule that affects action or spending.

Expected result: A shorter, better-organized research list and a set of official questions. It is not an application or approval result.

Privacy and recovery

• Do not enter revenue, net worth, acreage, an address, farm number, tax ID, account information, or documents. The form does not ask for them.
• Use Clear saved choices to remove the local profile. Private browsing, clearing site data, or changing devices can also remove it.
• An empty filter result means no stored record has those selected tags. It does not prove that no assistance exists.

Related: What EQIP is and how to approach NRCS and how Farm funding mechanisms differ.

Screening semantics | Matcher and evidence registry reviewed July 25, 2026

Read possible, unknown, unlikely, and strong results

Each label describes the relationship between your categorical answers and the evidence stored for that record. It is not the administrator's decision.

What each label means

Possible

The selected applicant and project categories fit and no blocking unknown remains. This is still not an eligibility conclusion.

Unknown or more facts needed

The stored evidence or your profile lacks a fact needed for a narrower result. Unknown stays unknown until a reviewed fact supports a different label.

Unlikely

At least one selected fact conflicts with a stored condition, such as geography, applicant type, project type, utility, operation stage, rural definition, event status, or closure.

Strong

A complete, source-cited reviewed rule would have to match every criterion with no mismatch or unresolved fact.

Why the pilot has no strong results

Every current Farm & Rural source review is partial, and the eligibility-rule registry contains no complete rule. The matcher therefore cannot return strong for the present pilot. That is an evidence boundary, not a negative funding decision.

Steps after screening

1. Start with possible records, but read their unresolved facts and official sources before treating them as candidates.
2. For unknown records, identify the missing fact and ask the administrator rather than guessing.
3. For unlikely records, read the conflict. Correct your profile if your answer was wrong; otherwise treat the mismatch as a reason to look elsewhere.
4. Recheck the official source even when its link works. A working page proves neither current funds nor eligibility.

Expected result: You can explain why each record has its label and what to verify next without calling any result approved.

Related: What Farm availability labels mean and the reviewed Farm & Rural pilot.

Public feature | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

4. Screen possible matches with the qualifier

The qualifier uses ranges and categories such as location, household, project, occupancy, and income band. It does not ask for bank records or a raw income figure.

Before you begin

Know your city, whether you own or rent, the repair category, household size range, and the best truthful income band. Choose unknown when a fact is not known.

Steps

1. Open Find programs and answer only what you know.
2. Submit the screening profile and read why each record appears.
3. Open the program source and verify every rule with its administrator.
4. Change an answer and run the screen again if you entered the wrong category.

Expected result: A conservative list of possible or unknown records with explanations and verification steps.

If results look wrong

• Review city, occupancy, household, project, and range answers for accidental conflicts.
• A missing answer can keep a result unknown. Do not guess just to produce a stronger label.

Related: How income limits work.

Public device-local feature | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

5. Organize research in Journey

Journey is a device-local organizer for notes and progress. It is separate from the signed-in My workspace.

Steps

1. Open Journey on the device you plan to keep using.
2. Add or review the program research and move your own organizer items through their available states.
3. Use the official administrator channel to apply. Record that step in Journey only after you actually complete it.
4. Use the signed-in workspace when you need server-stored saves and eligible account records across sessions.

Expected result: A personal research checklist on this device, not an application status from the administrator.

Recovery and privacy

• Private browsing, clearing site data, or switching browsers or devices can remove or hide Journey state.
• Do not store Social Security numbers, bank information, or document images in notes.

Related: Signed-in workspace and privacy policy.

Public paperwork tools | Reviewed July 20, 2026

Prepare, review, and submit your own application

On a program detail page, the paperwork module may show a curated official form, filing steps, a document list, and a printable preparation checklist. What appears depends on the evidence stored for that exact program.

