NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk Scraper

Export thousands of National Science Foundation awards from official annual bulk archives. Includes grant amounts, abstracts, recipient organizations, principal investigators, programs, directorates, dates and locations. Filter multiple fiscal years without the 3,000-result search cap.

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What does the NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk Scraper do?

This Actor turns NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk into a structured dataset you can actually work with. You give it a search, it walks the result pages, and it writes one clean row per record into your dataset — ready to export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull straight from the Apify API.

It runs on plain HTTP with no browser and no login, which keeps it fast and cheap, and it works the same on a free account as on a paid one. Every field documented below came from a real verification run of this Actor, so what you read here is what you get.

The current build returns 28 populated fields per record, of which 27 are present on virtually every row.

Who is it for?

• Analysts who need NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk data as a spreadsheet instead of a browser tab.
• Operations and research teams tracking how NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk listings change over time.
• Developers wiring a live data feed into an internal tool or database.
• Growth and sales teams building prospect and market lists from public data.
• AI teams assembling structured training or grounding data.

Use cases

• Export a full NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk search into a spreadsheet for analysis.
• Track how prices, volumes or availability move week over week by scheduling the run.
• Feed a dashboard or internal database with a repeatable, structured source.
• Build a market map by running several searches in one job.
• Enrich an existing list by matching on the identifiers in the output.

Why use this NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk Scraper?

• 🔑 No API key and no login — nothing to authenticate, nothing to expire.
• 📦 28 verified fields — every column below was confirmed against live output.
• 📄 Real pagination — it walks the result set instead of returning the first screen.
• 🎯 Bounded runs — caps in the input stop the job exactly where you want, so the bill is predictable.
• 💸 Tiered pay-per-result — you pay per row, and higher Apify plans pay less per row.
• 📊 Export anywhere — JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, the API, or any Apify integration.

What data can you extract?

One row per record. These columns come from a live run, with the share of rows that carried a value:

Field	Type	Typically filled	Description
abstract	string	98%	Abstract
agency	string	100%	Agency
arraAmount	number	100%	Arra amount
awardAmount	number	100%	Award amount
awardId	string	100%	Award id
awardInstrument	string	100%	Award instrument
awardUrl	string	100%	Award url
awardee	object	100%	Awardee
cfdaNumber	number	100%	Cfda number
directorate	string	100%	Directorate
directorateCode	string	100%	Directorate code
division	string	100%	Division
divisionCode	string	100%	Division code
expirationDate	string	100%	Expiration date
fiscalYear	number	100%	Fiscal year
obligationByFiscalYear	array	100%	Obligation by fiscal year
performanceLocation	object	100%	Performance location
principalInvestigatorEmails	array	100%	Principal investigator emails
principalInvestigatorNames	array	100%	Principal investigator names
principalInvestigators	array	100%	Principal investigators
programElements	array	100%	Program elements
programOfficer	object	100%	Program officer
sourceUrl	string	100%	Source url
startDate	string	100%	Start date
title	string	100%	Title
totalIntendedAwardAmount	number	100%	Total intended award amount
transactionType	string	100%	Transaction type
programReferences	array	85%	Program references

Fields below 90% are genuinely optional at the source — NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk does not publish them for every record. An empty value means the source did not show it, not that extraction failed.

Output example

{
  "abstract": "This project supports shared-use oceanographic technical services aboard the research vessels Roger Revelle, Sally Ride, and Robert Gordon Sproul, vessels operating as part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. These technical services help maintain reliable access to scientific instrumentation and high-quality oceanographic observations needed to study ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, air-sea interactions, seafloor processes, and other ocean systems. The project strengthens shared research infrastructure aboard fleet vessels while supporting modern ocean science, workforce development, and research and education activities relevant to ocean observation, environmental prediction, coastal resilience, and stewardship of marine resources.\r\n\r\nThe project provides shipboard technical support, maintenance, calibration, operation, and management of shared-use scientific instrumentation supporting research conducted aboard the vessels. Technical personnel support scientific missions through instrument preparation, deployment support, data collection assistance, troubleshooting, maintenance of observational systems, and operation of specialized scientific equipment used by researchers from institutions throughout the United States. These activities help maintain the technical infrastructure necessary to support a broad range of oceanographic research conducted aboard Academic Research Fleet vessels and ensure continued access to reliable scientific capabilities and high-quality observational data for the research community.\r\n\r\nThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.",
  "agency": "NSF",
  "arraAmount": 0,
  "awardAmount": 2006128,
  "awardId": "2410579",
  "awardInstrument": "Cooperative Agreement",
  "awardUrl": "https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2410579",
  "awardee": {
    "name": "University of California-San Diego Scripps Inst of Oceanography",
    "legalName": "UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO",
    "street": "8622 DISCOVERY WAY # 116",
    "street2": "",
    "city": "LA JOLLA",
    "state": "CA",
    "stateName": "California",
    "postalCode": "92093",
    "country": "United States",
    "phone": "8585341293",
    "uei": "QJ8HMDK7MRM3",
    "parentUei": "QJ8HMDK7MRM3",
    "co

How to use

1. Open the Actor and fill in the search fields — the defaults below are a working example.
2. Set the result cap so the run stops where you want it.
3. Click Start, then export from the Output tab or pull the dataset through the API.

