Frontline communities have been historically underfunded and underserved, especially when it comes to advancing environmental and climate justice. Outside of our own grant cycles, FRI collects and shares a range of external grant and federal funding opportunities with our extensive network of frontline communities. FRI’s grant resource list will be updated frequently, so please check back often for up-to-date information.
Grants
External Grant Opportunities
Open Funding Opportunities
| DEADLINE | Grant Title | Organization | Brief Description | Eligibility | Amount (USD) | Location(s) of focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling | Fordham Flourishing in Community Competitive Awards: EPA Region 2 Thriving Communities Grantmaker Program | Fordham University Flourishing in Community Initiative and US EPA | Provides funding in three tracks for community-led projects in U.S. EPA Region 2 (NY, NJ, PR, USVI, Federally Recognized Indian Nations) focused on evaluating climate and environmental justice issues, designing plans to respond to these concerns, and execution of these projects. Funding will be given in three phases: Assessment, Planning, and Project Development. | Community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations; other nonprofit organizations; Tribal governments and intertribal consortia; Native American organizations; institutions of higher education; local governments; governments of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. | $150,000-$350,000 | U.S. EPA Region 2: New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| Rolling | Fordham Flourishing in Community Competitive Awards: EPA Region 2 Thriving Communities Grantmaker Program | Fordham University Flourishing in Community Initiative and US EPA | Provides noncompetitive awards for capacity-constrained communities and CBOs located in EPA Region 2, with selection of grants occurring through a participatory strategy. Any individual or organization may nominate any organization or project, including themselves. | Capacity-constrained communities and CBOs. | $75,000 | U.S. EPA Region 2: New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| 21-Nov-24 | Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program | U.S. EPA | Funds partnerships led by community-based organizations to design and implement community-driven projects focused on pollution reduction/prevention, climate resilience, procedural justice, workforce dvelopment, and overall equitable investment. | Partnerships between community-based organizations (CBOs), or between a CBO and a Federally-Recognized Tribe, local government, or institution of higher education. | Up to $20 million, depending on track | United States |
| 30-Nov-24 | WomenStrong International Open Call for Expressions of Interest | WomenStrong International | Provides unrestricted grants to women-led, community-based organizations. For this open call, WomenStrong is looking to build a cohort of local women-led organizations working in urban and peri-urban areas on climate and/or environmental justice-related issues. | Women-led, community-based organizations with annual budgets under $600,000. | Unlisted | International |
| 5-Dec-24 | Environmental Health Disparities Centers Program | U.S. National Institutes of Health | Funds the creation of Environmental Health Disparities Centers will conduct multidisciplinary environmental health disparities and environmental justice research, engage in research capacity building, lead community-engaged research activities, and support early career development. | Community-Based Organizations, Nonprofit organizations; institutions of higher education; for-profit organizations; local units of government; Native American Tribal Governments; Native American tribal organizations | Up to $1,000,000 annually | United States |
| 12-Dec-24 | Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice Grants Hub: EPA Region 8 TCGM Competitive Grants Cycle 1 | Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice Grants Hub and US EPA | Provides subaward funding for community-based nonprofits and other eligible recipients in EPA region 8 for projects in three categories: Tier 1 (Assessment), Tier 2 (Planning), and Tier 3 (Project Development). | Nonprofit organizations, including community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations and philanthropic and civic organizations with nonprofit status; Tribal governments and intertribal consortia; Native American organizations; local governments; institutions of higher education | $150,000-$350,000 | U.S. EPA Region 8: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, 28 federally recognized Tribal nations. |
| 12-Dec-24 | Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice Grants Hub: EPA Region 8 TCGM Competitive Grants Cycle 1 | Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice Grants Hub and US EPA | Provides subaward funding for severely capacity-constrained organizations that would be unlikely to obtain funding through a competitive process or implement federally funded awards. | Newly formed nonprofits; Organizations building capacity to address emerging environmental justice issues in their community; Organizations that are volunteer-run or who have a small staff (less than 5 people); Organizations who are restructuring or have recently had a significant turnover of leadership, staff, or board members;; Organizations that have never won a competitive contract or bid; Organizations who have been told in the past that they do not meet minimum criteria to receive federal funds (or have never applied due to application requirements); Organizations who have basic financial and administrative infrastructure in place, but could use support in developing this capacity. | $75,000 | U.S. EPA Region 8: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, 28 federally recognized Tribal nations. |
