Yale Grants Database: Student, SPIN and Federal

“Yale grants database” points at more than one tool. Yale students and alumni use the Yale Student Grants Database to find Yale funding and external fellowships. Yale researchers use a separate set of tools: SPIN (a funding opportunities database), Grants.gov, and the public awarded-grant databases NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search. This guide separates them, says what each official page states about access, and shows how the researcher tools fit together. Everything below is as described on the official pages on 2026-10-29; the programs change, so check the linked page before relying on a detail.

Which Yale grants database do you need?

Start from who you are and what you want to find. The two audiences use different systems run by different offices.

A student or alumnus looking for money for yourself: the Yale Student Grants Database, run through Yale’s Fellowships and Funding office.
A researcher looking for open funding opportunities: SPIN and Grants.gov, described by Yale’s Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP).
A researcher checking what an agency already funds: NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search.
A researcher looking for Yale internal or limited-submission funding: the weekly Funding Opportunities newsletter and InfoReady, described on Yale Research’s funding page.

What it is and who runs it

Yale Student Grants Database (also searched as “Yale student grants database”)

Yale’s Fellowships and Funding office describes the Yale Student Grants Database as the place to “search for Yale funding and external fellowships that have a campus application process.” The office helps students identify funding opportunities and navigate the application process. The database is a campus application directory, not an open web search of every funder.

SPIN, Grants.gov, NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search

Yale’s Office of Sponsored Projects describes SPIN (from InfoEd Global) as a funding opportunities database of about 40,000 opportunities from governments, foundations and companies worldwide, with text search, filters and alerts. Grants.gov is the federal government’s central resource for funding opportunity announcements and the site where federal applications are submitted. NIH and NSF each maintain a public database of grants awarded, and Yale OSP describes them as a valuable tool for assessing whether proposed research is in the realm of what is being funded.

Eligibility and access, as the official pages state it

Access differs by tool. What each official page states is listed here, as described on 2026-10-29.

Yale Student Grants Database: the Fellowships and Funding page states that “alumni can access the Yale Student Grants Database using their Yale netID and password.” Alumni who cannot sign in are pointed to the NetID password reset page or [email protected].
SPIN: Yale Research says Yale subscribes to InfoEd SPIN and describes it as aimed at students, post-docs, faculty, academic staff and other professionals. OSP’s page links to an InfoEd login for access. For account questions, ask your department’s research administrator or OSP.
NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search: OSP describes them as public databases of grants awarded. Grants.gov is the federal government’s central resource for funding opportunity announcements, and OSP lists it alongside the agencies that Yale researchers commonly apply to.
Internal funding and limited submissions: Yale Research describes InfoReady as Yale’s grant management platform for internal and limited-submission grants, with a public review site. Questions go to [email protected].

If you are new to the vocabulary, our guide to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) explains what that office typically does at a university.

What each tool funds or requires

None of these databases is a funder. They are search tools, and each one points to a different stage of finding money.

The Student Grants Database lists Yale funding and external fellowships that have a campus application process, so applying usually goes through Yale as well as the funder.
SPIN and Grants.gov list opportunities. A federal opportunity is published as a funding opportunity announcement (FOA), and Grants.gov is where applications are submitted.
NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search list awards already made. Per the OSP page, records include abstracts, funding announcements, principal investigator and program officer names, dollars awarded, NIH study sections, and funding divisions or institutes.

The agencies OSP lists on its funding page include NSF, NIH, NASA, NEH, NEA, IMLS, USDA, DOE, DOJ, EPA and the State Department (Fulbright), plus DoD programs (AFOSR, ARO, CDMRP, DARPA, ONR) and HHS agencies (AHRQ, CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA).

Application and compliance steps

For students and alumni

Sign in to the Yale Student Grants Database with your Yale netID and password (alumni access is stated on the official page).
Search for Yale funding and external fellowships.
For an entry with a campus application process, follow that process, and use the Fellowships and Funding office for help navigating it.

