Search Through Grants for Native Americans in the U.S.

About the Henry Luce Foundation

For more than 80 years, the Henry Luce Foundation has invested in knowledge makers and ensured that their work informs public discussion. This commitment to public knowledge derives from our founder: Henry R. Luce created Time magazine to disseminate the most important news, ideas, analysis, and criticism to a mass audience.

Today, the Luce Foundation carries on this work by supporting projects at universities, policy institutes, media organizations, and museums, among many others. What these organizations have in common is a commitment to putting knowledge in the hands of the individuals and communities that need access to it. Hundreds of organizations have received more than 5800 grants totaling more than $1 billion since the Foundation’s establishment in 1936.

Over that long history, the Foundation played critical roles in strengthening the field of Asian studies, encouraging interfaith dialogue, raising the visibility of American art in museums and in universities, and increasing participation by women in STEM research and teaching. We look forward to continuing our support of long-time areas of focus and to identifying new opportunities to strengthen public knowledge and understanding.

Responsive Grants

The Henry Luce Foundation believes that art museums are vital public knowledge organizations that serve as accessible forums for creative expression and public dialogue. Encouraging museums to center their collections in this work, the American Art Program’s Responsive grants support a wide range of projects that reconsider and reinvigorate collections through partnerships with diverse collaborators and communities.

What We’re Looking For

We welcome projects in the visual arts across all media and chronologies, including Native American art and cultural objects. Successful applicants will initiate or apply new research and fresh approaches to collection-focused documentation, publications, reinterpretation, reinstallations, and in-house or touring exhibitions. We encourage projects that address collection holdings that have been inadequately preserved, studied, shared, or presented. Preferred projects will exemplify ethical best practices, particularly with ethnically specific collections.

Indigenous Peoples

The idea that underpins Foundation programs in this area is that we strive to catalyze economic development by investing in entrepreneurship and business education and investing in capacity building for business and entrepreneurship in Indigenous communities. The Foundation has 30 years of experience with programs that work to give life to this idea.

Since 1992 our Entrepreneurship Scholarship program has provided scholarships to Indigenous students who study business or entrepreneurship. We invest about $500,000 annually on scholarships and another $100,000 to $500,000 on endowment building. The program began with students at tribal colleges, but the Foundation now funds Indigenous students at other institutions as well. Those institutions have a high number of Indigenous students and graduates.

In 2001 the Foundation requested that Gonzaga University develop an MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship, and the Foundation provided full-ride scholarships for Indigenous students to attend. Since its inception, the program has produced more than 80 graduates. We know of no comparable program in the country.

The Foundation also has made capacity-building grants to aid the establishment of business and entrepreneurship training in Indigenous communities. Grant recipients include American Indigenous Business Leaders (AIBL), Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity through Entrepreneurship (CAPE) Fund, Lakota Funds, and the Native CDFI network. The expectation is that these will complement our investments in education by enhancing the conditions and opportunities for entrepreneurs and business owners.

JSF Grant Making Strategy

JSF makes grants to organizations that help people overcome barriers to education and employment. Addressing these barriers enables them to graduate and find good jobs, thereby contributing to and enriching their communities.

JSF assists people indirectly by making grants to schools, universities, and non-profits, and funds initiatives such as scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and internships. Grants are focused on three areas: individuals with disabilities, individuals with financial need, and Indigenous peoples.

Our Work: Religion

A primary aim in religion is to deepen and enrich the religious lives of Christians in the United States, principally by supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations. We value the broad diversity of Christian traditions and congregations today and endeavor to support them in a wide variety of contexts. We seek to ensure that all types of congregations have a steady stream of wise, faithful, diverse and well-prepared leaders. We work to strengthen theological schools as well as religious institutions and networks that nurture pastors and support the ministries of congregations. We support efforts that help Christians draw on the wisdom of their theological traditions as they strive to understand and respond to contemporary challenges and live their faith more fully. We are especially interested in efforts that nurture the religious lives of children, youth and young adults and share the beauty and vibrancy of Christian faith with a new generation.We also work to foster public understanding about religion. While we seek to lift up the contributions that people of all religious faiths make to our greater civic well-being, we also encourage fair and accurate portrayals of both the negative and positive effects of religion on the world.

Areas of Interest

We consider proposals in three main program areas: community development, education and youth, and religion. Detailed descriptions of these area of interest can be found here.

The Dakota Value of Sharing

Types of Funding Available

Non-Cash Donations

• Non-cash donations include items such as AEDs, silent auction packages and in-kind items.
• All organizations can apply for this category

Donations (other organizations may call it a mini grant or grant)

• Monetary Funding but on the smaller scale, such as Sponsorships, Project Specific items, not capital projects.
• Funding is awarded to an organization in one payment.
• All organizations can apply for this category.

Grants

• Monetary Funding for larger projects, such as capital projects, economic construction projects, etc.
• Funding released on a payment schedule over several months to a couple years
• Only Tribal Governments, Native American Organizations, and Native American Serving Schools may apply.

Each organization is eligible to submit only one (1) request for monetary and one non-cash per fiscal year (oct-sept). The system will not allow you to resubmit once your application has been awarded or denied.

Types of requests that may be considered for funding

• Cultural Programming & Support
• Program / Project Support
• Economic Development / Infrastructure
• Educational Program Support
• Environmental & Sustainability
• Equipment (Computers, IT, etc.)
• General Program Support
• Health & Wellness Programming & Support
• Holiday Support
• Sponsorships (Events, Conference, Gala, Golf, Etc.)

William S. Anheuser Charitable Fund

The William S. Anheuser Charitable Fund, a Donor-Advised Fund of YouthBridge Community Foundation, follows the guiding principle to Enrich, Enlighten, Encourage and Educate a few to Enable them to Pay It Forward.

Focus Areas

Upon recommendation of the Fund Advisors, YouthBridge provides grants in the following areas:

Children, Youth and Their Families; Women

In the United States we focus on organizations, projects, or programs that:

• Empower the working poor and single working mothers
• Ensure basic needs for the poor
• Support Native Americans
• Provide education or job training

Outside of the United States we focus on organizations, projects, or programs that:

• Empower the disadvantaged economically
• Ensure basic needs for those living in extreme poverty
• Fight human rights abuses

Animal Care

• We fund organizations, projects, or programs supporting animals that provide comfort to people.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) supports local Stand Down events that assist veterans experiencing homelessness by providing a wide range of employment, social, and health services.

Stand Down is a military term referring to an opportunity to achieve a brief respite from combat. Troops assemble in a base camp to receive new clothing, hot food, support services, and a relative degree of safety before returning to combat action. A DOL VETS-funded Stand Down event serves a similar purpose; however, it is intended for veterans experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. The critical services provided at these events are often the catalyst that enables those individuals to reenter the workforce.

