GrantStation Insider: February 13, 2025

Application deadline: March 7, 2025
Grant amount: $20,000 or $100,000
Description: The Aim High grant competition, funded by New York Life Foundation and administered by the Afterschool Alliance, supports out-of-school time programs across the United States that prepare middle school students for success. In 2025, a total of 30 grants worth $1.8 million will be awarded to afterschool, summer, or expanded learning programs serving middle school youth living in under-resourced communities. Fifteen one-year, $20,000 general operating grants will be awarded to programs that demonstrate successful student engagement strategies and have strong impact data. Fifteen two-year, $100,000 grants ($50,000 per year) will support programs implementing strategies to improve young people's educational attainment by reducing school absences and chronic absenteeism. Awardees must be nonprofit organizations serving middle school youth, with at least 75% of those served from families with low incomes.

Application deadline: April 30, 2025
Grant amount: Generally $5,000 to $40,000
Description: The Foundation for Financial Planning (FFP) provides annual grants to community-based and national nonprofit organizations for programs linking volunteer financial planners to people in need. Eligible programs must engage CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals as volunteers, include one-on-one engagements between financial planner volunteers and pro bono clients, and help people in need of financial guidance or in a financial crisis who are underserved by the market and couldn't ordinarily access quality, ethical advice. U.S.-based nonprofits that share FFP's commitment to helping underserved people achieve better financial stability and capability are eligible to apply.

Application deadline: March 31, 2025
Grant amount: Up to $15,000
Description: The Gamma Mu Foundation is committed to empowering LGBTQ+ communities in the United States by supporting organizations and initiatives that create lasting, positive change. Support is provided to local LGBTQ+ community organizations to expand their reach, enhance services, and build stronger, more inclusive environments. Grants focus on three program areas: community support services, including activities meeting the needs of rural communities and underserved LGBTQ+ populations and promoting empowerment and inclusivity; public education and research, with a focus on increasing awareness and understanding of LGBTQ+ issues, fostering a more inclusive environment, and establishing a foundation for evidence-based advocacy; and HIV and health programs, including programs meeting the needs of persons, caregivers, and families impacted by HIV and other health conditions.

Application deadline: March 16, 2025
Geographic scope: United States, including U.S. territories, and Canada
Grant amount: $250 or $500
Description: Youth Service America, in collaboration with The Hershey Company and Hershey’s Heartwarming Project, will provide Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes Youth Grants to support youth-led service projects during Youth Service Month (April 11 to May 11, 2025) and Global Youth Service Day (April 25 to 27, 2025). Youth aged five to 25 in the U.S. and Canada are eligible to apply for the grants to lead and engage their peers in awareness, service, advocacy, and philanthropy projects in their communities. Grants of $250 require engaging at least 25 youth volunteers, while $500 grants require a minimum of 50 youth volunteers. Projects should address community issues important to the youth project leader and their peers and aim to foster meaningful connections, engage a diverse group of youth volunteers, and develop social awareness and relationship skills.

Application deadline: March 3, 2025
Geographic scope: Communities within the Bank of America footprint
Description: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation provides support in communities within the Bank’s footprint in the United States to advance economic opportunity. Support is currently available through the Basic Needs and Income Creation request for proposals. In the area of ensuring basic human needs, the focus is on access to necessities related to health and wellness, including healthcare, disease prevention, healthy food, addressing homelessness, and crisis or disaster response. In the area of creating income, the focus is on enabling job or career readiness and exposure, sustainable incomes, and advancing entrepreneurship and small business resiliency. Visit the FAQs page for more information on the application process, and to begin the eligibility quiz.

Application deadline: None
Geographic scope: New England and Lee County, FL
Grant amount: $1,000 to $10,000
Description: The Red Sox Foundation supports nonprofit organizations in New England and Lee County, FL, that make a difference in the lives of children, veterans, families, and communities in need. Programmatic grants focus on the areas of health, education, and recreation. (Support is also provided through event sponsorships and in-kind support, as well as support for New England Little Leagues.)

Application deadline: March 13, 2025
Geographic scope: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas
Grant amount: Up to $15,000
Description: The Mid-America Arts Alliance's Artistic Innovations Grant Program supports the creation of new, original works of art of all disciplines in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Matching grants are provided to artists and nonprofit arts organizations to cover expenses incurred in the art-making process and the public presentation of the new work. All projects must include at least two public-facing engagements: a premiere or feature presentation and an educational or outreach activity. Grants will be made to at least two grant recipients per state across the six-state region.

Application deadline: Proposals are accepted by invitation only and are reviewed twice a year, in March and September. Letters of Inquiry are accepted without invitation and can be submitted anytime. 
Geographic scope: Oregon, Washington, and Idaho
Description: The Silver Family Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho that focus on transformative youth development. Priority is given to programs that provide in-depth, long-term investments and opportunities for underserved and at-risk youth, ages five to 18. Grantmaking priorities include youth mentorship, academic intervention and enrichment, high school completion, and college and post-secondary preparation and retention.