| 15-Dec-24 | Philanthropy Northwest EPA Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program Type 3 Grants | Philanthropy Northwest and US EPA | Provides 2-year subaward grant funding for community-led organizations who already have a strong understanding local environmental and/or public health issues affecting those they serve, have already formulated a community-wide plan addressing those issues, and/or are now ready to implement a community-led project on the ground. | Community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations; other nonprofit organizations; Tribal governments and intertribal consortia; Native American organizations; institutions of higher education; local governments; governments of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. | $350,000 | U.S. EPA Region 10: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and the 271 Tribal Nations within those states. |
| 16-Dec-24 | Landscape Scale Restoration Grant Program for Tribes | U.S. Department of Agriculture - Forest Service | Funds high-impact projects led by Federally Recognized Tribes promoting on-the-ground collaborative, science-based restoration of rural forest landscapes, especially projects that socially, ecologically, or economically benefit and/or engage underserved communities. | Federally-recognized Tribal Governments, Alaska Native Corporations/Villages, Tribal Organizations | Up to $300,000 | United States |
| 30-Dec-24 | GHHI EPA Region 3 Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program: Two-Year Grants | Green and Healthy Homes Initiative and US EPA | Provides subaward funding for historically underserved communities that have been disproportionately burdened by environmental injustices. Two-year grants are available in two tiers: Tier II (Planning) and Tier III (Implementation). | Community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations; other nonprofit organizations; Tribal governments and intertribal consortia; Native American organizations; institutions of higher education; local governments; governments of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. | $250,000 - $350,000 | United States |
| 9-Jan-25 | Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions | National Endowment for the Humanities | Funds the preservation of humanities collections at small and mid-sized organizations; organizations or collections representing the contributions of under-represented communities are highly encouraged. | 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations; institutions of higher education; state and local governments and their agencies; federally recognized Tribes | $10,000 | United States |
| 10-Jan-25 | Farm to School Turnkey Grant Program | U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service | Funds farm to school programs in three distinct, pre-determined project tracks. These tracks include 1) Action Planning, focused on roadmap development for program launch, 2) Agricultural Education, focused on building agricultural education into curricula, and 3) Edible Gardens, focused on implementing food production operations. | Non-profit entities, Native American Tribal Organizations and Alaska Native Corporations, Eligible schools and child care institutions, local agencies, agricultural producers. | Up to $50,000 | United States |
| 10-Jan-25 | FY 2025 Farm to School Implementation Grant | U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service | Funds new or existing farm to school programming that includes both local sourcing and agricultural education efforts, with a particular focus on advancing equity in childhood nutrition programming. | Non-profit entities, Native American Tribal Organizations and Alaska Native Corporations, Eligible schools and child care institutions, local agencies, agricultural producers. | Up to $500,000 | United States |
| 14-Jan-25 | WaterSMART Small-Scale Water Efficiency Projects | U.S. Department of the Interior | Funds small-scale, on-the-ground water management projects that conserve, better manage, or otherwise increase efficient use of water supplies. Nonprofit conservation organizations must partner with either 1) states, 2) Tribes, 3) irrigation districts, 4) water districts, and/or others with water or power delivery authority to apply as Category B applicants. | Category A: States, Tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, and/or others with water or power delivery authority; Category B: Nonprofit conservation organizations partnering with Category A applicant entities. | $125,000 | Western United States and Territories: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. |
