What is The Grant Gateway?

The Grant Gateway is the AmeriCorps grant application and review system — a purpose-built platform designed specifically for state service commissions that administer AmeriCorps Formula grants. It provides a complete grant application system for collecting, reviewing, scoring, and managing grant applications — replacing spreadsheets, email chains, and generic tools with a streamlined, auditable workflow.

Who built The Grant Gateway?

The Grant Gateway is built by America Learns, a company that has partnered with the AmeriCorps community since 2003. With over two decades of experience serving state service commissions, AmeriCorps programs, and national service organizations.

How much does The Grant Gateway cost?

The Grant Gateway is one annual license — Unlimited Competitions — at $7,500 per year, or $3,500 per year for organizations using the America Learns Impact Suite. The license includes unlimited applicants, reviewers, and commission staff.

Does The Grant Gateway support the Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF)?

Yes. The Grant Gateway supports multiple concurrent competitions, so your commission can run Formula, Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF), and any other grant competitions simultaneously — each with its own timeline, application template, scoring rubric, and reviewer pool.

How quickly can our commission get started?

Your commission can go live in as little as one day. The Grant Gateway is a cloud-hosted SaaS platform — there's no software to install, no servers to configure, and no lengthy implementation process.

Is The Grant Gateway secure and compliant for government use?

Absolutely. The Grant Gateway is a secure platform with encryption at rest and in transit, WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, complete audit trails, and multi-tenant data isolation.

How does The Grant Gateway compare to other grants management platforms?

Unlike general-purpose grants management software (such as Submittable, Fluxx, or Foundant), The Grant Gateway is the only AmeriCorps grant application and review system purpose-built for Formula grant competitions. This specialization means less configuration, faster setup, and a platform that fits your process out of the box.

Can our state procurement office sole-source this?

Yes. The Grant Gateway is a purpose-built, niche solution specifically for state service commissions managing AmeriCorps Formula grant applications. There is no comparable off-the-shelf product. A sole-source justification template is available upon request. America Learns is registered on SAM.gov with an active UEI.

Why was The Grant Gateway created?

When AmeriCorps shifted to block grants, state service commissions suddenly needed their own systems to collect and review Formula grant applications — a process previously handled at the federal level. The Grant Gateway was built to solve that problem with a dedicated, compliant, and easy-to-use platform.

What features does The Grant Gateway include?

The Grant Gateway includes a flexible form builder, structured reviewer scoring with customizable rubrics, conflict-of-interest management, real-time reviewer progress tracking, in-platform clarification requests and resubmissions, aggregated score ranking, exportable reports, and a branded applicant portal with custom welcome video support.

How does reviewer management work?

Commissioners can invite internal or external reviewers and assign them to specific applications. Built-in conflict-of-interest disclosure and recusal tools ensure fair, unbiased reviews. Reviewers score independently using your custom rubric — they cannot see each other's scores.

Guide

Running your Formula application
without eGrants

When AmeriCorps moved Formula competitions to the states, commissions were told to run their own application process — and that they could no longer rely on eGrants to do it. Here's what that actually requires, and how commissions are handling it.

What changed

For years, Formula applications flowed through eGrants at the federal level. When AmeriCorps shifted to block grants, that responsibility moved to state service commissions — along with the Notice of Intent, peer review, risk assessment, and award decisions that come with it.

Commissions across the country received the same message: you can no longer accept Formula applications in eGrants. You need your own system.

What a Formula competition actually requires

A Notice of Intent (NOI) stage with review, decisioning, and a hard gate to the full application
An application that captures narrative, budget, attachments, and performance measures in AmeriCorps formats
Structured peer review with custom rubrics, blinded scoring, and conflict-of-interest management
Clarifications and resubmissions — handled in writing, with a record
A pre-award risk assessment tied to each award decision
An audit trail covering every submission, score, return, and decision

The three paths commissions take

Some commissions patch together form tools, spreadsheets, and email. It works until the first returned application, the first COI dispute, or the first monitoring visit — then the gaps show up as missing evidence and staff burnout.

Some buy a general-purpose grants platform and spend months configuring it to approximate the AmeriCorps workflow. The compliance rules, reviewer experience, and audit trail were never designed in — they're bolted on.

And some use a platform built specifically for this: The Grant Gateway runs the entire Formula lifecycle — NOI to award — with AmeriCorps-aware templates, blinded peer review, COI workflows, and risk assessments ready on day one.

How fast can you be ready?

The Grant Gateway is cloud-hosted with nothing to install. Commissions typically launch their competition by the next business day after purchase — with the NOI form, application template, rubric, and reviewer pool configured to their process.

See your Formula competition running on it

Walk through the platform with our team and see exactly how your next Formula cycle would run — NOI, review, risk assessment, and award — without eGrants.

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