Best Small Grants for Nonprofits

The ASCA - America 250 program supports Alaska-based non-profit organizations in commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States. Grants of $50,000 or more are available for community projects that involve artists and cultural bearers. Eligible activities include creating art, educational programming, and events that reflect on Alaska's unique history and contributions. This initiative fosters arts education, strengthens creative industries, and promotes the importance of compensating artists fairly for their work.

The Rural Business Development Grants in Montana provide essential technical assistance and training for small rural businesses with fewer than 50 workers and under $1 million in revenue. Grants support various projects aimed at enhancing rural economies, including training, infrastructure development, and business planning. While there is no maximum grant amount, smaller requests receive priority, and funds can be allocated for community and technology-based economic development, ensuring sustainable growth in rural areas.

The Alabama Recycling Fund Grant, managed by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, supports local governments and nonprofits in enhancing or initiating recycling programs. This initiative promotes environmental stewardship by funding projects such as recycling bins, infrastructure, and educational outreach. Recent collaborations, like the Albertville-Boaz Recycling Authority, showcase successful partnerships aimed at increasing recycling efforts and community awareness. Eligible applicants include local governments and nonprofit organizations, ensuring comprehensive participation in sustainable practices.

The James B and Lois R Archer Charitable Foundation offers Large Grants for requests exceeding $10,000. Focused on fostering positive change, the foundation supports initiatives in Arts and Culture, Civic Engagement, Education, Health, and Human Services. Eligibility includes 501(c)(3) organizations, while restrictions apply to consecutive grant cycles and non-qualifying purposes such as endowments and fundraising events. Organizations are encouraged to apply for various projects to enhance community well-being.

The Frankenmuth Insurance Foundation Charitable Grant supports qualified charities focused on community betterment and basic human needs. Founded in 2016, it aims to enhance lives through initiatives such as affordable housing, health programs, and the arts. Organizations eligible for funding must be tax-exempt and serve areas where Frankenmuth Insurance operates. Notably, the foundation excludes support for individuals, political groups, and projects typically financed by governments, ensuring its resources benefit the wider community.

Who We Are

A national organization with a local feel.

Founded in 1992, The Food Trust works with neighborhoods, institutions, retailers, farmers, and policymakers across the country to ensure delicious, nutritious food for all.

Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative

A statewide public-private financing program administered by The Food Trust, PA FFFI helps business owners open or expand healthy grocery outlets in communities throughout the commonwealth.

Overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), the PA FFFI is administered by The Food Trust in partnership with Pennsylvania-based community development financial institutions (CDFIs).

The program provides grants and technical assistance to nonprofit, for-profit and cooperative food businesses that help increase access to healthy, affordable food and improve economic opportunities for low- to moderate-income residents of urban, suburban and rural areas of Pennsylvania. Grant awards will range from $5,000 – $200,000.

Radio Systems Corporation aims to enhance community welfare through its Product Donation Requests program. With over $2 million contributed last year, the initiative focuses on supporting non-profits dedicated to animal welfare and youth education. This year, the goal is to positively impact 14.5 million individuals and pets. The program welcomes applications from eligible organizations, while ensuring that for-profit entities and political campaigns are not considered for donations.

The CDC is offering funding to enhance collaboration among tuberculosis control programs and various partners in the U.S. This initiative aims to strengthen relationships with national TB control entities, federal agencies, academia, and community organizations. The goal is to promote health and quality of life by preventing, controlling, and eventually eliminating tuberculosis in the United States, building on previous funding opportunities.

The Roundhouse Foundation invites proposals for its Open Call for Proposals, focusing on enhancing rural communities in Oregon. Grants, typically ranging from $20,000 to $50,000, support projects in arts, education, environmental stewardship, and social services. Eligible organizations must demonstrate community impact and innovative approaches. Applications are reviewed by external panels, with funding decisions announced within 6-8 weeks. Organizations are encouraged to connect with the Foundation for guidance prior to submission.