For researchers: the profile-and-alert workflow

In SPIN or Grants.gov, build a funding profile. OSP’s wording is that “you can develop a funding profile that can be saved and run in real time.”
Turn the profile into alerts. OSP’s wording is “let SPIN do the work by easily setting up daily or weekly alerts” of new or modified opportunities.
Check fit in NIH RePORTER or NSF Award Search by reading funded abstracts, program officers and funding divisions near your idea.
For a federal opportunity you have found, see our guide to Grants.gov Workspace and the entry on Grants.gov registration.

Treat NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search as lookup tools for awards already made. Profiles and email alerts, as OSP describes them, belong to SPIN and Grants.gov.

Typical timeline phases

This is the usual order of work, not a calendar; deadlines come from each funder and from Yale’s internal process.

Set-up: confirm your access (netID sign-in for students and alumni, a SPIN login for researchers).
Discovery: run searches and save a profile.
Monitoring: daily or weekly alerts surface new and modified opportunities.
Fit check: compare your idea with awards already made.
Application: the funder’s rules and Yale’s internal process, including any limited-submission review, apply from here. This sits in the pre-award phase.

Common mistakes

Treating RePORTER or NSF Award Search as an opportunity list. OSP describes them as databases of grants awarded. Use them to judge fit, and use SPIN or Grants.gov for open opportunities.
Assuming one login covers everything. The student database uses a Yale netID; SPIN uses an InfoEd login; NIH RePORTER and NSF Award Search are described as public databases.
Assuming the student database lists every Yale source. Its stated scope is Yale funding and external fellowships with a campus application process.
Skipping the internal channel. Yale Research describes a weekly Funding Opportunities newsletter from the Office of the Provost covering internal funding, limited submissions and selected federal and foundation opportunities.

Related programs and tools

Tool	What the official page says it is	Access as stated
Yale Student Grants Database	Search for Yale funding and external fellowships that have a campus application process	Alumni sign in with Yale netID and password
SPIN (InfoEd)	Funding opportunities database of about 40,000 opportunities, with saved profiles and daily or weekly alerts	Yale subscription; access through an InfoEd login
Grants.gov	The federal government’s central resource for funding opportunity announcements	Federal site; applications to agencies are submitted there
NIH RePORTER	Public database of NIH grants awarded	Public
NSF Award Search	Public database of NSF grants awarded	Public
Funding Opportunities newsletter and InfoReady	Weekly newsletter on internal funding and limited submissions; InfoReady for internal and limited-submission grants	Questions to [email protected]

For background on the agencies behind the awarded-grant databases, see National Science Foundation (NSF) and NIH study sections.

FAQ

What is the Yale Student Grants Database?

It is Yale’s searchable database of Yale funding and external fellowships that have a campus application process, supported by the Fellowships and Funding office.

Can alumni use the Yale student grants database?

Yes. The official page states that alumni can access it with their Yale netID and password. Alumni who cannot sign in can use the NetID password reset page or email [email protected].

Is there a Yale database for researchers to find grants?

Yes. Yale OSP points researchers to SPIN, a funding opportunities database tracking approximately 40,000 opportunities, and to Grants.gov, with saved profiles and daily or weekly alerts.

How do I find out what NIH or NSF already funds?

Use NIH RePORTER or NSF Award Search. OSP says they are public databases of awarded grants, kept up to date to reflect awards made through the last day or two.

Where do I find Yale internal funding?

Yale Research describes a weekly Funding Opportunities newsletter and the InfoReady platform for internal and limited-submission grants.

Sources

Yale Office of Sponsored Projects, “Federal opportunities and funded database”: https://research-support.yale.edu/office-of-sponsored-projects/funding/federal-opportunities-and-funded-database (checked 2026-10-29).
Yale Research, “Funding opportunities”: https://research.yale.edu/funding-opportunities (checked 2026-10-29).
Yale Fellowships and Funding, “Search fellowships”: https://funding.yale.edu/find-funding/search-fellowships (checked 2026-10-29).

Yale Grants Database: Student Grants, SPIN and Federal Funding Search