GrantStation Insider: September 9, 2021

COVID-19 | National | Regional | Federal | Partner Depot | PathFinder | Online Education | Announcements | Subscribe

COVID-19 Related Funding
Opportunities related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Current COVID-19 funding opportunities are available on our website.

National Funding
Opportunities throughout the U.S.

Support for Contemporary Art Curators in the U.S.
Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation
The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation has recently announced two new grant opportunities for contemporary art curators within the United States. The Peer Network Grants program supports peer network opportunities that advance curatorial knowledge and strengthen U.S. curatorial practices. Applying curators are encouraged to think beyond conferences and consider connections that will best advance their practice. These networks can be in-person or online, meet once or multiple times, and require travel or be in the curator's community. The Innovation Grants program is designed to support projects not previously explored in the curatorial space, or an emerging trend that is under-resourced. Ideas are encouraged to disrupt 'business as usual' and aim to further discourse in contemporary art in the United States. The letter of intent deadline for both grant opportunities is October 15, 2021; invited full proposals will be due December 17, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website to learn more about these new programs.

Efforts to Safeguard Freedom Funded
The Herb Block Foundation: Defending Basic Freedoms
The Herb Block Foundation is committed to defending the basic freedoms guaranteed all Americans, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice, and improving the conditions of the poor and underprivileged. The Foundation's Defending Basic Freedoms grant program provides support to nonprofit organizations nationwide that seek to safeguard the basic freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, to help eliminate prejudice and discrimination, and to assist government agencies to be more accountable to the public. The Foundation also considers support for contemporary societal issues that may arise. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. Letters of inquiry must be submitted by October 6, 2021; invited full proposals will be due December 15, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website to access the application guidelines.

Grants Promote Education, Music, and Community Organizing
Sparkplug Foundation
The Sparkplug Foundation primarily provides grants to start-up nonprofit organizations or new projects of established nonprofits that are addressing the fields of music, education, and community organizing. In the Music category, the Foundation supports emerging professional musicians in developing new work, sharing existing work with a wider community, bringing together musicians to collaborate on creating or performing pieces, or facilitating new workshops that bring music to oppressed communities. In Education, the Foundation funds projects that engage excluded students in new ways, that restore knowledge that has been marginalized through racism or colonialism, and that rebuild community and collective problem-solving. Through Community Organizing, the Foundation funds work by members of a community for their community—work that aims to create justice by making systemic change and shifting power. The Foundation also provides limited support for projects in Palestine and in Israel that involve Palestinian communities and work for justice. The first step in the application process is to complete the online questionnaire. The grant application process can be initiated any time before October 11, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website to review its mission and funding guidelines, as well as the online application instructions.

Youth Outdoor Field Trips Supported
National Park Trust: Every Kid Outdoors Transportation Grants Program
National Park Trust, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, is offering the Every Kid Outdoors Transportation Grants Program, which will support the transportation and activity needs of nonprofit organizations and schools across the U.S. that are connecting elementary school-aged youth to public lands. Grants up to $5,000 will be provided to schools and organizations looking for the funding needed to connect kids in their community to local public lands and waters through a positive and impactful outdoor experience. Funded outdoor field trips should meet one or more of the following objectives: align with classroom curricula, encourage health and wellness through outdoor recreation, and/or foster future outdoor stewards. Special consideration will be given to requests that 1) are specifically engaging 4th grade students in outdoor outings, and/or 2) take place on USDA Forest Service lands. The application deadline is October 6, 2021. Visit the National Park Trust's website to learn more about the guidelines for the Every Kid Outdoors Transportation Grants Program.

Regional Funding
Opportunities for specific geographic areas

Funds to Ensure Healthy Grasslands in the Southern Great Plains
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Southern Plains Grassland Program
The Southern Plains Grassland Program, an initiative of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), is dedicated to conserving and restoring grasslands and wildlife species in the Southern Great Plains, defined as eastern Colorado, Kansas, southern Nebraska, northeastern New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle. This program seeks to work closely with nonprofit and government partners as well as the ranching community to bring important financial and technical resources to improve grassland ecosystem health and resilience to climate change in the Southern Great Plains. Projects that improve management on grazing operations, increase organizational capacity, and utilize innovative and community-based approaches are encouraged. All projects should emphasize strategies that improve landscape-scale resilience to climate change or specifically address intensifying environmental threats and stressors related to climate change. Online proposals must be submitted by November 4, 2021. Visit the NFWF website to review the Southern Plains Grassland Program 2022 request for proposals.