VETS awards these noncompetitive grants on a first-come, first-served basis to support one-day or multi-day events at up to $7,000 or $10,000, respectively. They are collaborative events coordinated between VA, DOL, other federal, state, and local government agencies and community-based organizations providing services and supplies to veterans experiencing and at risk of homelessness. In the event of a federal disaster declaration, VETS will accept applications up to $50,000 to conduct Stand Down events in the impacted areas.

State, Territory, and Possession, county, city, local, special district, and Native American tribal governments and agencies, non-profit and for-profit entities, state and local workforce boards, institutions of higher education, public and tribal housing authorities and faith-based organizations are eligible to apply.

The Sally Brown McInnes and John “Mac” McInnes Charitable Trust was created by Sarajane “Sally”Brown McInnes. Mr. and Mrs. McInnes were residents of Colorado and were passionate about providing for the welfare of animals and children’s health and overall well-being.  Mr. and Mrs. McInnes were also supporters of organizations serving Veterans, Native Americans, environment, arts, religion, and national treasures.

Mission

To perpetuate the generosity of the McInnes family by supporting charitable causes with a preference toward organizations located in or serving Colorado that promote animal welfare, children’s health, education and empowerment.

Program areas

• Arts 
• Education 
• Environment, animals 
• Health 
• Human services 
• Public/society benefit 
• Religion 

NDN Collective

NDN Foundation’s grantmaking upholds our mission to build the collective power of Indigenous Peoples, communities and Nations to exercise our inherent right to self-determination while fostering a world built on a foundation of justice and equity for all people and Mother Earth.

As changemakers, we are committed to dramatically increasing philanthropic investment into Indigenous-led organizations and modeling a mindset of abundance. We integrate culture and ceremony into our work by acknowledging and paying respects to our elders and past while taking control of our future. We believe in, invest in and support: Indigenous self-determination, free and liberated thought and expression, Indigenous genius and ingenuity, and sustainable community-based solutions.

Our grantmaking will support and advance these values and the following three core principles and strategies:

Defend

Indigenous Peoples, communities and Nations defend and protect our land, air, water, and natural resources from negative resource extraction and exploitation.

Develop

Indigenous Peoples, communities, and Nations are developed in a regenerative and sustainable manner based on our values and connection to land, culture and identity.

Decolonize

Indigenous ceremonies, cultures, languages, and ways of life are revitalized, recognized and celebrated. We use grantmaking as a temporary tool with the hope that our movements for liberation and justice will end its necessity. We use it less for charitable purposes, but for mutual aide, solidarity with movement builders and in the spirit of intentional reciprocity.\

Community Action Fund 

Modest urgent response grants are provided to frontline organizations, groups and individuals most impacted by local challenges, ensuring that resources and decision-making lies with those who are best equipped to solve pressing issues and address imminent threats. The Community Action Fund is a one-time, short-term grant for direct action initiatives.

What does support look like

CAF supports community organizing and movement building work designed to shift the political and financial systems that negatively impact our communities.  This may include direct action and climate disaster response efforts, comprehensive organizing work; frontline and camp infrastructure, and community-based responses to climate disasters such as flooding, fires, and earthquakes.

Direct expenses may include funding for travel, climate response items, supplies, equipment, consultants, contractual services and staff that support various forms of NVDA (non-violent direct action), i.e., marches, camps, boycotts, prayer vigils and walks that are part of an action, organizing or protest to affect change. Action may also include community-based response to climate events such as flooding, fires and earthquakes.

Community Action Fund Purpose and Intent

We support Indigenous frontline communities, Nations, organizers, actions and movements in their work to DEFEND Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and protect their land, air, water, and natural resources.  

Community Action Fund (CAF) grants support direct actions and organizing efforts that are often urgent and time sensitive. CAF prioritizes frontline, grassroots and community-based efforts that defend Indigenous peoples rights, communities and nations, including responses to climate disasters.

Grant Amount

The average grant award is $15,000 but can range up to $40,000.

Grant Term

Grant terms are a maximum of six months.

Syringe Access Program

Since 1992, the Comer Family Foundation has provided support to harm reduction-centered syringe access programs (SAP) to improve the health and wellness of people affected by drug use. These programs provide free sterile syringes, education, and often community wraparound services to reduce opioid overdose and the transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis.

Funding Priorities:

• Organizations in geographic areas in which access to sterile syringes can be dramatically improved
• Organizations serving areas in which policy improvements can have local, state, and/or national impact
• Organizations serving areas with higher HIV/AIDS and HCV prevalence, injection drug use prevalence, overdose incidence
• Organizations led by and for Black, Indigenous, and people of color
• Organizations led by people who use drugs
• Organizations with limited funding available for harm reduction
• Organizations actively developing local and community financial support
• Statewide strategic partnerships

Types of Funding Available:

• General operating funds including harm reduction supplies
• Program development, education, and mobilization
• Staff development and technical assistance

Length of Funding: Single-year grants

Shakespeare in American Communities

Shakespeare in American Communities is a theater program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Through grants to theater companies that produce Shakespeare’s works, this program supports high-quality productions and educational activities in middle schools, high schools, and juvenile justice facilities throughout the United States. The program has two opportunities available for eligible applicants.

Schools Program: Project Requirements

• Perform a professional production of a play by Shakespeare; an adaptation of Shakespeare’s text; or a production that incorporates scenes, monologues, and/or sonnets by Shakespeare.
• All productions should offer students the opportunity to view Shakespeare’s text in performance.
• The actors in the production must be professionals, paid at no less than the prevailing minimum compensation. (This requirement is in accordance with the regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor in part 505 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations.) It is not required that actors be part of an Actors’ Equity contract.
• Performances may be held in a theater company’s facility, a school, a community venue, or virtually.
• Conduct related educational activities with students that further explore and address Shakespeare’s work in modern context.
• Activities must be led by experienced teaching artists, educators, or actors with strong credentials and training.
• Examples include workshops, pre- or post-performance discussions/talkbacks, curriculum-based residencies, or other activities that offer interaction between students and teaching artists or actors. Study guides do not qualify as an activity.
• Activities must be related to the production being performed for students.
• Virtual and/or pre-recorded activities are eligible as long as students have the opportunity to interact live and in real-time with teaching artists in some capacity.

