Best Public Policy Grants in Maryland

Public charities and government units in Maryland working on education, STEM, or environmental stewardship projects can seek funding to strengthen local communities. Vulcan Materials Company Foundation supports K–12 and higher education initiatives, environmental programs, and efforts involving employee volunteers, with priority for organizations serving communities where Vulcan operates.

Nonprofit public charities in Maryland working on adult workforce development or support for diverse and women-owned small businesses can seek grants of more than US $15,000. Truist Foundation provides U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations with funding for reskilling, upskilling, employment access, and strengthening small business ecosystems, which may benefit public policy-focused initiatives.

The NIJ FY 2026 Research and Evaluation on Human Trafficking funding opportunity aims to support comprehensive research and evaluation projects. It focuses on preventing human trafficking, assessing the impact of federal policies, and enhancing services for victims. This initiative, led by the National Institute of Justice in partnership with the Office for Victims of Crime, seeks to generate insights that can inform better responses to human trafficking in the U.S.

The Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Scholarship at Harvard Kennedy School is designed for alumni of the PPIA Junior Summer Institute. This scholarship aims to support both U.S. and international students by considering merit and financial need. Harvard Kennedy School is committed to fostering leadership and public policy expertise, making a significant impact on global societal issues. Recipients must have participated in the PPIA program to be eligible for this limited funding.

Public policy and higher education graduate students in Maryland committed to LGBT+ issues can access fellowship support through Harvard Kennedy School’s Margaret Traub and Phyllis Dicker LGBT+ Graduate Fellowship. Harvard Kennedy School supports advanced study in public policy and leadership for U.S. and international students, including those focused on public policy work in Maryland.

Prospective graduate students in public policy or related fields, including those from Maryland, can apply for Harvard Kennedy School’s Kennedy Fellowships and Presidential Scholarships to support higher education studies. These merit- and need-based awards may benefit individuals aiming to advance public policy leadership and impact in their communities.

Harvard Kennedy School provides Maryland public policy and international affairs graduate students with fellowship support for Master in Public Policy study. The John Berger Fellowship supports MPP students who are Harvard College graduates intending careers in U.S. or international institutions focused on international affairs, and may benefit Maryland-based students pursuing this path.

Graduate students pursuing public policy, science, and technology studies who are interested in Harvard Kennedy School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program may be eligible for the Charles Edison Fund Fellowship. Grants from Harvard Kennedy School help Maryland public policy students and others extend the scope and impact of this program through merit- and need-based support.

Nonprofits and fiscally sponsored 501(c)(3) organizations in Maryland working on food-system public policy, farmed animal protection, or food justice can apply for Stray Dog Institute’s grants, typically US $2,500 - US $10,000. Funding supports transformation-oriented, systems-aware work such as advocacy, research, movement building, and environmental or labor policy efforts in the U.S. and internationally.

Muslim undergraduate and graduate students in film, theater, or related media fields in Maryland can apply for the Islamic Scholarship Fund’s Film Scholarship, awarding US $3,000 - US $5,000 for their studies. Eligible applicants must study at accredited U.S. universities and focus on work that influences public opinion and policy about American Muslims.

Law students in Maryland focused on public policy and judicial internships can receive US $3,000 stipends to support unpaid positions with district, state, or federal judges. Islamic Scholarship Fund provides U.S.-based, first- or second-year American Muslim law students with funding to gain courtroom and chambers experience and build skills for public interest law careers.

American Muslim undergraduate seniors and law students in the U.S. focused on public interest law and policy can receive US $5,000 - US $10,000 to advance access to justice through the ISF Law Scholarship Program. With a mission to increase Muslim representation in public policy, Islamic Scholarship Fund supports eligible Maryland students meeting GPA and enrollment requirements.

