November 2022 Resources
Each month LOR sends a curated list of funding opportunities and other resources relevant for small rural communities in the Mountain West. To receive a link to our monthly resources guide, drop us a line to connect@lorfoundation.org.
Funding Opportunities
NOVEMBER DEADLINES
The Prudential Emerging Visionaries provides recognition and funding to people ages 14 to 18 who create solutions to overcoming barriers to financial inclusion and well-being, as well as creating solutions that contribute to equitable and sustainable community that works for the good of all. Those solutions might include creating job opportunities in a community, helping people plan their financial lives, starting an accelerator or other initiative to finance youth-led ventures, or projects that serve on environmental, racial justice, or education issues. Twenty-five winners will receive $5,000 each, and one winner will receive an additional $10,000 award.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 3
The Wallace Foundation is offering funding to advance cross-sector partnerships that help adolescents thrive through system change at the local level. The foundation is interested in partnerships—both formal and informal—that work across sites or programs and may include public or private entities, business organizations or coalitions, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood development corporations, higher education institutions, community organizers, and school districts. These partnerships should have an existing or emergent strategy focused on adolescents, especially those who face systemic challenges such as poverty, homelessness, and physical, mental, or behavioral disabilities, and focus on learning and development opportunities for youth beyond the traditional classroom. Each group of organizations selected will receive grants averaging $200,000 for a year of work, as well as access to other support such as peer learning and technical assistance.
Open: Now
Deadline for expressions of interest: November 4
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation offers up to $200,000 for community engagement around climate resilience. Community-based organizations, including nonprofit organizations, tribal nations, and Indigenous peoples and communities, will be supported with up to $200,000 to help them develop community-driven solutions to adapt to the impacts of climate change. This program supports environmental education initiatives that help communities prepare for climate change. Priority will be given to projects that use formal and informal, community-led environmental education approaches, such as hands-on activities and place-based learnings, citizen-science initiatives, knowledge exchange with elders, training and capacity building, awareness campaigns, and the involvement of youth as agents of change.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 11
SeedMoney Challenge is offering grants to food garden projects ranging from $100 to $1,000. Funding for food garden projects is being offered through a 30-day crowdfunding challenge running from November 15 to December 15. Grants are open to all types of public food garden projects, including youth gardens, community gardens, food bank gardens, and school gardens. The program anticipates awarding 370 grants ranging from $100 to $1,000 with a total of $75,000 available. The size of a grant depends on how much a project raises over the 30-day crowdfunding challenge period compared to other participating projects; those who raise the most will be awarded grants.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 12 (application due date); November 15 to December 15 (crowdfunding challenge)
The Institute of Museum and Library Services offers funding up to $250,000 through the Museums for America program to support public engagement. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 in are available to museums of all sizes to support their efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue,and collections management.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 15
The EPA’s Brownfield and Land Revitalization Program offers a number of funding streams to support communities’ efforts to address contaminated properties. The program is designed to empower states, tribes, local governments, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. Current grant opportunities include Multipurpose Grants, Community-wide Assessment Grants, Assessment Coalition Grants, Community-wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes, Revolving Loan Fund Grants, and Cleanup Grants. Each program has different funding levels and areas of focus, but all share a common deadline (November 22).
Open: Now
Deadline: November 22
The Actors’ Equity Foundation offers general operating grants to nonprofit theaters. The Foundation’s Theater Grants provide support to nonprofit theaters with an established artistic and administrative track record, a history of fiscal responsibility, and who have worked to improve the state of the theater. (Note: The foundation did not identify a grant amount range.)
Open: Now
Deadline: November 30
The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries offers funding to schools to expand their collections. Funds may be used for the purchase of print or Braille volumes, audiobooks, e-books, or magazine/serial/e-magazine subscriptions. Eligible applicants include public schools, neighborhood schools, charter schools, and magnet schools that are Title 1 eligible, as well as private and parochial schools in which at least 50 percent of the student population qualify for financial aid.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 30
Sony Electronics and CREATE ACTION are providing funding and support for locally-focused nonprofits to tell their story and amplify their impact. CREATE ACTION grants support 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations who received less than $500,000 in donations each year for the past two years and who are serving their local communities in areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) and academic enrichment, workforce development, and other services for underserved and under-represented groups. One grant will be awarded each month through March 2023. Grantees will receive a $50,000 grant to continue and expand the organization’s work, $50,000 in Sony electronics products to support their mission, and a Sony-produced short film that tells the organization’s story.