Grants Strengthen Autism Programs in New England and Florida
Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism
The mission of the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism is to help people and families affected by autism live life to the fullest. In 2021, the Foundation's Signature Grant Program will accept unsolicited letters of inquiry from nonprofit organizations in New England as well as central Florida, including Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties. Support will be provided for new initiatives and model projects that have the potential to improve the quality of everyday life for people and families affected by autism and that can be replicated by other organizations in order to have a greater impact on the autism community at large. The focus is on supporting programs in traditionally underserved, under-funded, culturally diverse communities that address the following areas of interest: Work/School, Active/Social, and Safe/Supported/Informed. Letters of inquiry must be submitted by September 24, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website to learn more about the areas of interest and application procedure.

Support for Oregon Organizations Working for Social Justice
Seeding Justice: General Fund Grants
The mission of Seeding Justice (formerly MRG Foundation) is to inspire people to work together for justice and mobilize resources for Oregon communities as they build collective power to change the world. Seeding Justice's General Fund Grants of up to $15,000 provide operating support as well as project support to nonprofit grassroots organizations throughout Oregon. Funded organizations must be doing work that seeks long-term, systemic solutions and using community-centered strategies and approaches that shift or build people power and seek to dismantle oppression. The focus is on organizations that have an intentional practice against racism, white supremacy, and all other forms of oppression. The upcoming application deadline is October 1, 2021. The grantmaking overview and online application instructions are available on the Seeding Justice website.

Companion Animal Welfare Efforts in Colorado Funded
Animal Assistance Foundation
The Animal Assistance Foundation is dedicated to providing leadership in improving animal welfare in the state of Colorado. The Foundation's grant program supports nonprofit organizations and government agencies throughout the state that are working to enhance the Five Freedoms for companion animals: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom to express normal behavior; and freedom from fear and distress. The deadline for applications is September 30, 2021. Visit the Foundation's website for more information on the grant guidelines and application process.

Federal Funding
Opportunities from the U.S. government

Support Available to Strengthen the Economy Through STEM Projects
Department of Commerce
The STEM Talent Challenge program supports organizations that are creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their region's innovation economy. Projects should aim to identify opportunities in high-growth potential sectors and to expand and empower the innovation economy workforce. Interests include engaging regional entrepreneurs, innovators, and the organizations that support them to assess and forecast current and future talent needs and to develop collaborative solutions with work-based programs; building highly skilled talent and connecting it to highly technical opportunities that foster professional development and provide continuing advanced skills training to develop the technical and scientific workforce that regional innovation initiatives need; strengthening collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry leaders, employers, educational organizations, established corporations, economic and workforce development organizations, and the public sector to enable better access to skilled workers and to develop demand-driven workforce pipelines for the innovation economy; and placing new employees into immediate job openings with regional employers in need of STEM talent. The application deadline is October 12, 2021.

Efforts to Improve Museums Funded
Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Museums for America program supports museums of all sizes and disciplines to undertake projects that strengthen their ability to serve their public. Project categories include lifelong learning, community engagement, and collections stewardship and access. Project activities may include exhibitions, educational and interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and collections management, curation, care, and conservation. The application deadline is November 15, 2021.

Partner Depot

Should You Get Your Grant Credential?
Are you an experienced grant professional and thinking about getting your GPC?
Join us at 7 PM CT on September 15, 2021, for our GPC Fireside Chat! By the warmth of the virtual fire, join your peers and ask your questions about the GPC (Grant Professional Certified) credential. From eligibility criteria to the registration process—we'll talk about it all. See if earning your GPC is the next step in your career! Julie Assel, GPC, Egondu M. Onuoha, GPC, and David Broussard, GPC, will be facilitating. Click here to register.

PathFinder: Featured Resource
A library of quality resources designed to help you develop your career path as a grants professional

2021 Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference
This past year required the social sector to adapt to ongoing changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed cries for racial justice, economic uncertainty, and attacks on democracy. As the sector moves towards recovery and renewal, this year's Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference is focused on the theme "The Journey Forward—Putting Our Values Into Action." This conference, which will be held online from October 11 to 13, examines why efforts for forward motion must be grounded and centered in equity, justice, and inclusion.