The McCombs Foundation, established in 1998, serves as the primary philanthropic arm of the McCombs family. With a legacy rooted in generosity, the Foundation has contributed over $125 million to civic causes in San Antonio and Texas since 1981. Their approach emphasizes creating value from donations without strings attached, reflecting the family's commitment to impactful giving. The Foundation aims to foster sustainable community development, inspired by the family's history of philanthropy during challenging times.

ServeMinnesota provides annual grants to support nonprofits, local governments, institutes of higher education, and Indian Tribes in hosting AmeriCorps programs. Grantees must use research-based measures of program outcomes to generate valid and reliable data that are available to ServeMinnesota for evaluation and public reporting purposes.

AmeriCorps improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. AmeriCorps brings people together to tackle some of the country’s most pressing challenges through national service and volunteerism. AmeriCorps members serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities and those serving.

AmeriCorps grants are awarded to eligible organizations that engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions to strengthen communities. An AmeriCorps member is a person who does community service through AmeriCorps. Members may receive a living allowance and other benefits. After successful completion of their service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education  Award they can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to qualified student loans.

For this funding opportunity, AmeriCorps will prioritize consideration from organizations that:

Serve Communities:

•  Serve communities with concentrated poverty, rural communities, tribal communities, and historically underrepresented and underserved individuals. These may include people of color, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with arrest or conviction records, religious minorities, etc.;
• Implement programs for or expand access to high-quality youth mental health and substance use recovery services and prepare AmeriCorps members to enter behavioral health careers. These may include individuals with lived experience with substance use and mental health challenges to support youth mental health efforts and continued AmeriCorps work on the opioid epidemic;
• Focus on improving the quality of life for veterans, active-duty members of the Armed Forces, and their families by recruiting veterans, military spouses, and their older children into national service;
• Promote environmental stewardship to help communities (especially underserved households and communities) to be more resilient by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving land and water, increasing renewable energy use and improving at-risk ecosystems;
• Support civic bridgebuilding programs and projects to reduce polarization and community divisions; and providing training in civic bridgebuilding skills and techniques to AmeriCorps members;

The George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation Grant supports quality educational, cultural, human services, and health care programming for underserved populations in Connecticut. Established in 1960, it seeks to promote initiatives that demonstrate financial responsibility and effective leadership. Eligible organizations must be based in Connecticut and can apply for one-year grants. The foundation prioritizes proposals for specific projects and does not fund deficit financing or capital projects.

The John Jordan Foundation Grant is dedicated to enhancing the lives of vulnerable communities through targeted initiatives. With a broad focus on youth empowerment, educational readiness, health, and animal welfare, this grant aims to create lasting positive impacts. Organizations aligned with the Foundation's mission are encouraged to apply for funding to support their vital work. The Foundation prioritizes community needs, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to those who need them the most.

Youth and young adults with developmental disabilities often experience a loss of services and support as they move from school-based systems into adult life. This transition can be especially difficult for individuals in underserved communities, where access to services is limited and navigation is complex. Families may not know where to turn, and many individuals fall through the cracks.

This project addresses these challenges by funding community-based organizations that are committed to outreach, equity, and inclusion. Programs will be expected to identify individuals who are not currently connected to services and help them access individualized supports and adapted community resources. Services must be designed to meet the needs of diverse populations and delivered in partnership with local systems, including County Boards of Developmental Disabilities. 

The Lane and Elizabeth C. Dwinell Charitable Trust Grant aims to strengthen communities and foster positive social change in New Hampshire. Established by Lane and Elizabeth Dwinell, who dedicated their lives to civic engagement, the trust supports diverse charitable organizations, especially those focused on reducing healthcare costs and enhancing local culture. The foundation prioritizes projects that address community needs, particularly in Lebanon and the Upper Valley, while adhering to specific eligibility criteria.

Texas Education Agency

The Texas Education Agency is the state agency that oversees primary and secondary public education. It is headed by the commissioner of education. The Texas Education Agency improves outcomes for all public school students in the state by providing leadership, guidance, and support to school systems.