• Reach five or more middle and/or high schools with a performance and related educational activities.
• Activities must be facilitated in partnership with middle and high schools, rather than through summer camps, performing arts centers, universities, or other.
• The majority of schools must educate students from underserved communities. Factors include but are not limited to:
  • Title 1 eligibility
  • National School Lunch Program statistics
  • Geographic location (rural or urban areas)

Juvenile Justice Program: Project Requirements

• Conduct educational theater programming that explores and illuminates Shakespeare’s text, addressing his work in modern context through frequent contact over a significant number of visits.
  • Examples of activities may include workshops, discussions, seminars, and residencies.
  • Activities may be in-person, socially distanced, or virtual.
• Partner with at least one facility to reach youth in the juvenile justice system.
  • Examples of eligible facilities include detention centers, correctional facilities, court-appointed programs, treatment centers, transition centers, group homes, or educational schools/programs specifically for juvenile offenders or incarcerated youth.
  • Juvenile offenders are defined as youth (age 17 or younger) who have been found guilty of committing a delinquent act.
• Engage a minimum of two teaching artists, staff, or personnel in theater education programming.
  • Activities must be be led by experienced teaching artists, staff, or personnel with strong credentials and experience working within the justice system.
  • Teaching artists will be required to complete a survey at the conclusion of the programming to evaluate the impact on youth.

Sky Ranch Foundation

Formed in 1961 and building on more than 60 years of tradition, Sky Ranch Foundation ℠ is a tax-exempt charitable organization committed to giving at-risk youth a second chance by identifying and offering grants to efficient and effective programs focused on improving the quality of help available to these youth.

Funding Interests

Preference will be given to organizations that:

• Serve troubled youth between the ages of 11-18, with a priority for programs that focus on youth between the ages of 11-15
• Focus on preventing youth involvement in the criminal justice system, or provide long-term rehabilitation in a residential or alternative setting.
• Provide comprehensive support services to youth that may include education, job training, enrichment activities, counseling and case management.

Proposals that fall outside of the Foundation’s guidelines will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

Geographic Focus

The Foundation funds programs and organizations that work with at-risk youth within the United States, its possessions, and territories, or operated within Native American tribal lands. Requests for programs outside those geographies will not be considered.

Type of Support

General operating, capital and capacity-building.

Award

The typical grant size will be between $5,000 and $40,000. Grants outside of this range will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

About the Program

Chamber Music America’s Performance Plus program recognizes the contributions and diversity of perspectives that U.S.-based gender minorities and women bring to the field of jazz. The program provides grants to U.S.-based gender minority and women-led jazz ensembles to engage an experienced jazz Mentor for six Mentoring sessions with the goal of further developing the ensemble’s performance. The Mentoring sessions will culminate in a recording session resulting in a high-quality demo for use by the jazz ensemble.

In January 2016, the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America (CMA) began discussing the issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity as they relate to the organization’s membership, grants, awards, and other programs. It quickly became clear that CMA had virtually no quantitative data about the racial composition of its membership, grant applicants, or grantees. Further, anecdotal information suggested that music professionals from ALAANA communities (African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American) were underrepresented as CMA grantees, at its conferences, and in its publications. This led to continuing discussions at subsequent Board meetings and the realization that a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity was an essential next step.

As a result, the Board of Directors has made diversity, inclusion, and equity a primary focus of CMA’s work. We are committed to examining all aspects of the organization’s systems, programs, services, and communication mechanisms to fully understand and represent all chamber music traditions and the people who create, perform, and present those traditions.

Grant Components And Funding 

A Performance Plus grant is made up of the following components: 

• Ensemble Mentoring Sessions Payment: Funding of $200 per ensemble musician for each of the six coaching sessions with the Coach. (Total of $2,400 for a duo to $12,000 for a 10-member ensemble). Ensemble members must be present for the sessions. Sessions must be completed by March 31, 2026

• .Artist-Mentor Payment: Payment of $500 for the Coach for each of the six coaching sessions with the ensemble. Sessions must be a minimum of 90 minutes. (Total of $3,000 for six mentoring sessions.)

• Demo Recording: Funding ($6,500) must be used for recording a demo of only the works rehearsed in sessions with the coach. Demo recording must be completed by September 30, 2026.
• Consultations with CMA Staff: For example, if you are a quartet
  • $200 x 6 mentoring sessions x 4 musicians = $4,800 ensemble payment
  • $500 x 6 mentoring sessions = $3,000 mentor payment
  • $6,500 demo recording payment
• Your Grant = $14,300

See FAQ for further details

Supporting Historic Sacred Places

A program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Fund for Sacred Places provides financial and technical support for community-serving historic houses of worship across America.

What We Offer

The National Fund for Sacred Places provides matching grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to congregations undertaking significant capital projects at historic houses of worship, along with wraparound services including training, technical assistance, and planning support.

What We’re Looking For

The National Fund for Sacred Places assesses applicant eligibility according to the core criteria shown below, while also striving to build a diverse participant pool that reflects a broad range of geographic, cultural, and religious identities.

Historic, Cultural, or Architectural Significance

We are looking for buildings that have historic, cultural, or architectural significance—and sites that have important and relevant stories to tell. Many of our participants are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the state register, or the local register. Your building does not have to be on one of these lists, but eligibility for one or more of these lists is a good benchmark for National Fund eligibility.

As part of the National Trust’s commitment to telling the full American story, we particularly encourage congregations to apply that illuminate a unique or overlooked aspect of American history and that expand our understanding of our shared national heritage. We encourage submissions related to historic sacred places of importance to historically and contemporaneously underrepresented communities including, but not limited to, women, immigrants, Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and LGBTQIA communities.

Successful applicants are able to demonstrate their place in history by answering questions such as:

• Does the building tell a story relevant to our history—either cultural or religious?
• Does the history highlight previously underrecognized communities, stories, or locations?
• How has the building served the community over time? Does the building have a great physical presence in its community due to its location or programming?
• Is the building the work of a notable architect? If so, is it a high-quality example of their body of work?
• Is the building an exceptional example of its architectural style or building technology?
• Does the building embody the congregation’s resilience over time?

Community-Serving Congregations

We are looking for congregations that are engaged in their communities and that are serving others. Engaged congregations operate and host programming that serves vulnerable, at-risk, and diverse populations; share space with non-affiliated groups and organizations (often at subsidized rates); work with other congregations, faith-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and/or municipalities; and have a widespread reputation for being a welcoming center of community life.

Project Scope and Need

We fund historic preservation projects addressing urgent repair needs and/or life safety. We also fund projects that increase congregations’ ability to open their buildings to new populations or to serve greater numbers of people. All projects must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, which is a universally accepted framework for doing work to older and historic properties.

We prioritize congregations/projects where there is a demonstrated need (meaning that the congregation cannot raise the funds alone) or where it is clear that our grant will have a catalytic effect (meaning that our grant is likely to lead to additional monies being contributed to the project).

Readiness

Once-in-a-generation capital projects require a great deal of planning. We are looking for applicants that understand their buildings’ needs and that are ready to undertake a capital campaign. National Fund congregations typically have a history of successful capital campaigns, which demonstrate an ability to raise significant funds and complete a project.