On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo (M-25-13) responding to the President’s Executive Orders stating that federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of federal financial assistance, including the issuance of new awards and the disbursement of federal funds under all open awards, effective January 28, 2025. On January 29, 2025, a new memo (M-25-14) was issued that rescinded the original memo, however only the memo was rescinded, not the Executive Orders behind the memo. On February 3, 2025, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia issued a Temporary Restraining Order on the implementation of OMB memo M-25-13. This information is current as of 3 PM ET on February 12, 2025.

Application deadline: May 7, 2025
Description: The National Archives and Records Administration’s Archival Projects program funds archival projects that will significantly improve online public discovery and use of historical records collections. The program welcomes projects that engage the public, expand civic education, and promote understanding of the nation’s history, democracy, and culture from the founding era to the present day. Projects focused on collections of America’s early legal records—such as the records of colonial, territorial, county, and early statehood and tribal proceedings that document the evolution of the nation’s legal history—are especially encouraged, as are collections that center the voices and document the history of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Grants.gov deadline: March 11 and July 10, 2025
NEA Applicant Portal deadline: March 14 and July 15, 2025
Description: The Grants for Arts Projects program provides project-based funding for organizations in the areas of artist communities, arts education, dance, design, film and media arts, folk and traditional arts, literary arts, local arts agencies, museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting and multi-disciplinary works, theater, and visual arts. Funded activities may include public engagement with the arts and arts education, the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector.

The AARP® Purpose Prize® award supports AARP's mission by honoring extraordinary nonprofit founders 50 and older who tap into the power of life experience to build a better future for us all.

Up to five winners will receive $75,000 for their organizations. Winners also have access to yearlong individualized supports to help further their organizational goals. Examples of current supports include one-on-one leadership coaching for founders, data and evaluation consulting, succession planning, prospectus development, social media and branding support, and more.

See rules and apply by February 28, 2025, at 5 PM ET. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

When writing a grant proposal, it is important that any expenses laid out in the line-item budget are clarified in the budget narrative. So what exactly should be included in the budget narrative section? The article “Creating the Budget Narrative for Your Grant Proposal” provides some guidance. Published on The Grantsmanship Center’s blog, this article provides some helpful tips on how to craft this section of the grant proposal.

Some people learn best in an in-person environment. The GrantStation database (Members only) offers a search term for conferences, seminars, and workshops. If you'd like to get support to attend one of these types of events, or to host your own, this search term can help you find interested funders.

Webinar date: February 20, 2025, 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern Time
Description: The budget is a critical component of any grant application—it should tell a story that complements your proposal narrative and builds your organization’s credibility as a responsible steward of grant funds. Understanding how to build a budget and present your financials in a grant proposal will strengthen your proposals and take the stress out of the drafting process. During this webinar, Alison Hight of Elevate will examine the building blocks of budgets and how to present an appropriate budget in a grant proposal.

Webinar date: February 24, 2025, 2:00 to 2:45 PM Eastern Time
Description: As AI becomes increasingly integral to operations, establishing clear policies is essential to ensure responsible, effective, and ethical AI use. Thoughtful AI policies can help your organization maximize AI’s benefits while safeguarding data privacy, maintaining transparency, and aligning with your nonprofit’s values. During this TargetED, Alice Ruhnke and David Gates will help you begin the process of creating AI policies tailored to your organization’s needs. You’ll learn key considerations and strategies for establishing a framework that guides AI use responsibly and sustainably. (This webinar is part of the TargetED Series: AI for Nonprofits.)

Webinar date: February 26, 2025, 2:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: Finding the funds needed to fulfill your mission is a never-ending challenge for all nonprofits. Whether you’re part of an established nonprofit or you’re a one-person development office, GrantStation can work for you because it is designed to help nonprofit organizations of all sizes get funded. During this live demo and Q&A session, Jeremy Smith, Director of Communications Technology, and Kerry Glauser, Director of Research, will show you how you can use GrantStation to complete your grant research quickly and get high-quality results. You’ll see how you can find and vet funding opportunities in a quick, streamlined fashion, so you and your staff can focus on what's most important—serving your community.

It’s a great time to join as we take our 25 years of sector leadership to the next level with:

A redesigned web experience offering seamless navigation and a fresh, modern interface.

A funder-specific grants-awarded list to better inform your grantseeking decisions with precise data.

The new search-by-deadline feature, helping you prioritize and act on time-sensitive opportunities effectively.

Personalized dashboards, enabling you to easily track and organize your activities in one place.

Access to hundreds of thousands of 990 profiles, providing detailed insights into funders’ giving history and priorities.

GrantStation Membership is now available for as little as 41 cents a day.

Have you visited our homepage this week? Additional local, national, Canadian, and international funding opportunities are featured there weekly! Current opportunities include National Low Income Housing Coalition (U.S. national), Wilco Donations and Sponsorships Program (U.S. local: ), Sienna for Seniors Foundation (Canada national), and Al Madad Foundation (Middle East).