Pre-graduate individuals interested in community economic development and public policy can access fellowship support that includes work in Maryland through the Nowak Fellowship. Grants from Reinvestment Fund help fellows explore careers in public policy, economic development, and financial literacy, including opportunities connected to Baltimore County and similar communities.

Nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charities and research institutions working on pollinator health and ecologically responsible agriculture can seek funding for public policy and related projects in Maryland and beyond. With a mission to promote pollinator health, One Hive Foundation provides up to US $75,000 for research, advocacy, education, and capacity-building across the U.S. and Canada.

Maryland public policy and international affairs nonprofits can access funding through the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission to run U.S.-Japan research, education, cultural, and exchange programs. Eligible 501(c)(3) or Japanese NPOs must focus on arts and culture, education and public affairs, exchanges and scholarship, or global challenges within the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Maryland public policy and early childhood organizations can access funding through Ohio Children’s Foundation to support innovative programs for at-risk children ages 0–5. Grants up to US $20,000 back quality early learning, family literacy, and advocacy to expand high-quality early childhood education and improve long-term outcomes for vulnerable children and families.

Public policy professionals and scientists with PhDs in agronomy, crop, soil, or related sciences can apply for a year-long Congressional science fellowship in Maryland and Washington, D.C., working on federal policy issues. Grants from Crop Science Society of America help fellows bridge scientific expertise and legislative decision-making through placements with members of Congress or committees.

Researchers and research institutions conducting quasi-experimental evaluations of social programs and policies in the U.S., including Maryland, can apply for Arnold Ventures support to study causal impacts. Grants fund rigorous QED studies in areas like public policy, higher education, workforce training, reproductive health, and public infrastructure that align with Arnold Ventures’ key policy priorities.

Sophomore and junior undergraduates in Maryland studying environmental issues, tribal public policy, or Native health care can receive up to US $7,500 for eligible academic expenses. With a mission to support future leaders, the Udall Foundation provides U.S. students with scholarships that also include a multiday Scholar Orientation and access to an active alumni network.

The SMART FY26 Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program aims to enhance sex offender registration and notification practices across jurisdictions in the U.S. By supporting the implementation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), this grant facilitates the establishment of comprehensive sex offender registries, ensuring that states, territories, and federally recognized tribes comply with federal standards. This initiative also promotes interjurisdictional information exchange and helps maintain public safety.

The NIJ FY 2026 Research and Evaluation on Justice System Responses to Illegal Immigration invites proposals for impactful research on the adult criminal justice system's response to illegal immigration. This initiative aims to explore innovative solutions and evaluate their effectiveness across various jurisdictions, focusing on challenges like location, apprehension, and crime prevention. By fostering collaboration among federal, state, local, and tribal entities, the program seeks to enhance strategies that address illegal immigration effectively.

Request for Proposals: Launchpad Funds

Background

Coefficient Giving is increasing its giving, primarily to prepare for the billions of dollars in new philanthropic capital that may become available in the coming years. Our increased giving in global health and wellbeing is a temporary surge, with two objectives: to smooth funding and pull forward initiatives we expect to be cost-effective, and to help create an ecosystem of regrantors and implementers with the capacity to allocate this new money as cost-effectively as possible. Additional context on our scaling is provided in this blog post. 

With new potential capital on the way, we want to increase the supply of actionable and fundable plans to address some of the world’s hardest problems. We’re looking for specific, credible strategies to convert funding into measurable progress. Our ideal funds are:

However, we are also open to funds that are thematic and don’t have a quantified goal — for example, a fund organized around a promising type of intervention. Such funds still need to be led by a single, identifiable person who is accountable for the fund’s direction.

Through this request for EOIs, we aim to seed or scale Launchpad Funds that can grow to $100m+ over the next few years. We don’t seek scale for its own sake; it is a proxy for the ambition of the fund, and a signal that the problem is large and tractable enough to justify deploying significantly more capital over time.