Successful congregations come to us with a realistic fundraising goal, which has been generated with the help of qualified preservation professionals and is not too far beyond the congregation’s fundraising capacity.

Healthy Congregations

The National Fund prioritizes healthy, stable congregations so that our investment is truly impactful and lasting. We look for the following, although this is not an exhaustive list of characteristics that indicate healthy congregations: tenured, well-respected clergy; capable lay leadership; stable or growing membership; financial strength and stability; support of the judicatory or governing body, if applicable; and a history of weathering any congregational conflict or trauma with resilience.

Mission

The Terra Foundation for American Art is dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences. Recognizing the importance of experiencing original works of art, the foundation provides opportunities for interaction and study, beginning with the presentation and growth of its own art collection in Chicago. To further cross-cultural dialogue on American art, the foundation supports and collaborates on innovative exhibitions, research, and educational programs. Implicit in such activities is the belief that art has the potential both to distinguish cultures and to unite them.

TFAA: Exhibition Grants

Recognizing current and historical inequities in presentations and understandings of American art history, the Terra Foundation encourages temporary loan exhibitions that address these imbalances and exclusions at institutions worldwide.

Terra Foundation Exhibitions grants provide support for organizations to plan and present temporary exhibitions drawn primarily from works not in their permanent collections.

To be considered, visual art projects should focus on arts of the United States, including Native American arts. The projects we support can be focused on historical or contemporary art. Contemporary art projects should offer a reflective and critical engagement with histories, arts, and/or art histories associated with American contexts.

Priorities and Goals

The foundation supports visual arts projects that question and broaden understandings of American art and engage in transforming how the story of American art is told.

We encourage projects that:

• generate knowledge and interpretive frameworks that reflect the range and complexity of American art and its histories through the diversity of artists represented, voices included, and stories told
• center artists, scholars, communities, and audiences who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color as well as narratives that have historically been excluded from American art
• commit to inclusive and equitable practices across project development and implementation in order to lead to structural change

We also encourage multilingual written materials if possible and where relevant to the project and/or its audiences.

Introduction & Purpose

As part of its commitment to building a national Culture of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) seeks ideas that advance health, equity, and wellbeing. Healthy Eating Research (HER) supports this goal through improving diet quality and nutrition for all Americans, addressing nutrition disparities, and reducing food and nutrition insecurity. HER’s mission is to support and disseminate research on policy, systems, and environmental strategies that promote healthy eating among children and families and advance nutrition security and health equity.

The purpose of this call for proposals (CFP) is to generate evidence on supportive family policies and programs that have strong potential to impact equitable access to nutritious food in communities, nutrition security, diet quality, and improved nutrition and health outcomes. We are especially interested in strategies to improve health outcomes for families with lower incomes and/or racially and ethnically diverse populations experiencing higher rates of diet related chronic disease and/or health disparities. Findings will be used to guide and inform decisionmaking about policy and system changes that can advance nutrition equity and improve health.

Through this CFP, we seek to learn what works (or not) and why; who benefits the most from these policies and programs; and whether disparities are reduced. We are interested in solution oriented research that focuses on policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change at the national, state, local, and tribal levels. The CFP provides opportunities to develop and test innovative approaches to increasing access to healthy foods, such as through child nutrition programs; innovations in technologies; expanding program outreach and eligibility; simplifying program enrollment processes; identifying ways to improve equity within nutrition assistance programs; building the evidence base for these programs’ impacts on diet quality, food insecurity, nutrition, weight, and health; and areas for improvements and scalability.

HER issues CFPs to solicit scientifically rigorous, solution-oriented proposals from investigators representing diverse disciplines and backgrounds.

Targeted Age Groups; Priority Populations

The target population is children (ages birth to 18) and families in the United States, with high priority on those who are at highest risk for poor nutrition, specifically lower income families and racially and ethnically diverse populations (e.g., Black, Latino/a, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander).

Priority Topic Areas

This CFP focuses on five priority topic areas related to supportive family policies and programs to improve nutrition and health:

• Child nutrition programs
  • Child nutrition programs help ensure that children receive nutritious food, including meals and snacks that promote their health, growth, and school success.
  • Through this CFP, there is an opportunity to examine strategies to expand the reach and impact of these programs.
  • Strategies may include:
    • innovations in technologies;
    • expanding program outreach and eligibility;
    • simplifying program enrollment processes;
    • identifying ways to improve equity within nutrition assistance programs;
    • building the evidence base for these programs’ impacts on diet quality, food insecurity, nutrition, weight, and health; and
    • areas for improvements and scalability.
• Food access and hunger relief programs
  • Equitable access to healthy and affordable food in the U.S. is a major public health concern
  • Efforts to promote healthy choices in food banks and food pantries include:
    • the creation and adoption of formal nutrition policies,
    • cultivation of relationships with food donors who can donate healthier products, and
    • investment in capacity to store and display healthier food items
  • This CFP provides opportunities to develop and test innovative approaches to increasing access to healthy foods (including via improving the food retailenvironment); to conduct natural experiments and/or test interventions; and evaluate programs aimed at improving nutrition security and diet quality for children and families, especially among understudied populations.
• Structural inequities impacting access to healthy and affordable foods
  • Structural barriers, such as racism and classism, involve processes by which interconnected political, economic, social, and ideological systems generate and maintain unequal access to opportunities and resources.
  • This CFP would allow community academic partnerships to evaluate community powered initiatives, develop interventions to address root causes of food insecurity or obesity, and co design and test innovative models.
  • There is also a need to better understand the structural inequities and forces that have shaped contemporary food access and food insecurity in low income areas and communities of color and approaches to mitigate these forces.
• Social and economic programs (nonfood policies)
  • Social and economic inequities drive child nutrition disparities.
  • To date, little research has been conducted on the relationships and interconnections between nutrition, weight, and food and nutrition security in families and policies related to poverty reduction, family income supports, economic resources, housing assistance, or other family supportive policies.
  • Some examples of these policies and programs include:
    • financial payments to families;
    • income assistance and support programs;
    • housing assistance or housing security programs; and
    • increased access to social services
  • We are also interested in exploring other supportive family policies (e.g., paid family leave, flexible work schedules, home visiting programs, breastfeeding support) that impact parental and child health and nutrition outcomes.
• Emerging topics
  • This category is intended to allow for exploration of new and emerging public health topics impacting nutrition security, food security, and/or health equity and innovative policies, systems, and environmental strategies to support the optimal health of children and families.
  • Examples of potential topics could include:
    • applying a prevention (rather than clinical) lens to food in medicine initiatives;
    • identifying novel ways to utilize Medicaid or CHIP programs to optimize families’ nutrition and food security;
    • examining the impacts of climate change on food systems and access to healthy foods;
    • examining the implications of new obesity/weight loss drugs for public health and prevention initiatives, especially related to prevention work with adolescents and young children;
    • addressing unique issues impacting the health and wellbeing of rural communities;
    • examining issues related to public health datasets;
    • development of new measures and metrics for measuring progress, and others.