| 22-Jan-25 | New York DEC Community Environmental Education Center Grant Grant | New York State Department of Environmental Conservation | Funds the creation of new construction or renovation of facilities to create Community Environmental Education Centers aimed at inspiring exploration, discovery, and learning about urban environments. | 501(c)3 nonprofit community-based organizations and fiscally sponsored projects; Native American Tribes and Tribal Organizations recognized by New York State. | $250,000 to $3,000,000 | New York, US |
| 29-Jan-25 | New York DEC Air Pollution Mitigation Grant | New York State Department of Environmental Conservation | Funds projects across New York State that reduce air pollution in communities, with a goal of finding solutions that can be replicated by other NY communities. | 501(c)3 nonprofit community-based organizations and fiscally sponsored projects; Native American Tribes and Tribal Organizations recognized by New York State. | $250,000-$500,000 | New York, US |
| 31-Jan-25 | PDF 2025 Community Organizing Grants | Peace Development Fund | Provides general operating support for grassroots community-based organizations who organizing to shift power, working to build a movement, dismantling oppression, and creating new structures. | Community-based organizations, 501(c)3 and fiscally sponsored. | $5,000 | United States, U.S. Territories, Mexico and Haiti |
| 10-Feb-25 | NOAA's Restoring Fish Passage through Barrier Removal Grants Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law- Round 3 | U.S. NOAA Fisheries Habitat Conservation Program Office | Provides financial and technical assistance to facilitate fish passage through removal of in-stream barriers. Specifically, programs will rebuild productive and sustainable fisheries, contribute to the recovery and conservation of threatened and endangered species, enhance watershed health, promote resilient ecosystems and communities, (especially in underserved communities) and improve economic vitality. | Non-profits, commercial (for profit) organizations, , institutions of higher education, U.S. territories, and state, local, and Native American and Alaska Native tribal governments. | $750,000-$8,000,000 | United States |
| 30-Apr-24 | GHHI EPA Region 3 Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program: Two-Year Grants | Green and Healthy Homes Initiative and US EPA | Provides subaward funding for historically underserved communities that have been disproportionately burdened by environmental injustices. One-year grants are available in two tiers: Tier I (Assessment) and Tier II (Planning). | Community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations; other nonprofit organizations; Tribal governments and intertribal consortia; Native American organizations; institutions of higher education; local governments; governments of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. | $150,000-$250,000 | United States |
| 31-May-25 | For Tribes: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program | U.S. Department of Energy | Provides funding for eligible Tribes to meet energy efficiency goals, including: upgrading buildings, installing renewable energy equipment, and/or creating climate and clean energy plans. | Eligible Tribes (see list), including Alaska Native Regional and Village corporations. | Varied; specific allocations per eligible Tribe | United States |
| Rolling | De Colores Rapid Response Fund | Peace Development Fund | Provides rapid-response funds for grassroots organizing in communities of color, poor, and working-class. | 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, non-501(c) organizations, groups, and coalitions. | $500-$1000 | United States |
| Rolling | Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Funds research that evaluates specific upstream interventions with potential to combat structural and systemic racism to improve community health and well-being. | Priority for 501(c)3 nonprofits, institutes of higher education, and public entities. Other types of nonprofits can apply with additional documentation. | Varied | United States |
| Rolling | Communities First Fund Rapid Response Fund | Communities First Fund | Provides rapid-response funding to frontline and grassroots organizations to help them respond to infrastructure crises, federal rulemaking and funding notices, and other time sensitive issues. | 501(c)3 organizations and fiscally-sponsored projects. | $10,000 to $100,000 | United States, with focus on U.S. South and Midwest. |
| Rolling | National Grassroots Organizing Grant Program | Ben & Jerry's Foundation | Funds grassroots organizing strategies and activities for organizations with annual operating budgets under $350,000. | 501c3 non-profits and fiscally-sponsored projects | Two-year grants of up to $30,000 per year | United States |
| Rolling | Security and Well-Being Grants | Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights Asia & Pacific | Supports women and non-binary activists and organizations responding to urgent crises; funds are used to ensure safety from both physical and emotional harm. | Women/Non-binary led, human rights focus, and specifically for addressing urgent crises or threats. | Up to $5,000 | Asia and the Pacific |
| Rolling | Resourcing Resilience | Urgent Action Fund for Women's Rights Asia and Pacific | Funds women and non-binary human rights defenders who are seeking to implement an initiative that would support their activism. | Women or Non-binary Led | Up to $5,000 | Asia and the Pacific |