Upcoming Online Education Trainings
Live Webinars

Unless otherwise noted, all Online Education Trainings are webinars,
are 90 minutes in duration, and are scheduled to begin at 2 PM Eastern Time.

The Power of 3: Jump-Start Your Grants Success
Are you ready to jump-start your grants success with fresh perspectives, brand-new tools, and powerful new ways of approaching familiar tasks and challenges? Ready to bust a few big myths and misunderstandings that may be sabotaging your success without your even knowing it? Join long-time grants professional and grantmaking program officer Maryn Boess for a Power of 3 series designed to help you finish 2021 strong and get 2022 off to a high-energy, practical and inspiring start! In Power Writing for Grants, you'll fill your writing toolkit with a host of simple, powerful techniques that will have you writing more clearly, quickly, and confidently, right away—so you can get the results you want! In Building the "Total-Value" Proposal Budget, you'll learn step-by-step how to end the 'Nonprofit Starvation Cycle' and build budgets that clearly and compellingly show the total value of everything it takes to do your work successfully (with plenty of opportunity for hands-on practice). And in our ground-breaking final session, Inside the Grantmaker's Black Box, you'll travel with Maryn through a real-life grant review process, from start to finish, tracking proposals through the eight key “qualifying rounds” and busting some big myths about what really happens in the finals! Come with an open mind, and be ready for inspiration as well as great takeaways you and your team can put to work right away! Join us for all three workshops in the Power of 3 series or as stand-alone learning opportunities. The deadline to register for all three is Wednesday, September 15, 2021.

Balancing Work and Life
When you are nearing the last days of your life, do you want to look back and see a career, or do you want to see a life? Why is it that you can schedule time for work meetings, but it is so difficult for you to schedule time for the people who really matter to you in your life? Dr. Anthony Silard will examine the most common causes of burnout among executives and then share some time-tested strategies for sustaining your passion and motivation in your work while also developing healthy, meaningful relationships with your family, friends, partner, and self. In this session, you will learn how to reduce the stress and pressure in your life and, ultimately, how to balance your quest for both success and happiness. The session will blend psychology, philosophy, spirituality, personal development, organizational development, and leadership into accessible, transformational strategies that enable you to balance ambition with appreciation. You will leave with concrete, personalized strategies to take care of others while also taking care of yourself and the people you love. The webinar will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2021.

Fundraising for the Future: Get Grants
In this 90-minute training, Stephanie Sample, Founder and CEO of Sample Consulting Studio, will introduce a concept called futures thinking and explore how it can directly increase grant revenue streams. She will also identify how COVID-19 has changed funding practices and demonstrate how your grant proposal writing, nonprofit storytelling, and communication with funders can evolve to attract and retain funding. The following topics will be covered: how to examine potential outcomes by identifying trends and new funding patterns, increasing your ability to adapt quickly in the present; how futures thinking applies to increasing grant revenue streams; a quick checklist to identify where your organization spends its mental energy: past, present, or future; and communication with funders in the COVID-19 era. You will walk away with real time exercises to expand innovative thinking, examples of nonprofits that pivoted and attracted more grant revenue during the pandemic, examples of current open RFPs that indicate a new culture of funding, an increased ability to identify nascent trends and be the first to respond, and examples of scenario-based grant projections to present to leadership teams. The webinar will be held on Thursday, September 23, 2021.

GrantStation Announcements
The latest updates from GrantStation

The Winning Grant Proposal Competition Results Are In!
The 2021 "Grant" Prize winner is Chris Canfield of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina.
We received over 200 excellent entries that had already won a grant award. They reflected grant proposals with compelling narratives, succinct and engaging executive summaries, strong and workable plans, and well-defined budgets. We are appreciative of the work and efforts of each entrant.

A complete list of winners and many of the prize-winning grant proposals are available on the GrantStation website.

Funding Alerts
Have you visited our homepage this week? Additional local, national, Canadian, and international funding opportunities are featured there weekly!

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Editor: Julie Kaufman
Copy Editor: Ashlyn Simmons
Contributing Writer: Kevin Peters