GrantStation Insider: February 15, 2024

Application deadline: Applications are reviewed monthly.
Geographic scope: U.S. cities and towns with populations under 30,000, including in U.S. territories
Grant amount: $10,000
Description: Community Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process that engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it. The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides $10,000 in funding for resident-driven groups in small cities and towns with populations under 30,000 throughout the United States to start the Community Heart & Soul model. Community Heart & Soul efforts must be planned and led by at least five residents who are directly affiliated with and reside in the community, and must have a lead organization that is a local government, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, or an informal resident-led group with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Funding requires a $10,000 cash match from the participating municipality or a partnering organization.

Application deadline: March 25, 2024
Description: Voices for Healthy Kids, an initiative of the American Heart Association, works around the country to improve or create equitable policies that will make the places kids live, learn, and play healthier. Voices for Healthy Kids funds coordinated tribal, state, and local public policy issue advocacy campaigns with a focus on health equity. The 2024 Policy Campaign funding opportunity funds campaigns for public policy change in Voices for Healthy Kids priority areas, including early care and education access, Early Head Start/Head Start appropriations, paid family and medical leave, healthy school meals expansion, sugary drink tax and investment, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) access and expanded benefits, SNAP incentives and produce prescription programs, and water access in schools and communities. Funded campaigns must pursue policy through legislation, regulation, executive order, or ballot initiative. Tribes, subdivisions of a tribe, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations, and organizations with a fiscal sponsor are eligible to apply. Applicants must have the ability to conduct lobbying activities.

Application deadline: March 15, 2024
Grant amount: Up to $100,000, depending on the grant category
Description: The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI), established by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in collaboration with RMI and Environment & Culture Partners, is the first nation-wide program to support energy efficiency and clean energy use for the visual arts and the largest private national grantmaking program to address climate change action through cultural institutions. The FCI funds nonprofit visual arts institutions in the United States including art museums, nonprofit galleries, archives, non-collecting institutions, art schools, university museums, community and cultural art centers, and artist-endowed foundations. Grants are available for energy efficiency and clean energy generation projects in the following categories: Catalyst Grants up to $15,000, Scoping Grants up to $25,000, Technical Assistance Grants up to $50,000, and Implementation Grants up to $100,000.

Application deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through October 2024.
Geographic scope: United States, including U.S. territories
Grant amount: Up to $30,000 per year, with an average size of $20,000 per year
Description: The goal of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is to further racial equity and social and environmental justice in the U.S. by supporting organizations working at the community level to dismantle discriminatory systems. The National Grassroots Organizing Grant Program offers two-year unrestricted, general operating support grants to small, constituent-led grassroots organizations throughout the United States and its territories. Support is provided to organizations that are led by people working to help themselves and their communities create progressive change through organizing campaigns and movement building efforts aimed at dismantling systems of oppression and the legacies of white supremacy culture. Applicants must be nonprofits with 501(c)3 status (or have a fiscal agent), have an annual operating budget under $350,000, use grassroots, base-building organizing campaigns as the primary strategy for creating social change, and be U.S.-based and U.S.-focused.

Application deadline: March 15, 2024
Geographic scope: Company communities in CA, HI, IL, IN, IA, KY, MD, MO, NJ, PA, TN, VA, and WV
Description: The American Water Environmental Grant Program provides support in company communities in California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Program is currently accepting applications for grants focused on water and the environment, including programs focused on clean water, conservation, environmental education, climate variability, and water-based recreation. Examples of funded efforts include programs that improve, restore, or protect watersheds or water quality; promote water conservation; and improve equitable access to water-based recreation in underserved communities.

Application deadlines: Applications will be accepted from February 23 to March 15, 2024, for the spring cycle, and from July 24 to August 14, 2024, for the fall cycle.
Geographic scope: Hawaii and Northern California
Grant amount: $50,000 to $150,000 for spring cycle grants and $10,000 to $49,000 for fall cycle grants
Description: The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation envisions a world where natural resources are preserved, opportunities are created for children and youth to thrive, adequate care is provided for the afflicted and most vulnerable, and women are supported. The Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations working to improve the communities of Northern California and Hawaii. Grants are provided for programs or projects that align with the Foundation’s priorities in the following program areas: connecting youth with nature, fostering creativity through the arts, maternal healthcare access and education, and promoting healthy aging through social connection.