Steps

1. Confirm that the program name, administrator, service area, and benefit type match the help you intend to request.
2. Open the cited official source and ask the administrator to confirm current funding, deadlines, forms, documents, bid rules, and whether work must wait for written approval.
3. On the paperwork module, treat a curated program-specific list as researched guidance and a general checklist as planning examples. The administrator's current list controls.
4. Download a blank preparation checklist if useful. Keep Social Security numbers, bank details, medical records, income documents, signatures, and other sensitive material out of public site forms and notes.
5. Complete and submit the application through the administrator's official channel, then record your real progress in Journey or My Grant Map.

Expected result: An organized packet and a verified submission route. Eligibility, completeness, funding, and the decision still come from the administrator.

The narrow official-PDF helper

Only official PDFs in the small, reviewed safe-prefill registry can produce a draft. Each supported form has an explicit map of permitted fields; sensitive fields, signatures, dates, and every unmapped field remain blank. You review, finish, sign, and submit the form yourself; The Grant Map never auto-submits it.

Related: Application-preparation guide and application FAQ.

Public exact-city request | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

6. Request city program-change alerts

Alerts are tied to one city and report qualifying changes that scheduled checks detect. They are not a periodic digest.

Steps

1. Open the correct city page and find the city alerts section.
2. Enter the email address where you want alerts and submit the form.
3. Read the on-screen saved result. A later alert email is possible only if scheduled checks detect a qualifying change, and delivery is not guaranteed. Continue checking official administrators yourself.

Expected result: A saved request for that exact city. No email is sent when no qualifying change is detected.

Stop or recover alerts

• Use the unsubscribe link in any alert email to stop nonessential messages.
• If a valid address remains paused because of a bounce, complaint, or global suppression, contact support@thegrantmap.com.

Related: Frequently asked questions.

Public consent control | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

7. Request, or decline, a contractor introduction

The city project form separates program information from contractor routing. The sharing checkbox controls the request for this submission.

Before you submit

Read the full consent text. Uncheck the box if you want program information only.

Steps

1. Enter the project and privacy-minimal screening information requested by the city form.
2. Keep the contractor-sharing box checked only if you want the introduction request.
3. Submit the form. Every matching directory listing with a usable business email may receive the same contact-free offer, whether claimed or unclaimed.
4. Your name, email, property address, and free-text description stay locked. Exactly one eligible contractor may unlock them after claiming, satisfying the account requirements, signing in, explicitly accepting, and finalizing first.

Expected result: Program information is prepared, and contractor routing is attempted only when the exact submission carries consent and passes routing checks.

Change your choice

• Uncheck before submitting to request program information without contractor routing.
• If you already submitted and want to withdraw the introduction request, contact support promptly. A contractor who already accepted an authorized offer may already have received the unlocked contact.

Related: Contractor-sharing privacy details and public contractor directory.

Public pricing and sample | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

8. Understand listings, offers, and lead pricing

The contractor page explains the live pay-per-accepted-lead model before you claim a listing or review any private account workflow.

Current terms

• Listing and claiming: $0, no card, and no monthly subscription.
• First accepted compatible lead: one free credit when available.
• Later paid leads that pass the sellability checks range from $20 to $500. The exact one-time price appears before acceptance and reflects the job, its scope, the local market, and lead quality.
• Every matching directory listing with a usable business email may receive the contact-free offer, whether claimed or unclaimed.
• The first eligible contractor to complete a free-credit acceptance or finalized paid acceptance owns the lead, and it closes to everyone else. Exactly one contractor receives the homeowner's contact. Nobody else is charged, uses a free credit, or receives the homeowner's contact. Ignoring an offer costs nothing.
• A lead with insufficient core information is not sold at a lower price. A valid micro job below the paid range may use an available free credit or remain unpriced.
• Duplicate, invalid-contact, or outside-area reports are eligible for review when submitted within 7 days.