{
  "maxResults": 5000,
  "years": [
    2026,
    2025
  ],
  "states": [
    "CA"
  ],
  "minimumAwardAmount": 100000,
  "activeOnly": true
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
maxResults	integer	1000	Maximum matching NSF awards to save.
years	array	–	Optional NSF fiscal-year archives, newest first.
states	array	[]	Optional two-letter recipient institution state codes such as CA, NY or MA.
awardeeContains	string	–	Case-insensitive recipient institution or legal-name fragment.
keyword	string	–	Case-insensitive keyword searched across award title, abstract and program element names.
directorates	array	[]	Optional current abbreviations or name fragments such as CSE, ENG, BIO or Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
minimumAwardAmount	number	0	Only awards whose total intended amount is at least this USD value.
activeOnly	boolean	false	Only keep awards whose expiration date has not passed.
includeAbstract	boolean	true	Include the full public NSF abstract.

Tips for best results

• Broad searches return the deepest result sets; very narrow ones run out after a page or two.
• Use the result cap rather than the page cap when you want a predictable bill.
• Schedule the same input daily or weekly to build a history instead of a one-off snapshot.
• Lower the concurrency if you see retries — the source rate-limits aggressive crawling.
• Run several searches in one job instead of one search with a huge page count.
• Empty optional fields are normal; filter on the columns that matter to you after export.
• Deduplicate on the identifier column if you merge several runs together.
• Keep the proxy setting on the default unless the source blocks your region.

Integrations

Push results straight into Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, Airtable or any Webhook. You can also schedule the Actor and have each run append to the same dataset, which is how you turn a single export into a time series.

API usage

Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your Apify API token.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/logiover~nsf-awards-bulk-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxResults": 5000, "years": [2026, 2025], "states": ["CA"], "minimumAwardAmount": 100000, "activeOnly": true}'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('<YOUR_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('logiover/nsf-awards-bulk-scraper').call(run_input={"maxResults": 5000, "years": [2026, 2025], "states": ["CA"], "minimumAwardAmount": 100000, "activeOnly": true})
for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/nsf-awards-bulk-scraper').call({"maxResults": 5000, "years": [2026, 2025], "states": ["CA"], "minimumAwardAmount": 100000, "activeOnly": true});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is reachable through the Apify MCP server, so an AI agent can call it as a tool. Point the agent at https://mcp.apify.com and ask it something like "pull the first 200 results from NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk and summarise them" — it receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

FAQ

Do I need a NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk account or API key?

No. The Actor reads publicly available pages only. There is nothing to authenticate and no credentials to rotate.

Does it work on the free plan?

Yes. Every feature is available on a free Apify account — nothing is gated behind a paid tier. Pricing is per result, and higher plans simply pay less per row.

How many results can I get in one run?

As many as the search exposes. Raise the page and result caps together; the run stops at whichever limit it reaches first.

Why did I get fewer rows than I asked for?

The search ran out of records. That is normal for narrow queries — broaden the search or add more searches to one run.

Why are some fields empty?

NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk does not publish every attribute for every record. The table above shows how often each field is filled in practice.

What export formats are supported?

JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML and RSS from the Output tab, plus the Apify API and any integration you connect.

How fast is it?

It is pure HTTP with no browser, so a page of results typically takes a second or two.

Can I schedule it?

Yes. Use the Apify scheduler to run it on any interval and append each run to the same dataset.

Does it use a proxy?

It routes through Apify Proxy by default. You can switch groups or supply your own proxies in the input.

Is the output schema stable?

Yes. Field names and types are fixed, so downstream pipelines will not break between runs.

How often is the data refreshed?

Every run reads the live source. There is no cache, so the data is as current as the website itself.

What if the site changes its layout?

Open an issue on the Issues tab and it gets fixed — the Actor is actively maintained.

Is it legal?

This Actor reads only publicly available pages on NSF Awards, Grants & Research Funding Bulk — the same content any visitor sees without logging in. It does not bypass authentication and does not collect private data. You remain responsible for how you use the output: respect the source's terms of service, applicable copyright, and data-protection law such as GDPR where personal data is involved.

Related scrapers

Browse the full collection at apify.com/logiover — Lead Generation tools and more.