Application deadline: March 8, 2024
Geographic scope: Florida
Grant amount: Up to $5,000 for projects in a single county and up to $10,000 for projects in multiple counties
Description: The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation is dedicated to ending breast cancer through research, education, and advocacy. The Foundation’s Education Grants support Florida organizations that focus on breast health education in one-on-one or small group settings as well as through virtual technology to reach as many people as possible. The priority areas for 2024 include 1) educating women and men in the areas where they need to become proactive advocates for their own breast health through educational workshops; 2) providing education to breast cancer survivors, their families, and advocates on life after or with cancer, including the “transition phase” from active treatment to survivorship; 3) providing education on breast health to young women and men with a focus on middle school, high school, and college ages; and 4) creating and providing a method of education on late stage breast cancer diagnosis that will help reduce the percentage of these diagnoses in the areas that exceed the state of Florida average. 

Application deadline: March 13, 2024
Geographic scope: North Carolina and South Carolina
Grant amount: Up to $50,000
Description: Carolina Foundation for Jewish Seniors is dedicated to enriching the lives of Jewish seniors residing in North and South Carolina communities through programs and projects sharing Jewish values and ideals. Support is provided to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations serving Jewish older adults in North and South Carolina for programs and projects including, but not limited to, case management with a licensed professional or case worker; community building, education, and furtherance of Jewish values and ideals; a congregational nurse; programs addressing dementia or memory impairment; programs combating isolation; food distribution efforts; group day care and respite programs; and transportation.

Application deadline: March 11, 2024
Description: The purpose of the Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program, Incarcerated Veterans’ Transition Program, and the Homeless Women Veterans' and Homeless Veterans' with Children Reintegration Grant Program is to enable America’s veterans to reach their full employment potential and obtain high-quality career outcomes. Successful applicants must demonstrate (through direct services or referrals) clear strategies to provide needed career exploration and placement services, career training, and support services to eligible veterans so they may secure good jobs in stable, high-demand occupations earning livable wages.

Application deadline: March 18, 2024
Description: The Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in the Child Nutrition Programs initiative provides regionally focused training and technical assistance to school nutrition professionals on procurement, preparation, and crediting of traditional Indigenous foods, including the use of cooperator and Food and Nutrition Service-developed resources and tools. Funds may be used to provide training, technical assistance, and nutrition education to support the use of traditional Indigenous foods in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, Seamless Summer Option, or Child and Adult Care Food Program At-Risk Afterschool Meals.

Are you a nonprofit founder 50 and older?

The AARP Purpose Prize® award celebrates people 50 and older who are using their life experience to make a difference. Through this annual award, AARP celebrates a new story of aging—one full of meaningful impact and limitless possibilities.

Winners who have founded a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization will win $50,000 for their organization. They will also have access to a number of technical supports and resources to help broaden their organizations’ impact. The call for applications ends February 29, 2024. See rules and apply.

Are you a nonprofit leader looking to better understand social change? If so, you might enjoy reading The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, by Shawn A. Ginwright. This book breaks down the common myths of social movements and shows readers why these frames don’t work, proposing instead four revolutionary pivots for better activism and collective leadership. 

Webinar date: February 22, 2024, 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern Time
Description: As a proposal writer and fundraiser, you can use storytelling as a tool for change. The language choices you make frame how your community members are perceived and how the challenges and barriers affecting your community are understood. They also shape the relationship between funding partners and communities served. During this webinar, Stephanie Somerman will walk you through how to identify and utilize empowering and culturally relevant language and approaches when writing grant proposals.

Webinar date: February 26, 2024, 2:00 to 2:45 PM Eastern Time
Description: Writing effective proposals requires excellent editing skills. Editing can improve clarity and persuasiveness and help eliminate errors, which means grant reviewers will focus on the most important part of your proposal—the impact of your programs. Editing, however, can be a challenging part of the grantseeking process, especially for small organizations who don’t have multiple individuals available to review a proposal prior to submission. Fortunately, AI tools can help provide an additional “set of eyes,” ensuring you’re submitting the best proposal possible. During this TargetED, Alice Ruhnke and David Gates will show you how AI can help you effectively edit your proposals.

Webinar date: February 29, 2024, 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern Time
Description: To become a successful nonprofit consultant, it’s vital that you know what’s involved. Continued long-term success demands goal setting and strategic planning. In this webinar, Mandy Pearce will offer her expert insights into this process. You'll gain essential knowledge on planning, goal setting, and the initial steps to take so you can achieve success more efficiently than by trial and error. (This webinar is part of our Power of 3 series: Navigate Nonprofit Consulting.)

Have you visited our homepage this week? Additional local, national, Canadian, and international funding opportunities are featured there weekly! Current opportunities include the Smart Family Fund (U.S. national), California for All Animals (U.S. local: California), the Canada Post Community Foundation (Canada national), and the European Climate Initiative (EU member states and the potential candidate countries of the Western Balkans).