Total Awards

Each award will be up to a maximum of $275,000 with a total of up to $2.5 million to be funded through this CFP. We encourage proposals that request lower budget amounts. Awards will be a maximum of 24 months in duration. We encourage proposals that request shorter periods (e.g., 12-18 months)

Recordings at Risk

Recordings at Risk is a national regranting program administered by CLIR to support the preservation of rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of high scholarly value through digital reformatting. Generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since January 2017, the program will run twelve competitions and will award a total of $6.75 million. Awards range from $10,000 to $50,000 and cover costs of preservation reformatting for fragile and/or obsolete time-based media content by qualified external service providers. Eligible media may include, but are not necessarily limited to, magnetic audio and video tape, grooved discs, wax cylinders, wire recordings, and film (with or without sound).

Recordings at Risk encourages professionals who may be constrained by limited resources and/or technical expertise to take action against the threats of degradation and obsolescence. The program aims to help institutions identify priorities and develop practical strategies for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, and raise awareness of best practices.

Application Assessment Criteria

An independent review panel, comprised of scholars in a variety of domains and technologists with expertise in digitization and digital preservation, will evaluate applications using four primary criteria: 

• Impact- The potential scholarly and public impact of the project
• Urgency- The urgency of undertaking reformatting to avoid risk of loss
• Potential for preservation- The viability of the work plan and deliverables for preserving the content over time
• Approach to access- The approach to legal and ethical concerns affecting access

About ICRG

As the gaming industry grows and evolves throughout the world, the powerful research of the International Center for Responsible Gaming is driving change and leading the field forward. For over nearly 25 years, we provided independent, peer-reviewed research that helps increase the understanding of gambling disorder and find effective methods of treatment. Our work is impacting public policy, strengthening responsible gaming and improving the health and well-being of the people and communities effected by the continued growth of the industry.

Founded in 1996 as a separate 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the ICRG’s mission is to help individuals and families affected by gambling disorder by supporting the finest peer-reviewed, scientific research into gambling disorder; encouraging the application of new research findings to improve prevention, diagnostic, intervention and treatment strategies; and advancing public education about gambling disorder and responsible gaming.

Nearly $40 million has been committed to the ICRG, through contributions from the casino gaming industry, equipment manufacturers, vendors, Native American casinos, related organizations and individuals. The funding chart below provides a detailed description of how the ICRG funds research.

ICRG Seed Grant

Seed Grants support a variety of research activities, such as:

• Pilot and feasibility studies 
• Secondary analysis of existing data
• Small, self-contained research projects
• Development of research methodology
• Development of new research technology

Applicants may request up to $40,000 in direct costs plus 15 percent Facilities and Administration costs for a period not to exceed 12 months.

Criteria

• Significance - Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field?
• Investigator(s) - Are the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators and other researchers well suited to the project? 
• Innovation - Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation or interventions? 
• Approach - Are the overall strategy, methodology and analyses well reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? 
• Environment - Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? 

Additional Review Criteria

In addition to the above criteria, the following items will be considered in the determination of scientific merit and the priority score: 

• Protection of Human Subjects from Research Risk: The involvement of human subjects and protections from research risk relating to their participation in the proposed research will be assessed.
• Inclusion of Women, Minorities and Children in Research: The adequacy of plans to include subjects from both genders, all racial and ethnic groups (and subgroups), and children as appropriate for the scientific goals of the research will be assessed. Plans for the recruitment and retention of subjects will also be evaluated.
• Care and Use of Vertebrate Animals in Research: If vertebrate animals are to be used in the project, the five items described in PHS Form 398 research grant application instructions will be assessed.
• Biohazards: If materials or procedures are proposed that are potentially hazardous to research personnel and/or the environment, determine if the proposed protection is adequate. 

Additional Review Considerations

• Budget: The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the requested period of support in relation to the proposed research plan.

About the Native American Agricultural Fund 

The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) is a private, charitable trust serving Native farmers and ranchers through strategic grantmaking in the areas of business assistance, agricultural education, technical support and advocacy services. NAAF was created from the historic Keepseagle v. Vilsack litigation settlement.

NAAF grantmaking activities are governed by the Trust Agreement and final award decisions are made by our Board of Trustees.

For 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organizations

General Focus: Business Assistance, Agricultural Education, Technical Support and/or Advocacy Services

Special Focus: Inflation Assistance & Supply Chain Relief; Tribal Departments of Agriculture, and/or Market Access

Sports 4 Life Partner Funding Cycle

Sports 4 Life offers community funding and seeks to effect sustainable improvement to the overall health and development of girls in these communities through grant making, leadership training and capacity-building efforts.

Sports 4 Life, cofounded by the Women’s Sports Foundation and ESPN in 2014, was created based on the knowledge that while sports participation offers tremendous life-long benefits – from improved physical health and self-esteem, to better grades in school and enhanced leadership skills – young girls of color are disproportionately excluded.

The program seeks to increase the participation and retention of Black, African-American, Hispanic and/or Native American girls, inclusive of American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Grant Allocation

Funding can be used for coaching, curriculum, equipment, uniforms, transportation, facility rental, tournaments and/or team-building activities, all while fostering the Sports 4 Life benefits: leadership, self-esteem, confidence and perseverance.

Our Mission

Our mission is to uplift and sustain the lifeways and economies of Native communities through advocacy, financial support, and knowledge sharing.

We envision a world in which Tribal Sovereignty is upheld, and Native ingenuity and knowledge are honored and respected.

Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments

The Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments (NAFSI) program is a cornerstone of First Nations’ efforts to advance food sovereignty and security, strengthen tribal food economies, and support the relationship between community, place, and food. Established in 2001, NAFSI supports Native food systems through grantmaking, convenings, and advocacy, uplifting the enduring commitment of Native communities to their food relatives and the earth. We provide cycles of funding opportunities focused on Native Food Security, Native Food Sovereignty, Native Food Economies, and Native Food Networks.