| Rolling | Environmental and Climate Justice Grants | Urgent Action Fund - Africa | Funds environmental women human rights defenders and woman-led grassroots environmental organizations to confront systemic environmental injustices in Africa. | Woman/trans-led organizations resopnding to urgent situations. | Up to $15,000 | Rainforest Zones Across Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Togo |
| Rolling | Opportunity Grants | Fondo de Acción Urgente -América Latina | Funds strategic actions to defend women's and LBTIQ+ rights, falling under a broad a range of topics from women's rights to gender, racial, or environmental justice. | Woman/trans-led organizations resopnding to urgent situations. | Up to $5,000 | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Rolling | Protection and Security Grants | Fondo de Acción Urgente -América Latina | Funds actions focused on protection of women and trans activists (and their organizations) when at-risk due to their work defending human rights and/or land. | Woman/trans-led organizations resopnding to urgent situations. | Up to $5,000 | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Rolling | Security Grants | Urgent Action Fund | Supports the safety and security of women/trans/non-binary activists in unanticipated, time-urgent situations. | Funds must support women/trans/nonbinary activists in response to unanticipated situations. | Up to $8,000 | Middle East, Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Turkey, Central Asia, Russia, Canada and the United States |
| Rolling | Charity Pot Grant | LUSH | Supports small, grassroots organizations in North America and around the world that are working on the root cause of issues and creating long-term sustainable change. Funds organizations working in areas of animal protection, environmental justice, and human rights | Registered or unregistered organizations/charities, non-profits, or Indigenous and community groups with an annual revenue of $500,000 or less | Up to $25,000 | Worldwide |
| Rolling | EJII Capacity Building Grants | Wisconsin Environmenal Justice Infrastructure Initiative | Supports Wisconsin communities raising community awareness on environmental justice issues | Wisconsin grassroots organizations (501(c)(3) not required) | $200,000 | Wisconsin |
| Rolling | Federal Access Center Grants | Just Transition Fund | Provides financial and technical assistance to communities impacted by the coal economy to access government funding | 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and local governments serving coal communities | Up to $100,000 | United States |
| Rolling | Seed Grants | New England Grassroots Fund | Funds groups launching new projects or starting to significantly change the direction of an existing project | Groups doing local, grassroots work in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont (tax status and fiscal sponsor not required) | $500 - $1,000 | New England |
| Rolling | Grassroots Grants | Story of Stuff | Funds projects on water privatization, plastic pollution, and other environmental justice focus areas. | Groups must be led by and serving black, indigenous, and communities of color | Up to $5,000 | United States |
| Rolling | The Catalyst Fund | Roddenberry Foundation | Supports groups anywhere in the world with early-stage idea or project that addresses pressing global challenges | Must be 18 years of age or older and submit an application in English | $2,500 - $15,000 | United States |
| Rolling | Cornell Douglas Foundation Grants | Cornell Douglas Foundation | Funds proposal in the following areas of focus: environmental health and justice, land conservation, mountaintop removal mining, sustainability of resources, watershed protection | $15,000 - $50,000 | United States | |
| Rolling | EDLC Grants | Environmental Defender Law Center (EDLC) | Covers expenses of public interest litigation against those responsible for resource development projects that harm the human rights, health, and environment of communities in developing countries | NA | International | |
| Rolling | Norman Foundation Grants | The Norman Foundation | Promotes economic justice and development through community organizing, coalition building and policy reform efforts; work to prevent the disposal of toxics in communities, and to link environmental issues with economic and social justice; link community-based economic and environmental justice organizing to national and international reform efforts | Priority given to organizations with annual budgets of under $1 million | ~$30,000 | United States |
| Rolling | Petchem Frontline Fund | Center for International Environmental Law | Supports groups and organizations fighting the petrochemical buildout and infrastructure in the United States | NA | United States | |
| Rolling | Technical Assistance Grant Program | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | Helps communities participate in Superfund cleanup decision-making by providing funding to community groups to contract their own technical advisor to interpret and explain technical reports, site conditions, and EPA’s proposed cleanup proposals and decisions | Group may apply if members’ health, economic well-being, or enjoyment of the environment is, or may be, hurt by a Superfund site. Group must must incorporate for the purpose of participating in decision-making at the site. Nonprofit and tax-exempt status not required. | Up to $50,000 | United States |