Grants for Veteran Nonprofit Organizations

NOTE: Northrop Grumman does not accept unsolicited requests for funding. If your requests meets the criteria outlined and you wish to discuss the possibility of funding for a grant in one of our communities, please contact a member of our Corporate Citizenship Team. An invitation letter is required in order to submit a request for funding. 

Northrop Grumman seeks to support and strengthen the communities where our employees work and live. In addition to in-kind and volunteer resources, Northrop Grumman grants help make the lives of the people in our communities better, safer, successful and more resilient. Our Charitable Contributions program provides funding to state / government – accredited schools and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations which provide programming or services addressing STEM education, particularly engineering and technology programs, veterans and the military, health and human services, and the environment. In addition, grant requests are reviewed to ensure they are in line with community goals and our strategic priorities which include education, employee engagement and strengthening the community.

Community Grant Program

Republic Services proudly partners with many local nonprofit charitable organizations making a difference nationwide. Through our Community Grant program, we support local nonprofit organizations in the areas where our employees and customers live and work. This program allows for an open application process with a preference on addressing neighborhood revitalization, safety, disaster relief, and social services.

Program Guidelines

• NOTE: Direct Effect Quality of Life grants are offered twice yearly, in the 1st and 2nd grant cycles.
• See separate grant page for High Impact Priority Quality of Life grants. High Impact Priority Quality of Life grants are offered once per year, in the 1st grant cycle. 
• See separate grant page for Expanded Effect Tier Quality of Life grants which are currently being offered once per year, in the 2nd grant cycle.

Program overview

As a pillar of the Paralysis Resource Center, the Quality of Life Grants Program, pioneered by the late Dana Reeve, impacts and empowers people living with paralysis, their families and caregivers by providing grants to nonprofit organizations whose projects and initiatives foster inclusion, involvement and community engagement, while promoting health and wellness for those affected by paralysis in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Grants have been awarded in all fifty states, a number of U.S. territories and though we no longer fund projects outside of the United States of America, grants have previously been awarded in 33 countries outside the U.S.

Quality of Life Grant Details

Grants are awarded to organizations that address the needs of people living with paralysis caused by spinal cord and other injuries, diseases or birth conditions, including (but not limited to) stroke, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Direct Effect (Tier 1)

Direct Effect (Tier 1) is open-focused and awards grants of up to $25,000 to support a wide range of projects and activities. Grants fund programs and projects that will clearly impact individuals living with paralysis and their families.

Direct Effect Quality of Life grants fund specific budget items up to a total of $25,000 to support the wide range of projects and activities that will clearly impact individuals living with paralysis and their families. Funded projects must be completed within 12 months after the award is received.

Examples of funded projects may include (but are not limited to):

• sports wheelchairs for a wheelchair basketball team;
• adapted glider in a community playground;
• kayak for a rowing program;
• accessible gym equipment;
• hydraulic lift at a pool;
• electronic door openers at a community center;
• workshop education series on sex and sexuality with a spinal cord injury;
• wheelchair accessible picnic table at a county fairground;
• program for preventing abuse in adaptive sports;
• camp programs;
• subsidized lessons for therapeutic riding;
• transportation costs for an inclusive afterschool program; and
• support groups.

See Types of Direct Effect (Tier 1) Projects Funded

Direct Effect grants will have short- to mid-range impact. Long-range impact and sustainability are not expected for projects at this level. Grantees will be required to submit a 6-month interim report and a final report and evaluation survey at the end of the project.

Our Pledge

Infinite Hero’s pledge to those who have risked their lives is to reward their sacrifice and bravery with support that articulates our gratitude. We partner with like-minded organizations to provide access to innovative rehabilitation programs that address the unique needs of veterans and their families.

The measure of our impact is positive outcomes, not merely gestures. Like the heroes we serve, we refuse to shy away from a challenge. Where boundaries exist, we will plow through them. Where strategies and solutions have not yet been found, we will create them.