NAFSI Program Priorities

• Native Control:
  • Recognize and respect the inherent right of Native communities to exercise control over their food systems, ensuring decisions align with their unique needs and values.
• Culturally Rooted:
  • Prioritize initiatives deeply grounded in and reflective of the diverse cultural heritage of Native communities, fostering a strong connection to traditional foodways.
• Community Empowerment:
  • Develop programs and initiatives that empower Native communities economically, socially, and culturally, promoting a sense of ownership and pride in their food systems.
• Intertribal Collaboration:
  • Foster collaborative efforts that encourage knowledge exchange, shared resources, and collective solutions among Native communities to address common challenges and amplify impact.
• Intergenerational Wisdom:
  • Emphasize the importance of preserving and passing down and up traditional knowledge and practices related to food, ensuring the transmission of wisdom and practice across generations.
• Equity and Justice:
  • Commit to achieving equity and justice in all aspects of the food system, addressing historical inequities and advocating for policies that promote fairness and inclusivity.

Native Food Security Grant

Native Food Security projects are designed to ensure consistent access and availability to an abundance of culturally relevant foods that meet the needs and preferences of Native communities. American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities must have reliable access to traditional foods that support both physical and spiritual well-being. While conventional food security focuses on the nutritional needs of individuals and households, Native Food Security extends beyond sustenance. It encompasses the physical and spiritual nourishment of families, households, Tribes, clans, communities, lands, and the foods themselves to further the conditions that support Native Food Security.

Is your organization working towards food justice for kids in the United States? If so, this is your chance to receive up to $100,000 in grant funding over the next 2 years and deepen your impact!

We’re seeking applications from organizations working in two priority program areas: 

• Indigenous Food Justice
• Nutrition Education and School Food

Why Food Justice for Kids

In the United States, more than 1 in 6 children (13.4 million) live in households where they do not have enough nutritious food to eat or know where their next meal may come from. This rate is significantly higher for some populations. For example, 1 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native households are food insecure. We know what can work, as increased funding for nutrition assistance programs during the pandemic led to a significant decrease in childhood hunger. However, much of that progress was lost starting in 2022, with the termination of those benefits.

Food insecurity is associated with several adverse outcomes, including delayed development, chronic diseases (such as asthma and anemia), and increased anxiety and depression. Such outcomes can limit children’s ability to live healthful lifestyles, thrive, and realize their full potential.

Newman’s Own Foundation envisions the United States as a country where all children have access to nutritious, culturally relevant foods; learn about healthy foods and sustainable food systems; and have opportunities to grow, gather, and cook food and be nourished physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

About the Prize

Up to $1M in total funding (over two years) is available for nonprofits, public schools, and tribes working to advance food justice for kids in the United States and its territories.

As many as 10 applicants (5 for each of our priority program areas) will receive up to $50,000 each in 2024, with the opportunity for an additional grant of up to $50,000 each in 2025. In 2026 and beyond, these grantee partners may be eligible for further funding.

Applicants who reach the finalist stage may also be considered for a $10,000 grant awarded through the Newman’s Own Foundation Community Choice Award.

In addition to receiving a grant of up to $50,000, the Food Justice for Kids grantee partners will have the opportunity to participate in a learning cohort, meeting periodically throughout the year (virtually) to network, share best practices, and engage in activities that can be leveraged for greater growth and impact. Grantee partners will then have an opportunity in 2025 to apply for an additional grant of up to $50,000.

Our Mission

Our mission is to uplift and sustain the lifeways and economies of Native communities through advocacy, financial support, and knowledge sharing.

We envision a world in which Tribal Sovereignty is upheld, and Native ingenuity and knowledge are honored and respected.

Grant Overview

First Nations believes that Native youth represent the future of Native communities and that investing in youth and giving them a sense of place and tradition in the community ensures a future of bright and capable leaders. We seek programs that meet youth where they are, support them in accomplishing their goals and dreams as future leaders, and shape pathways that prepare them for an empowered adulthood guided by their cultures and families.

In 2002, First Nations launched the Native Youth and Culture Fund (NYCF) to support tribes and Native American-led organizations that work with Native youth through programs that provide learning, leadership building, and intergenerational mentoring.

In 2024, through this Fund, two-year grants ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 will be awarded to Native youth programs and projects that focus on increasing youth leadership and providing opportunities for intergenerational transfer of knowledge.

• 10 to 12 grants of up to $60,000 will be awarded to structured day and/or overnight camp programs that focus on recreational, cultural, educational, language, Native youth leadership and intergenerational mentoring activities. (If you are applying as a camp program you must indicate this within the application.)
• 4 to 8 grants of up to $60,000 will be awarded to programs supporting Native youth by California-based tribes or California tribally controlled non-profit organizations. These grants are made possible through our California Tribal Fund (CTF). The CTF was created to support California-based, California-Native-led nonprofits and tribal programs in controlling and protecting their food systems, water, languages, traditional ecological knowledge, and land.
• 10 to 12 grants of up to $60,000 will be awarded to programs supporting Native youth that demonstrate alignment with one or more of the program priorities (see below).

Native Youth and Culture Fund Priorities

All proposals must demonstrate their project or program will carry out one or more of the following:

• Provide structured day or overnight camp activities. Camps are defined as structured day or overnight programs that focus on recreational, cultural, educational, youth leadership, and intergenerational mentoring activities.
• Focus on preserving, strengthening, or renewing cultural and/or spiritual practices, beliefs, and values of Native youth.
• Engage youth and elders in activities that demonstrate methods for documenting traditional knowledge systems, practices, and/or beliefs.
• Increase youth leadership and their capacity to lead through intergenerational educational or mentoring programs.
• Increase youth access to and sharing of cultural customs and beliefs and traditional Native art forms using appropriate technologies (traditional and/or modern), as a means of reviving or preserving tribal language, arts, history, or other culturally relevant topics.

Native Voices Rising (NVR)

Since our inception, Native Voices Rising has awarded over $16 million in grants to more than 380 Native-led grassroots organizations. These grants have empowered initiatives that enhance the lives of tens of thousands of Native community members across Indian Country. Our grant partners have been at the forefront of addressing critical issues, from championing environmental and climate justice to advancing health and healing and fostering youth and intergenerational involvement.

Guidelines

Native Voices Rising (NVR) is a fiscally sponsored project of Common Counsel Foundation. Native Voices Rising provides general operating support grants that are intended to strengthen Native-led groups that have a membership base in the community, work to develop leadership, and take collective action to win progressive social change.

Eligible organizations are rooted in a Native community, led by Native people, improve Native communities through organizing and advocacy, engage large numbers of community members to take action together, and seek to improve the policies and rules that impact the community.

About Decolonizing Wealth Project 

Established in 2018, Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) is committed to bringing truth, healing, and repair to our global community. Reparative Philanthropy, our signature framework, is at the heart of our work and aims to transform wealth into collective wellbeing. DWP operates through three key strategies: sector transformation, storytelling and culture, and reparative giving. Our work has radically transformed the philanthropic sector and has facilitated the distribution of nearly $1 billion for truth, healing, and reparative efforts. Liberated Capital, DWP’s fund and donor community, has directly granted over $23 million to support economic solidarity, wellbeing, and earth and climate efforts primarily led by communities most impacted. 