The Division of Governance Interventions supports TEA’s mission and vision by providing exceptional leadership, guidance, and support to school system leadership teams and governing boards. The division collaborates with external field support agents appointed by the TEA Commissioner of Education to build sustainable systems aligned to core TEA initiatives, so that the school system thrives after the release of agency intervention. 

Texas Academic Innovation and Mentoring (AIM) Grant

Program Description

The Academic Innovation and Mentoring (AIM) grant is designed to close the gaps in the student achievement among English language learners and minority and low-income students who are at risk of dropping out. The Texas AIM program is a partnership between Texas Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs (BGC) and a supplemental academic learning center that is owned and operated in the United States to provide an after-school and summer AIM program statewide. Program goals include decreasing the dropout rate and discipline issues and improving academic achievement and attendance among participating at-risk students.

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC)

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) envisions a Delaware that offers a healthy environment where people embrace a commitment to the protection, enhancement and enjoyment of the environment in their daily lives; where Delawareans’ stewardship of natural resources ensures the sustainability of these resources for the appreciation and enjoyment of future generations; and where people recognize that a healthy environment and a strong economy support one another.

The mission of DNREC is to: engage all stakeholders to ensure the wise management, conservation and enhancement of the State’s natural resources; protect public health and the environment; provide quality outdoor recreation; improve the quality of life; lead energy policy and climate preparedness; and educate the public on historic, cultural and natural resource use, requirements and issues.

Buffer Incentive Program in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) offers incentives for urban and agricultural landowners to install buffers along waterways within Delaware’s Chesapeake Bay watershed. Eligible landowners that qualify will receive an incentive payment for land they enroll in the program.

A buffer is a linear strip of wooded or vegetated area that absorbs nutrients from groundwater and helps filter nutrients, sediment and other pollutants from water runoff. These buffers are adjacent to waterways and help contain high stream flows, provide wildlife habitat and provide protection from flooding and erosion.

Buffers are a part of Phase III of Delaware’s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to help reduce nutrient and sediment loads entering the Chesapeake Bay. Delaware’s WIP goals for buffers are to create an additional 65 acres of forest buffers and 8,118 acres of grass buffers by 2025. The Delaware Riparian Forest Buffer Action Strategy outlines the state’s plan for meeting its goals. This includes the creation of a state incentive program for planting buffers.

Helen Frankenthaler Foundation

The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation supports the artist’s legacy through a variety of initiatives, including exhibitions, loans of artworks, research and publications, conservation, grants, educational programs for the public and the scholarly community, and the publishing of a catalogue raisonné. It is dedicated to promoting greater public interest in and understanding of the visual arts.

Established and endowed by the artist during her lifetime (1928-2011), the Foundation became active in 2013, on the closing of Frankenthaler’s estate. As the principal beneficiary of Frankenthaler’s estate, the Foundation maintains an extensive collection of her work in a variety of mediums, as well as her collection of works by other artists and original papers and materials pertaining to her life and work.

Frankenthaler Climate Initiative

The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI) is a pioneering grantmaking program established by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Since its inception in 2021, FCI has distinguished itself as the foremost private national initiative in the United States dedicated to combating climate change specifically within the visual arts sector.

FCI provides visual arts institutions with up to $100,000 to undertake ambitious sustainability and energy efficiency initiatives that directly address carbon reduction and energy efficiency. The scope of its support is broad, encompassing everything from modest, rapid-response projects to comprehensive efficiency audits and feasibility studies, and extending to financial contributions for significant infrastructural renovations and strategic planning for new buildings and major initiatives.

Building on the core values of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the initiative aligns a commitment to environmental stewardship with a belief in the vital importance of the visual arts and arts education. Through strategic funding and partnerships focused on tangible infrastructure, FCI aims to catalyze a sector-wide shift toward zero carbon operations, promoting a future where the visual arts thrive—while contributing to a more sustainable and ecologically conscious world.

Who We Fund

FCI funds nonprofit institutions in the United States and its territories whose primary focus rests in the visual arts. The visual arts includes but is not limited to painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installations in clay, glass, metal, wood, fiber, paper, film, and mixed media.