We will marshal the resources of technology, community, medical research and mental health care to foster collaborative innovation and affect positive change for our heroes in need.

Foundation Inspiration

Some heroes do not come home to their families because they have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms. Many more make it back but carry physical and mental injury.

It is the responsibility of us all to provide the therapies and resources they need to carry on with the scars of their sacrifice and experience the quality of life they deserve.

Front Line Issues

Infinite Hero Foundation believes that the service-related mental and physical health challenges our military heroes and their families face are foundational issues. In the case of physical injury, the veteran family must undergo extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury and other mental injuries are much more insidious and can go undetected for several months or more before the symptoms drive the individual or family to seek treatment. Innovations are needed to develop more effective treatments and ensure accessibility for every military hero and family regardless of geography or resources.

Grant Program

Since its inception in 2012, Infinite Hero Foundation has awarded more than $3 million dollars in funding and support to seventeen different veteran service organizations offering innovative and effective programs or treatments for service-related mental and physical injuries. 

We see IHF as an investment fund for nonprofit entities pushing the envelope on developing effective treatments for heroes’ service-related mental and physical injuries.

We invest in and partner with like-minded organizations that create cutting edge technologies, methods, practices, or products which advance the front lines of combat against the mental and/or physical challenges faced by military heroes and their families.

The return on investment we seek is not financial, but societal, benefiting Service Members of all branches, Veterans and their families dealing with service-related mental and physical injuries.

We provide the seed money and support for big ideas, for a limited time.

Grant Sizes and Types

Program grants between $25,000 to $100,000 per cycle, per year will be considered based on need and an approved budget. Infinite Hero funds must be applied directly to program costs and cannot be used for fundraising or administrative overhead.

Chairman's Award

Recognizing innovative programs for military and veteran communities.

Fisher House Foundation and Military Times Foundation introduce the Chairman’s Award, formally replacing the Newman’s Own Award. This program will award a total of $250,000 to be divided among the top applying nonprofits. Each award winner will also receive an advertising package valued at $30,000 from Military Times.

Since the program began in 1999, it has distributed more than $2.5M across 195 nonprofit programs.

General Information

Edith and Milton Latham founded the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education in 1918 to teach kindness and respect for all living things. Since then we have seen many changes in society but Latham continues to promote humane education as a core value that has a positive and effective impact on society. In our view, respect means taking personal responsibility for making good decisions within one’s own community rather than advocating any one particular dietary, political, environmental, or religious view—and respecting others’ right to do the same.

The 2019 Latham Grants program focus is Promoting Humane Education through Animal-Assisted Activities, where both animals and people benefit. Organizations that demonstrate this in their program will be considered for grants.

Humane education’s message of kindness and respect is open to all who will learn and apply these principles in their own lives and communities. Therefore, while requests from nonprofit organizations will have priority, all are welcome to apply.

We encourage applicants to review the hierarchy of humane education that our Latham Steps memorialize and show how their proposal supports these principles.

• Kindness to Animals
• builds compassion and empathy for other living creatures. This is the first and truly foundational step that supports all the other steps above it.
• Kindness to Each Other
• is another important step, guides the interaction between people of the same family or social group.
• Kindness to Other People
• guides the interaction between people of different families or social groups when they meet in a common place.
• Kindness to Our Country
• encourages national common respect for the laws of one’s own nation, traditions, and political structure.
• Kindness to Other Nations
• encourages respect for other nations and their unique laws and traditions.
• Kindness to The World
• shows respect for the whole world, for other nations collectively living their varied lives.

Read more about Humane Education here.

Grants

There are two main categories of funding

• Humane Education Outreach Programs
• Research on the Efficacy of Humane Education

We will award grants for either one or two years. Receiving a grant does not guarantee a renewal, nor does it prohibit one.

Awards will be from $5,000 – $10,000 for a one-year grant and up to $15,000 for a two-year grant.

This year, 2021, we are giving priority to programs that include services to the military, veterans and their families.