Community Grant Opportunities

Community Grant Opportunities

Below is a list of grant opportunities available to community-based organizations such as non-profits, neighborhood groups, civic and business associations, “Friends of” parks groups, and more. Check back for monthly updates to this list.

The Funders Network (TFN) and Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN): Partners for Places: Equitable Climate Action (ECA) and/or Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Grants
due 2/28/25
To support the spreading of local equitable climate action (ECA) and/or green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) practices by advancing collaborative partnerships between local governments, frontline communities, and place-based funders.

AARP: Liveable Communities Community Challenge Grants
due 3/5/25
To support projects that will benefit residents, especially those age 50 and older, by creating vibrant public places that improve open spaces, parks, and access to other amenities; increase connectivity, walkability, bikeability, and access to public and private transit; increase the availability of accessible and affordable choices; expand high-speed internet and enhance digital literacy skills; support community resilience projects which improve disaster management, preparedness, and mitigation for residents. 

Chesapeake Bay Trust Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns Grant
3/10/25
To help communities develop and implement plans that reduce stormwater runoff, increase the number and amount of green spaces in urban areas, improve the health of local streams and the Chesapeake Bay, and enhance quality of life and community livability.  

Chesapeake Bay Trust Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice Fund
due 3/14/25
To address environmental justice (EJ) issues in the Mid-Atlantic and disperse and democratize the range of co-benefits that healthy community forests have for decades into the future. This program funds projects in three areas: environmental justice capacity building, tree canopy for resiliency and public health, and workforce development in community forestry.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Data for Equitable Communities
due 3/18/25
To collect, analyze, and use data to address inequities in the physical, economic, and social conditions of a place (neighborhood, city, or town). Possible focus areas include: built environment, child care access, climate and environment, community safety and policing, healthy food access, housing, small business and economic development, and transportation.

New Belgium Brewing Company Bicycle Advocacy Small Grant Program
due 3/31/25
To support projects that increase ridership through activities focused bicycle equity and access, safety education, and transportation justice. This program is intended to support projects that will break down barriers and foster support for riders, focus on increasing daily ridership, and/or promote bicycle accessibility in communities facing historical and systemic inequities. $500-$5K.

Network for Landscape Conservation: Catalyst Fund
opens mid-March 2025
To accelerate the pace and practice of collaborative landscape conservation and stewardship through in-depth peer learning and better address systems-level challenges like the interwoven biodiversity, climate, and environmental injustice crises. Landscape conservation partnership supported through this program should reflect the following characteristics: place-based, long-term conservation purpose, collaboratively-governed, community-grounded and inclusive, and informed. $25K max.

Keep Virginia Beautiful Green Grants
opens Spring 2025
Keep Virginia Beautiful accepts grant applications in spring each year, and funds thirty awards to schools, parks, counties and towns, environmental groups, associations, nonprofits, and service organizations in four different categories: Litter Prevention, Cigarette Litter Prevention, Community Beautification, and Recycling.  $500-$1,000

The Lawrence Foundation
due 4/30/25
To solve pressing environmental, human services, and other issues, for either general operating or project requests. Generally, awards are issued as unrestricted grants. $5K minimum. 

Bank of America Charitable Foundation: Stable Housing and Empowering Communities
due 6/30/25
To support projects that strengthen broader community vitality by addressing needs related to small business resiliency and community development, including working families, youth, seniors, individuals living with disabilities, veterans, and those impacted by the criminal justice system, enabling them to move forward in their goals. Projects must fall under one of the following categories: affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, small business resiliency.

Rolling Admission

Virginia Trees for Clean Water
Rolling until 12/1/25
To encourage the creation of long-term, sustained canopy cover to improve water quality across the Commonwealth. This grant is used to fund tree-planting efforts that raise public awareness of the benefits of trees and impacts on water quality. $1K-50K

The Pollination Project
Rolling admission
$1,000 micro grants
To support grassroots organizations, including informally organized groups and organizations as well as formally registered or incorporated nonprofit organizations, that seek to build a kinder, more compassionate world. This program will provide seed funding to support community-driven grassroots initiatives that empower individuals and inspire others.

The Norman Foundation
Rolling admission; Letter of inquiry required
To support tax-exempt organizations focused primarily on domestic issues seeking to strengthen the ability of communities to enhance their economic, environmental, and social well-being. Funding may be provided for general support, projects, capacity-building efforts, and collaborative efforts. Funding will support projects that promote economic justice and development through community organizing, coalition building, and policy-reform efforts, work to prevent disposal of toxic substances in communities, link environmental issues with economic and social justice, and/or link community-based economic and environmental justice organizing to national and international reform efforts

All Points North Foundation
$60K - $100K
To support nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated measurable success and can showcase the potential for creating significant impact in the areas of education and solar energy in underserved communities.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Mini Urban Trees Grant
Rolling admission
$5K max
To implement small tree planting projects which occur in urban areas with low median household income levels, high unemployment, and neighborhoods with housing projects or that were historically red-lined at any time.

Republic Services Community Grant Program
Rolling admission
To help nonprofit organizations create stronger, cleaner, and healthier places and spaces in the neighborhoods that the funding agency serves. Preference will be given to projects that address neighborhood revitalization, safety, disaster relief, and social services.

Fruit Tree Orchard Grant
Rolling admission
To provide for the planting of fruit tree orchards to improve the surrounding environment and provide a local source of healthy nutrition. Orchards may be planted in places such as community gardens, public schools, city and state parks, low-income neighborhoods, Native American reservations, and animal sanctuaries.

Community First Fund’s Rapid Response Fund
Applications reviewed bi-monthly
$10-$100k
To shift philanthropic practices by distributing responsive resources in a timely way that prioritizes the humanity of black and brown people, the frontline organizations they may lead, and the grassroots organizations that may be accountable to them.