Open: Now
Deadline: Two upcoming deadlines of November 30 or December 31
DECEMBER DEADLINES
The American Association of University Women’s Community Action Grants support innovative programs that advance education and equity for women and girls. The program provides funding ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 to individuals and AAUW organizations as well as local community-based nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions. Grantees must be working on projects that are responsive to a documented local need related to creating equitable outcomes or the education of women and girls.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 1
The National Endowment for the Humanities Public Humanities Program provides up to $400,000 for initiatives that connect the public to humanities projects. Projects must engage themes from history, literature, ethics, or art history and reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings. Such projects may include exhibitions, historic places, and humanities discussions. Grants are available for both planning (up to $75,000) and implementation (up to $400,000).
Open: Now
Deadline: Optional drafts are due December 7; the application deadline is January 11
Temper of the Times Foundation offers grants—typically between $5,000 and $15,000—to increase awareness about wildland conservation and restoration. Grants are provided to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations for projects that will lead to positive outcomes for wildland ecosystem conservation and restoration. Grants may be used to fund the production of print, radio, or television ads; to pay for advertising space or airtime; and to produce or distribute pamphlets, books, videos, or press packets.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 15
USDA is making loans and grants for a wide array of activities that support economic development available under the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program. This program provides funding for rural projects through local utility organizations, including Rural Utilities Service, electric or telecommunications organizations or other not-for-profit utilities. USDA provides zero-interest loans to local utilities which they, in turn, pass through to local businesses for projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas. Applicants can use grants up to $300,000 and loans up to $2,000,000 to help local businesses finance projects that will create and retain jobs or finance community facility projects, including business incubators, facilities and equipment for training rural residents or for medical care for rural residents, and other start-up costs or technical assistance.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 31
The U.S. Department of Education is now accepting applications from individuals seeking student loan cancellation. Federal Pell Grant recipients can receive up to $20,000 in student loan debt relief and others holding federal (not private) student loans can receive up to $10,000 in relief. Applicants must have earned less than $125,000 (for single filers) or $250,000 (for those married filing jointly) in 2020 or 2021.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 31
The American Alpine Club’s Cornerstone Conservation Grants give between $1,000 and $8,000 to local climbing communities’ efforts to create healthy climbing landscapes. Funding is available to local climbing organizations, land managers and agencies, nonprofits, and individuals for projects as varied as building or improving trail networks to climbing areas, establishing new toilet facilities and signage at trailheads, and deploying a variety of community groups for cleanup and graffiti removal at local crags. Projects must have the endorsement of the land manager or property owner, improve land conservation or climber practices, engage members of the local climbing community, and have local AAC section endorsement.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 31
JANUARY DEADLINES
The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) will award 20 grants to rural communities of up to $100,000 each under the Rural Health Network Development Planning Program. These one-year grants will allow communities to focus on at least one of the following: achieve efficiencies; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services; strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. Eligible applicants include tribal governments and all public and private, nonprofit and for-profit entities with demonstrated experience serving, or the capacity to serve, rural underserved populations.
Open: Now
Deadline: January 6
FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program provides local communities funding to address future risks due to natural disasters. The BRIC program supports states and local governments and their investments in ways to better protect their communities from natural disasters and hazards. This includes retrofitting buildings, funding wildfire risk reduction programs, investing in utility protection, and implementing building code changes. The BRIC funding typically covers between 75 and 100 percent of project costs; average projects cost $15 million, but range between less than $200,000 and more than $50,000,000.
Open: Now
Deadline: January 27
ROLLING DEADLINES
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is accepting applications for programs that help children and families. Grants range from $10,000 to more than $1,000,000 and are open to nonprofits, local governments, including school districts, institutions of higher education, and other public charities. Priorities include Thriving Children, with a focus on healthy starts and quality learning experiences for all children; Working Families, including efforts to help families obtain stable, high-quality jobs; and Equitable Communities, with a focus on advancing racial equity and racial healing, engaging communities in solving their own problems, and developing leaders capable of guiding change. While the foundation provides support throughout the U.S., it concentrates up to two-thirds of its grantmaking in a few places (including New Mexico).
