Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund 2026
Grant Opportunity Analysis
The U.S. Mission to Hungary’s Public Diplomacy Section is offering the 2026 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund to support exchange alumni projects that advance shared interests and policy objectives and benefit local communities. Proposals should be led by teams with at least two U.S. government exchange alumni, and they must outline the project summary, goals, SMART objectives, methods, timeline, partners, outreach plan, and monitoring and evaluation approach. The opportunity is focused on Hungary, with proposed projects completed in 12 months or less, no cost sharing required, and funding available for eligible alumni or alumni associations that meet the application rules. Awards range from $5,000 to $35,000, with an application deadline of May 5, 2026, and contact available through Melinda Fekete at feketem@state.gov or budapestgrants@state.gov for access issues.
Eligible Applicants
• Alumni who participated in a U.S. government-sponsored exchange program where the proposed project involves at least two U.S. government-sponsored exchange program alumni, and one is a specified team lead.• Alumni associations from countries with current U.S. representation, but such applications must specify an alumni team lead.• If three or more alumni are applying together, U.S. citizen alumni may be included on alumni teams, but the team must have at least two non-U.S. citizen exchange program alumni. U.S. citizen alumni cannot be team leads on project proposals.• Cost sharing is not required. Other Eligibility RequirementsAll organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) issued via SAM.gov as well as a valid registration in SAM.gov. Please see Section D.3 for more information. Individuals are not required to have a UEI or be registered in SAM.gov.