Youth Mental Health Fund - Anchor Grant

Background

Decolonizing Wealth Project is excited to launch a new culturally responsive care fund focused on supporting and expanding mental health care for youth in the United States, prioritizing access for LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color. The fund will redistribute a minimum of $15 million in grants over three years starting this year.

Throughout history, young people have been drivers of social change. They have led efforts from Selma to Standing Rock, inviting us all to imagine a better future. Youth today face a world of compounding challenges with the changing technology and social media, climate crises, income inequality, and deadly extremist violence in the United States and beyond. However, the burden of these challenges is not carried equally. Young people of color and queer youth are often forced to navigate a world that refuses to honor their brilliance and embrace their identities. As a result, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, or even suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders ages 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for young Black or African Americans (CDC, 2023; NAMI, 2023; ACAMH, 2023) and nearly half of all LBGTQ youth considered suicide, and 60% of those who sought mental health support were not able to access it (The Trevor Project, 2022).

One of the most significant barriers to supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth mental health is the lack of access to culturally responsive care. Youth of historically marginalized identities are in dire need of access to mental health providers who actively implement culturally responsive practices and care in affirming spaces that honor their identities. Culture also carries unique protective factors, and centering these strengths will ensure healing for both young people and society. 

The Opportunity

A Community-Aligned Fund that Centers Marginalized Youth

In collaboration with an external advisory committee composed of youth leaders and experts and practitioners in the field of adolescent mental health, DWP is launching the Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF) – a culturally affirming initiative focused on expanding access to community-based mental health care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 12-24. In addition to supporting community-based programs and partnerships, YMHF will also fund work to shift narratives around care and programs that offer culturally grounded healing experiences that center the unique needs and strengths of marginalized youth living at the intersections.

The YMHF fund will invest at least $15 million in grants over the next 3 years, for a minimum of $5 million annually. Alongside grantmaking, DWP will invest in capacity-building opportunities for grantee partners and elevate critical issues undergirding the Fund through communications and field-building efforts.

Fund Priorities: Culturally Responsive Care

Decolonizing Wealth Project seeks to nurture healing, belonging, and empowerment for youth. We will prioritize initiatives that are community-led or engage young people directly in decision-making processes and efforts. Examples of meaningful youth leadership may be in staffing, youth steering committees, youth boards, and processes that generate regular feedback from youth. An external, intergenerational Advisory Committee will review every eligible application.

Applications will be accepted across the following three priority areas:

• Community-Based Programs -
  • Increasing access to culturally responsive mental health care by providing services in places where youth live, learn, and play (e.g. in schools, churches, community centers, particularly in rural areas, etc). (Note: in the case of partnerships between community-based organizations and clinics/health care system units, grants will be awarded to the community-based nonprofit).
  • Youth-led organizations that provide programs to improve mental wellbeing outcomes, such as peer support, skill-building, and youth advocacy. These programs should create spaces where youth can connect, share experiences, and learn coping strategies, while advocating for changes in policies and practices that impact their mental well-being.
• Cultural-Based Healing -
  • Innovative culturally relevant delivery models that promote connection to belonging, culture, and improve mental health care. This may include programs that use creative expression such as: language, movement, art, music, dance, and theater as therapeutic tools to explore identity, process trauma, and build resilience.
  • Storytelling projects that amplify communal and personal stories of mental health journeys to foster solidarity and representation.
  • Heritage-based wellness programs that integrate cultural practices, rituals, and spirituality into mental health approaches for young people.
• Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns -
  • Community-based education programs tailored to equip youth, families, providers, and educators with tools to recognize and address mental health challenges.
  • Campaigns that challenge cultural and systemic stigmas around mental health care and identity, and work to expand access to services and support, as well as post-traumatic growth and joy.
  • Support for organizations working towards systemic change in mental health services and care delivery to dismantle inequities in mental health care systems impacting youth; Priority given to programs that train youth as advocates for systemic change in mental health policies and systems.

Funding

In this first year of grantmaking, we will use the following approach to grant $5 million:

• There are two grant types organizations can apply for (this grant page focuses on the Anchor Grant)
  • Anchor Grants: General operating support grants ranging from $100,000-$250,000 for youth mental health organizations or projects that have been operating for 5 years or more with organizational budgets over $2,000,000.

About Decolonizing Wealth Project 

Established in 2018, Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) is committed to bringing truth, healing, and repair to our global community. Reparative Philanthropy, our signature framework, is at the heart of our work and aims to transform wealth into collective wellbeing. DWP operates through three key strategies: sector transformation, storytelling and culture, and reparative giving. Our work has radically transformed the philanthropic sector and has facilitated the distribution of nearly $1 billion for truth, healing, and reparative efforts. Liberated Capital, DWP’s fund and donor community, has directly granted over $23 million to support economic solidarity, wellbeing, and earth and climate efforts primarily led by communities most impacted. 

Background

Decolonizing Wealth Project is excited to launch a new culturally responsive care fund focused on supporting and expanding mental health care for youth in the United States, prioritizing access for LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color. The fund will redistribute a minimum of $15 million in grants over three years starting this year.

Throughout history, young people have been drivers of social change. They have led efforts from Selma to Standing Rock, inviting us all to imagine a better future. Youth today face a world of compounding challenges with the changing technology and social media, climate crises, income inequality, and deadly extremist violence in the United States and beyond. However, the burden of these challenges is not carried equally. Young people of color and queer youth are often forced to navigate a world that refuses to honor their brilliance and embrace their identities. As a result, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, or even suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders ages 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for young Black or African Americans (CDC, 2023; NAMI, 2023; ACAMH, 2023) and nearly half of all LBGTQ youth considered suicide, and 60% of those who sought mental health support were not able to access it (The Trevor Project, 2022).

One of the most significant barriers to supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth mental health is the lack of access to culturally responsive care. Youth of historically marginalized identities are in dire need of access to mental health providers who actively implement culturally responsive practices and care in affirming spaces that honor their identities. Culture also carries unique protective factors, and centering these strengths will ensure healing for both young people and society. 

The Opportunity

A Community-Aligned Fund that Centers Marginalized Youth

In collaboration with an external advisory committee composed of youth leaders and experts and practitioners in the field of adolescent mental health, DWP is launching the Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF) – a culturally affirming initiative focused on expanding access to community-based mental health care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 12-24. In addition to supporting community-based programs and partnerships, YMHF will also fund work to shift narratives around care and programs that offer culturally grounded healing experiences that center the unique needs and strengths of marginalized youth living at the intersections.