What we will fund

• We expect to support established ideas that have either not yet secured anchor support or could significantly scale beyond their existing level of funding.
• This funding can cover operating expenses, but we expect most of it to be used for activities that make progress on the fund’s goals — whether through regranting or direct implementation.
• For exceptional proposals, we may consider funding levels beyond $50m. We anticipate higher funding levels will involve more thought partnership from our team.
• While we don’t expect to make grants longer than 36 months, funded proposals may later be considered for additional funding beyond the initial period.

The BJA FY 2026 Capital Case Litigation Initiative aims to enhance legal representation in state capital cases. By providing essential funding, this initiative supports both prosecutors and defense attorneys to ensure equitable legal processes for indigent defendants. The U.S. Department of Justice emphasizes the importance of upholding the rule of law and protecting citizens' rights. Applications are due by November 5, 2026, at 8:59 p.m. ET, marking a critical opportunity for improvement in capital case litigation.

Better Food Policy Fund 

Since its inception, the Better Food Policy Fund has set its strategic direction in a participatory fashion. We are intentionally building capacity for engagement to ensure the Fund aligns with the needs of food policy council stakeholders.   

Thus far, the Fund has engaged 300+ food policy council stakeholders to help co-develop the Fund. We are immensely grateful for the individuals who helped shape the initial direction of this fund. We view this growing stakeholder audience as the people to whom the Fund’s governing body, the Independent Advisory Committee, is ultimately accountable.

Grantmaking

The Better Food Policy Fund invests in US-based food policy councils, empowering community and government collaboration for progressive food policy. We utilize participatory processes to enhance equity and redistribute power in the funding landscape. We seek to celebrate and uplift the work of food policy councils, and believe every food policy council is worthy of financial support.

We define “food policy councils” as councils, networks, coalitions, or other groups working across boundaries at the tribal, municipal, county, state, or regional level.  

We support actions aimed at ensuring an enabling environment for policy change, such as: 

• increasing levels of inclusive and equitable stakeholder engagement in public processes
• engaging systems thinking when tackling complex food system challenges
• facilitating collaboration with and across local government agencies and departments 
• developing or revising local policies and plans  

We define “better food policy” as practices, procedures, ordinances, laws, etc. of governing institutions which strengthen community-based food systems.

We define “civic collaboration” as people joining together at the intersection of community and government to address public issues.

Grant Guidelines

To advance its mission to build a responsible and equitable technology ecosystem, the Kapor Foundation makes strategic grants across three focus areas: (1) Computing Education, (2) Innovation, and (3) Governance.

Within each focus area, we fund research on critical topics at the intersection of racial equity and tech, capacity-building that strengthens coalitions and movement-building infrastructure, and policy advocacy that drives systemic change.

Funding Priorities

We fund organizations and initiatives aligned with our core focus areas:

Given advances in Al, a new vision of education is urgently needed — one that ensures students are equipped with the technical skills to build emerging technologies and the critical skills to navigate their socio-technical implications. We fund computing education initiatives across K-12, postsecondary, and alternative pathways that expand computing participation at scale, shift policy to ensure equitable access, and expand the pipeline of educators prepared to teach computing.

2. 

Al is being designed, developed, and deployed rapidly, yet the communities most affected by its impacts are largely excluded from its creation and subsequent economic benefits. We support organizations and individuals that build responsible Al technologies, leverage technology to close gaps in access and opportunity, and invest in initiatives and coalitions that advance responsible Al in the entrepreneurship and venture capital ecosystems.

3.

As Al adoption accelerates, bolder approaches to regulation are necessary to protect marginalized communities from technological harm, expand economic opportunity, and ensure the benefits of technology reach everyone. We support efforts that build awareness of key policy issues, develop policy agendas, and mobilize coalitions.

For 2026, our priority advocacy areas are: 1) computing education, 2) algorithmic bias, 3) Al safeguards for children, 4) data center development, and 5) surveillance and civil rights.

Who is Stand Together?

Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, a unique network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.