Open: Now
Deadline: Rolling
STATE-SPECIFIC FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Wyoming and Montana National Fish and Wildlife Federation has $5.4 million in funding to promote grassland conservation in the Northern Great Plains. The Northern Great Plains Program aims to conserve and restore grasslands and wildlife species in the Northern Great Plains by offering resources to support governments, nonprofits, and educational institutions.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 17
Montana The Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Center Program Office have funds available for critical access hospitals (CAHs), rural health clinics (RHCs), and rural public health departments that wish to translate their COVID-19 materials to Spanish. The funds will be given on a first come, first served basis and the amount will depend on the number of interested organizations. Contact Grace Behrens at gracebehrens@montana.edu if you are interested.
Open: Now
Deadline: Until funds are expended
New Mexico Capital construction and equipment grants up to $2,000,000 are being provided by the Mabee Foundation. The Mabee Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations in a handful of states, including New Mexico, for new construction, building renovation projects, and the purchase of major medical equipment. Generally, the foundation supports educational, social and humanitarian services, medical and health, and cultural and religious organizations or projects. The foundation will provide up to 20 percent of the total costs of a project, up to a maximum of $2,000,000. Forty percent of the total project cost must be raised from other public donors at the time an application is submitted, and the remaining funds required to finish the project must be raised within one year of the awarding of the grant.
Open: Now
Deadline(s): December 1 (with additional dates in the year ahead)
Colorado Take Note Colorado offers funding up to $10,000 to increase access to music instruction for youth. Funds are available to organizations to cover access to instruments and instruction to students, including music-making technology and fees for providing instruction. Teaching artists, nonprofits, library districts, municipalities or quasi-governmental entities, creative districts, and music businesses are eligible to apply. (Schools and school districts are not eligible.) Support is provided throughout the state, especially in rural and otherwise underserved communities.
Open: Now
Deadline: November 15
Colorado The Colorado Media Project (CMP) is accepting applications to support more equitable access to local news, including in rural areas. CMP supports local news outlets and projects that put community listening and information needs at the center of the journalism process—with an emphasis on better service to and coverage of communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-income rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached, or represented. The next round of grants will support projects that address one or more of these three priorities: support internal diversity, equity and inclusion capacity-building efforts in Colorado newsrooms; strengthen connections and build trust between Colorado newsrooms and the diverse communities they serve; and/or support more diverse and inclusive civic news leadership, entrepreneurship, ownership and narratives. A total of at least $250,000 is expected to be available for 2023. The total grant amount per project may range between $5,000 and $25,000, with potential for more funding for projects that involve multiple partners and/or deliver more impact.
Open: Now
Deadline: December 1, although an applicant information session will be held on Nov. 3 from 10 to 11 a.m. MT. Potential applicants with questions about this opportunity can reach out to Sam Moody, CMP Learning and Grants Manager, at sam@coloradomediaproject.com.
Colorado The El Pomar Foundation is accepting grant proposals from nonprofits and government entities working to advance the well-being of Coloradoans. Eligible activities fall across a broad spectrum of focus areas, including arts and culture, civic and community, education, health, and human services. Grants are provided for general operating support, programs, and capital projects. In addition to the foundation’s general competitive process, support is provided through several funds with specific areas of interest, including animal welfare, equine-related programs, emergency needs of volunteer firefighting agencies and first responders, and nonprofit organizations serving the Pikes Peak region.
Open: Now
Deadline: Rolling
Other Resources
Thinking about putting together a holiday pop-up event? Let LOR help with our How to Create a Winter Pop-Up Market tool kit, that provides tips and tricks for pulling off a great community event—without going crazy.
National Rural Health Day is November 17! Each year the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health and its partners set aside the third Thursday of November to celebrate National Rural Health Day (NRHD). NRHD is an opportunity to “Celebrate the Power of Rural.” NRHD helps educate about the challenges of rural healthcare and highlights the innovation and collaboration used by health-care providers to improve quality of care.
The National Association of Counties maintains a regularly updated compilation of funding opportunities for counties or local public agencies. There are numerous funding opportunities open now through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law where local public agencies are eligible to apply. These opportunities total roughly $6 billion and range from funding for smart transportation technologies to broadband deployment support.
USDA is making several different funding streams available for rural communities interested in creating a strategic plan for economic development. USDA Rural Development recently announced that they are seeking applications to support rural communities in regional economic and community development planning through the Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD) initiative. This program includes several different types of programas, including funding for community facilities, water, and wastewater disposal.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has put together a tool kit for planning and funding rural electric mobility infrastructure. With many more electric vehicles expected to be on rural roads in the years ahead, this tool kit can support rural communities’ efforts to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place to support rural EVs.