NGO Grant Eligibility Checklist for Spain

Your NGO’s grant eligibility in Spain usually turns on five or six legal and organisational factors, not on how polished the memoria técnica looks. This checklist walks through the common gates under Spain’s General Subsidies Act (Ley 38/2003), what you can cross-check on Infosubvenciones / BDNS, and what every call’s bases reguladoras still decide.

Use it before you write. Fail an absolute rule (entity type, exclusion, threshold) and you save weeks. Still hunting for calls? Start with our guide on how to find grants in the BDNS. This article is not legal advice and does not replace the official notice or counsel on edge cases.

Before you start: find the call and check your organisation’s compliance

• Yes / No: Can your entity obtain the tax certificates required by the call?
• Yes / No: Are you current on tax and Social Security obligations when the call requires proof?
• Yes / No: Do sanctions, pending recoveries (reintegros), or bans on receiving subsidies apply to you?

The BDNS publishes information about public grants. It helps you find calls and review their details, but it does not certify that your organisation is current on its tax obligations. Check tax certificates with the Spanish Tax Agency and read the call rules.

Revocation of a NIF has a specific effect: Article 147 of Spain’s General Tax Management Regulation says a certificate showing compliance with tax obligations will not be issued. Article 13 of the General Subsidies Act includes this certificate among the conditions for beneficiary status, subject to applicable exceptions. If your NIF has been revoked, check with the Tax Agency and the call authority before applying.

Is your organisation type eligible?

• Association, foundation, cooperative, or another form: calls do not treat them interchangeably.
• Some lines only fund non-profits inscribed in a named register; others allow only foundations or only public-utility associations.
• Check territorial scope (local, regional, national) and any minimum age of the entity.

Quick check: write one line with your legal form and register, then match it to the “Beneficiaries” section of the official notice (BOE, regional gazettes, etc.). If the text says “foundations” and you are an association, do not stretch the wording-ask the awarding body or drop the call.

Activity sector: does the project fit?

• The project must sit inside the call’s object and funding lines (culture, education, inclusion, environment, cooperation, and so on).
• Statutes and prior track record should align with what is financed; many bases demand statutory aims or experience in the field.
• Activities outside the social object or eligible typology are common grounds for rejection or zero score.

Do not rely on the call title alone. Read the object, eligible costs, and end beneficiaries. A “partial” thematic fit is not always enough.

Financial thresholds: size and budget

• Caps on project or entity budget (income, staff, activity volume).
• Co-financing or own-contribution rates.
• Aid intensity or cumulative-aid limits when stated.

Mark Yes / No against every figure in the bases. If your budget exceeds the maximum or you cannot meet minimum co-financing, stop before drafting the financial memoria. General beneficiary and obligation rules sit in Ley 38/2003 and implementing norms (e.g. justification aspects in Royal Decree 130/2019); call-specific eligibility always comes from that notice.

Verify no ineligibility grounds apply

Walk the exclusion list in the bases (often pointing back to the general framework):

• Situations that bar public contracts or public aid.
• Prior debts or breaches when the call requires certificates or declarations.
• Conflicts of interest or incompatibilities for board, staff, or related persons.
• Being treated as a public administration or “in-house” body when the call excludes that.
• Any other ground listed in the official announcement.

Example: if a board member also sits in the evaluation or award chain for the same line, treat it as a high-risk incompatibility until the bases or the awarding body clarify. Do not invent a favourable reading.

Once you have completed these manual checks, you can use the grant fit scanner to cross-check additional criteria on the call sheet against your NGO profile, always validating the output against the official text.

Check the call’s specific beneficiary section

This is the controlling source:

1. Open the notice on Infosubvenciones or the official gazette.
2. Find beneficiaries, requirements, exclusions, and supporting documents.
3. Note remediation (subsanación) deadlines and any pre-selection stage.
4. Archive the PDF of the version in force (corrigenda happen).

Nothing in this checklist replaces that read. For EU-adjacent routes (e.g. CERV or ESF+ via intermediate bodies), combine national/regional bases with what appears on the Funding & Tenders Portal when relevant.

When you’re confident: next steps

If every check is Yes (or you have written clarification from the awarding body):

1. Lock project scope to the fundable object.
2. Assemble eligibility evidence (statutes, certificates, responsible declarations).
3. Move to drafting the technical memoria with the scoring grid open. See our guide on writing the memoria técnica.
4. Leave post-award justification for later; here you only confirm you may apply.

Operating summary: official call rules -> entity type -> sector -> thresholds -> exclusions -> supporting documents. In that order.

For a second pass on call-sheet criteria, the Grant Fit Scanner can help you spot gaps before you invest in drafting. Final decisions and legal responsibility remain with your organisation, and with counsel when the case is close.