Foreign Policy Grants

A government’s most important task is to secure the rights and liberties of its citizens—in part, by providing for the common defense. For this reason, the United States should maintain a strong military to keep America safe, prosperous, and free.

In recent decades, the United States has pursued an approach to foreign policy known as primacy or liberal hegemony. This foreign policy has required active and aggressive U.S. military engagement around the globe that has undermined our safety and imperiled our prosperity and liberties.

The Trust supports scholars and institutions interested in challenging the current approach, providing alternative visions for U.S. foreign policy, and engaging in research that can bridge the gap between ideas and policy. The Trust is especially interested in foreign policy research projects from political science, international relations, history, or economics. However, proposals from all fields will be considered on their merits.

Grant Info

We are especially interested in research that:

• Explores topics and issues related to a grand strategy of restraint.
• Examines the role of values and ethics in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.
• Addresses the unintended consequences of U.S. military actions abroad and explores the costs and impact of engagements in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and other places where significant counterterrorism efforts have been conducted.
• Considers the impact of U.S. military engagement abroad on American society—for instance, the effect of our foreign policy decisions on civil liberties or the health and welfare of veterans.
• Explores the concept of threat inflation and problematizes theories of credibility and reputation in relation to U.S. foreign policy.
• Analyzes executive–legislative relations in foreign policy, including the constitutional division of war powers.
• Examines the impact of domestic interest groups, businesses, think tanks, and the permanent national security bureaucracy on U.S. foreign policy.
• Explores the growth of the intelligence and national security establishments since 9/11.
• Surveys the costs, risks, and impacts of foreign aid and alliance commitments.
• Studies the costs and benefits of burden-sharing and burden-shifting with current allies.
• Scrutinizes Pentagon spending, force structure, and the strategic demands of U.S. defense policy—including structural incentives for military expenditures.
• Considers the consequences of an increasingly multipolar world, especially as concerns principal geostrategic regions (e.g., Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Western Pacific).
• Explores how changes in technology (such as A2/AD) that impact the offense-defense balance can be leveraged to support a sound approach to grand strategy.

Grant Criteria

Please submit a brief of no more than 3 pages that details the scope of the project. We are open to any type of project: papers, communications campaigns, conferences and convenings, school tours, and much more (we welcome creative ideas).

Funding

Funding levels are commensurate with the requirements of the research and the potential for the research to advance an understanding of critical issues. Accepted proposals may also receive support to disseminate the research findings.

Arnold Ventures

Arnold Ventures (AV) is a philanthropy dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through evidence-based policy solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. We focus on improving systems where outcomes are falling short, incentives are misaligned, and the time is right for change. To advance this mission, we invest in rigorous research to strengthen the evidence base on what works to improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and to inform policy and practice at scale.

AV’s Higher Education team seeks to fund rigorous, causal research on programs, policies, and practices that improve student outcomes and deliver stronger returns on investment for students and taxpayers. Our work focuses on strengthening the evidence base on effective student success models and aligning policy and funding incentives to support their adoption and scale.

Causal Research to Improve Outcomes for Part-Time Students

Purpose of the RFP

This RFP seeks to fund rigorous causal research that builds the evidence base on effective programs and policies for part-time students and identifies scalable, cost-effective approaches to improve completion and labor market outcomes. Findings should generate actionable insights to inform institutional practice, system-level decision making, and state policy, with the goal of improving outcomes and maximizing return on investment for students and taxpayers.

Population of Interest

Because enrollment intensity is fluid, proposals do not need to limit eligibility to students who are enrolled part-time at baseline. Instead, studies should focus on interventions that primarily serve or are expected to meaningfully impact students who are more likely to enroll part-time, including:

• Adult learners (age 25+)
• Student parents and caregivers
• Working adults

Interventions may serve mixed-enrollment populations, so long as the proposed study is clearly designed to improve outcomes for these populations.