Steps

1. Read For contractors, including the contact-free sample and current pricing table.
2. Search the contractor directory for your business. Claiming verifies possession only, not quality.
3. Set accurate trades and service areas in your account so routing can check fit.
4. Review each contact-free offer while signed in. Accept only when the fit and displayed exact price work for you. Every matching directory listing with a usable business email may receive the offer, but only the first eligible completed acceptance wins.
5. For a paid offer, contact stays locked until the displayed charge finalizes and an entitlement is accepted. A winning free-credit acceptance closes the lead in the same way.

Expected result: You can decide whether to list and whether to accept each offer without a subscription or hidden recurring charge.

Help and education

• Report an eligible problem through the lead workflow within 7 days.
• Read the field guide for serving homeowners researching assistance.

Related: Questions to ask any lead service.

Public claim and activation flow | Policy and UI reviewed July 25, 2026

Claim a contractor listing and understand automatic activation

A claim verifies control of the usable public business email already stored for a listing. It does not prove quality, ownership, licensing, insurance, program experience, or endorsement.

Steps

1. Search the public contractor directory for your business and open its claim page.
2. Review the public listing and its masked business email. If no usable public business email is on file, the listing is not claimable today. There is no text-code or manual possession-proof route.
3. Request the email claim link, open it to preview the claim, and explicitly confirm the claim.
4. Provide the required contact name, business name, valid non-disposable email, supported city, category, trades, and service areas accurately.
5. The system checks possession, required profile fields, supported service areas, contact safety, and deterministic duplicates. A fresh registration also needs verified email and its registration security checks.

What happens next

• If the activation bar passes: a pending or unclaimed listing becomes active automatically. The transition is recorded and activation notices are queued, but delivery is not guaranteed.
• If the bar does not pass: the listing stays pending and the account shows a localized checklist of items to complete. Saving eligible corrections allows the activation bar to run again.
• After activation: matching may reconsider waiting contact-free offers. Homeowner identity and contact remain locked until the source submission carries exact contractor-sharing consent, listing possession is currently verified, the active contractor explicitly accepts the offer while signed in, and the required entitlement is accepted.

Expected result: The dashboard shows active or pending with actionable account-state information. Neither state guarantees work, a program outcome, or access to homeowner data.

Related: Current contractor terms and the contact-free offer example.

Public offer | Commercial terms reviewed July 18, 2026

Apply for an approved city sponsorship

The implemented public offer is $149 per month for each approved city, month to month. The application is not a charge.

Steps

1. Open Advertise and review the moderation and prohibited-content rules.
2. Choose the city, business category, and current monthly plan, then submit the application.
3. The founder reviews local relevance, availability, destination, claims, and creative before any checkout is offered.
4. If approved, review the exact terms and secure checkout separately.

Expected result: A sponsorship application is submitted for review. Approval, response timing, traffic, leads, and sales are not guaranteed.

Important limits

• Approved sponsorships are labeled and moderated.
• Sponsors do not affect organic program ordering, screening results, or contractor selection.
• No annual tier, free creative service, reporting package, renewal promise, or refund workflow is promised on this guide.

Public partner entry points | UI reviewed July 18, 2026

9. Share a correction or explore partner tools

Use the public partner pages for program-data collaboration, the city-finder demo, data access, or a bounded partnership inquiry.

Before you begin

Have the official public source URL, administrator name, service area, current program title, and the exact field that needs correction.

Steps

1. Open Partnership programs and choose the tool that matches your purpose.
2. For a correction, send the exact public record, official source, and requested change through Contact or the partner inquiry.
3. For a city-finder embed, review the live demo and its installation notes.
4. Do not include resident records, applicant documents, private case notes, credentials, or customer personal information.

Expected result: You identify the correct public tool or send a reviewable, cited inquiry without exposing applicant data.

If information is urgent

• Keep the official administrator page updated first. The administrator remains the authority.
• Use a concise subject and include the public source. Submission does not promise publication or response timing.

Related: How we verify data and public dataset health.