Most of our grantees are art museums, nonprofit galleries, archives, noncollecting institutions, art schools, university museums, and artist-endowed foundations.

What We Fund

FCI funds energy efficiency and clean energy generation projects.

FCI meets arts institutions at every stage of the work, through four kinds of grants:

• Catalyst — first actions and stand-alone projects with a quick turnaround
• Scoping — energy audits and assessments that establish a baseline
• Technical Assistance — detailed planning for technically demanding projects
• Implementation — comprehensive capital work addressing a building's environmental impact at multiple levels

Technical Assistance Grants

Technical Assistance grants support projects that have finished initial assessments, and need procurement and financing support for an identified efficiency project. This may include providing designs, specifications, or fees for working with energy services companies (ESCOs) for project support. These grants also support more complex studies or analysis required for pursuing major implementation projects. At the conclusion of a Technical Assistance grant, the applicant should be sufficiently informed to implement a project.

The BECU Foundation's People Helping People Awards honor exceptional nonprofit work in communities served by BECU. Each year, BECU members can nominate organizations for grants up to $50,000. Eligible nonprofits must be active 501(c)(3) organizations with a direct impact in Idaho, Oregon, South Carolina, or Washington. This initiative highlights the importance of community service and encourages members to recognize local heroes making a difference.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is offering grants for historic preservation projects through the State Historic Preservation Office. These grants, ranging from $1,000 to $20,000, support local governments and organizations in efforts such as architectural surveys and restoration of National Register-listed properties. An estimated total of $120,000 to $130,000 is available for eligible projects, emphasizing community engagement and preservation planning.

The Small Business Development Grant (SBDG) in Wisconsin aims to enhance local economies by providing financial support to small business development organizations. With awards ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, the program targets local and regional Economic Development Organizations, municipalities, tribal governments, and counties to foster innovative support for small businesses. This initiative addresses the ongoing challenge of accessing capital, encouraging diverse and rural business growth while ensuring community involvement in program development.

The Rasmuson Foundation, established in 1955, aims to empower Alaskans through program-related investments (PRIs). These financial tools, which include loans and equity investments, support charitable projects in housing, economic development, and nonprofit facilities. By increasing access to credit for nonprofits and community developers, the Foundation fosters homeownership, entrepreneurship, and community stability, while avoiding high-risk ventures that stray from its charitable mission.

The Alaska Airlines Foundation Grant supports youth in underserved areas of Alaska and Hawaii, focusing on empowering young people through career exploration, mentorship, and skill development. Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000, prioritizing organizations that demonstrate partnership and sustainability. Eligible applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that do not discriminate based on protected categories. Funds should be utilized within a year, with grants not exceeding 10% of the organization's budget or 50% of the program budget.

The Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) aims to ensure every child in Illinois grows up healthy. Committed to improving children's health and wellness, ILCHF supports innovative ideas and partnerships that address emerging needs. While funding is available for novel initiatives, it does not support budget shortfalls, existing program operations, or medical research. ILCHF is dedicated to fostering a healthier future for Illinois children through targeted and impactful funding.

The Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants in Puerto Rico aim to assist eligible communities in preparing for or recovering from emergencies that threaten safe drinking water. Events qualifying as emergencies include droughts, floods, and chemical spills. The grants can be used for constructing water sources or repairing existing water distribution lines, with funding up to $1 million. This program is vital for ensuring access to clean water in rural areas following disasters.

The Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania (WEDnetPA) Grant offers funding for training programs aimed at enhancing the skills of new and existing employees. This initiative is a collaboration between community colleges and educational institutions, designed to address the workforce needs of Pennsylvania's business sector. Applications are accepted year-round, with quarterly approvals, ensuring ongoing support for workforce development.

The Hazard Fuels Reduction Grants, funded by the USDA Forest Service, aim to mitigate fire risks on non-federal, non-industrial forest lands. Projects must focus on reducing hazard fuels within 1.5 miles of federal fire mitigation efforts. Key aspects include a federal adjacency requirement, targeted educational initiatives, and no match funding requirements, although leveraging funding is encouraged. This program is designed to complement existing fire management strategies.