The YMHF fund will invest at least $15 million in grants over the next 3 years, for a minimum of $5 million annually. Alongside grantmaking, DWP will invest in capacity-building opportunities for grantee partners and elevate critical issues undergirding the Fund through communications and field-building efforts.

Fund Priorities: Culturally Responsive Care

Decolonizing Wealth Project seeks to nurture healing, belonging, and empowerment for youth. We will prioritize initiatives that are community-led or engage young people directly in decision-making processes and efforts. Examples of meaningful youth leadership may be in staffing, youth steering committees, youth boards, and processes that generate regular feedback from youth. An external, intergenerational Advisory Committee will review every eligible application.

Applications will be accepted across the following three priority areas:

• Community-Based Programs -
  • Increasing access to culturally responsive mental health care by providing services in places where youth live, learn, and play (e.g. in schools, churches, community centers, particularly in rural areas, etc). (Note: in the case of partnerships between community-based organizations and clinics/health care system units, grants will be awarded to the community-based nonprofit).
  • Youth-led organizations that provide programs to improve mental wellbeing outcomes, such as peer support, skill-building, and youth advocacy. These programs should create spaces where youth can connect, share experiences, and learn coping strategies, while advocating for changes in policies and practices that impact their mental well-being.
• Cultural-Based Healing -
  • Innovative culturally relevant delivery models that promote connection to belonging, culture, and improve mental health care. This may include programs that use creative expression such as: language, movement, art, music, dance, and theater as therapeutic tools to explore identity, process trauma, and build resilience.
  • Storytelling projects that amplify communal and personal stories of mental health journeys to foster solidarity and representation.
  • Heritage-based wellness programs that integrate cultural practices, rituals, and spirituality into mental health approaches for young people.
• Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns -
  • Community-based education programs tailored to equip youth, families, providers, and educators with tools to recognize and address mental health challenges.
  • Campaigns that challenge cultural and systemic stigmas around mental health care and identity, and work to expand access to services and support, as well as post-traumatic growth and joy.
  • Support for organizations working towards systemic change in mental health services and care delivery to dismantle inequities in mental health care systems impacting youth; Priority given to programs that train youth as advocates for systemic change in mental health policies and systems.

Funding

In this first year of grantmaking, we will use the following approach to grant $5 million:

• There are two grant types organizations can apply for (this grant page focuses on the Opportunity Grant)
  • Opportunity Grants:
    • General operating support grants ranging from $30,000– $100,000 for organizations or projects that have been operating for less than 5 years; or
    • Project-specific grants for new innovative solutions, pilots, convenings, one-time special opportunities, etc.

Mission

AIDS United’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the United States.

In the ongoing work for social justice and true equity, ending the HIV epidemic in the United States is our chosen role. We’ve seen firsthand how the intersectionality of social injustice, discrimination and health care disparity impacts those living with HIV, and we believe alleviating this struggle is a pivotal step toward our national well-being.

Vision

AIDS United envisions a time when all people, governments, and organizations commit to ending the epidemic and strengthening the health, well-being, and human rights of everyone impacted by HIV.

Harm Reduction Futures Fund

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund (formerly the Syringe Access Fund) is a collaborative grantmaking initiative that seeks to reduce the health, psychosocial, and socioeconomic disparities experienced by people who use drugs (PWUD). The Harm Reduction Futures Fund invests in evidence-based and community-driven approaches to prevent the transmission of both HIV and viral hepatitis, reduce injection-related injuries, increase overdose prevention and reversal efforts, and connect people who use drugs to comprehensive prevention, treatment, and support services.

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund will award grants this Round to three kinds of organizations:

• syringe services programs providing direct services,
• harm reduction organizations supporting multiple syringe service programs providing direct services

Please note, we are currently not offering advocacy grants. At this time only direct service applications will be accepted. 

Purpose

The primary goal of the Harm Reduction Futures Fund is to provide core support for programs that demonstrate:

• an ability to provide high quality syringe and other drug user health services to one or more identified communities

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund seeks to identify and support organizations across intersecting movements to enhance and coordinate services for people who use drugs. It supports and funds organizations that are led by and/or meaningfully involve and serve networks of people who use drugs, including in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services. In Round 16, the Harm Reduction Futures Fund will prioritize support for programs that are led by and serve Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), as well as those in jurisdictions of high need and low resources. Other compelling factors may include the leadership of current or former sex workers; prevalence of HIV, viral hepatitis, and other blood-borne pathogens in a community; injection drug use prevalence; opioid use; overdose incidence; availability of local funding.

Funding

AIDS United expects to provide one-year cash grants to a total cohort of  7 to 15 organizations.

• Direct Service organizations are invited to submit proposals for $10,000 to $25,000 for one year.
  • AU anticipates 5-13 programs will receive funding
• Multi-Program Support organizations are invited to submit proposals for $25,000 to $40,000 for one year.
  • AU anticipates 1 program will receive funding

Program Overview

The grant requires that research institutions shift their policies and practices to value collaborative research. Institutions will also need to build the capacity of researchers to produce relevant work and the capacity of agency and nonprofit partners to use research.

We welcome applications from partnerships in youth-serving areas such as education, justice, prevention of child abuse and neglect, foster care, mental health, immigration, and workforce development. We especially encourage proposals from teams with African American, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American members in leadership roles. The partnership leadership team includes the principal investigator from the research institution and the lead from the public agency or nonprofit organization.

Program Goals

The Institutional Challenge Grant asks grantees to pursue four goals:

Grow an existing institutional partnership with a public agency or nonprofit organization.

The research-practice partnership will have defined objectives, roles, and agreements, and will be built for the long term. In this way, the partnership will be mutually beneficial, enabling the partners to develop and pursue a joint research agenda that is relevant to the public agency or nonprofit organization’s work over an extended period of time.

Pursue a joint research agenda to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.

The partnership’s research will aim to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. Specifically, the research agenda will seek to inform responses to inequality on the basis of race, ethnicity, economic standing, sexual or gender minority status, language minority status, or immigrant origins.

Create institutional change to value research-practice partnerships within research institutions.

The research institution will design a feasible strategy for institutional change that addresses observed structural, motivational, and financial barriers that inhibit research-practice partnerships at the institution. By establishing structural supports and incentives that encourage skilled, mid-career researchers to conduct joint work with policymakers and practitioners, the institution will develop an environment for partnerships to thrive.

Enhance the capacity of both partners to collaborate on producing and using research evidence.

Through new experiences that foster deeper understandings of a given policy or practice context and deepen relationships with partners, grantees on the research side will enhance their capacity for participating in effective partnerships. At the same time, the public agency or nonprofit partner will enhance their own capacity to partner with researchers , as well as understand, conduct, and use research through activities such as technical assistance, infrastructure improvements, or staff training.