Organization Funding
Funding Opportunities
New Jersey State Council on the Arts | Creative Aging Initiative Grant | The Creative Aging Initiative Grant (CAI) provides $10,000 to eligible arts organizations, libraries, veterans homes, senior and community centers, colleges/universities, and units of government to cover costs for arts learning experiences with New Jersey older adults aged 55 and over. Successful applicants will receive $10,000 of funding for each year of the two-year grant cycle, pending available resources. A CAI project is defined as an arts-based learning experience that directly engages older adults for multiple sessions. Projects may be sequential and build to a project culmination (residencies) or include a series of individual workshops that focus on skill-building and development in the performing, visual, media, or literary arts. The CAI guidelines are now available on the Arts Council website. | Application OPENS: SAGE on or around January 7, 2025 | Deadline: February 27, 2025 by 12:00 NOON ET. | More information.
New Jersey Economic Development Authority | History Property Grant Survey Program: Applications are OPEN | The Historic Property Survey Grant Program is a $400,000 pilot program that will provide grants up to $125,000 for the preparation of Historic Property Surveys throughout the state that include within the defined scope, properties located within a Government Restricted Municipality or that would be considered distress asset/s. | Application and Information.
New Jersey Historical Commission | County History Grant FY25 Program Guidelines | The County History Partnership Program (CHPP) was created in 2015 to extend local regranting programs to all of the state’s twenty-one counties. The program enables the NJHC to support both existing and emerging local history organizations and practitioners serving diverse audiences. Through the partnership with county re-granting agencies, NJHC support can more effectively reach history organizations, and projects in communities throughout the state. In addition to re-grant funding, counties may apply for their operational costs and programming related to New Jersey history.| Application Deadline April 3, 2025 | Guidelines available here.
CAFE Group | 1954 Project Luminary Awards | Through the 1954 Project initiative, CAFE Group awards $1 million unrestricted grants to leaders and their organizations advancing educational equity for Black students and communities in the United States. The program is designed for leaders with a proven track record of success in education that are ready to scale their impact through solutions in the following areas: innovation in teaching and learning, with a focus on effective, equitable, and culturally affirming education models that center on Black students and ultimately serve all students; diversity in education, with a focus on increasing the number of Black educators and leaders; and pathways to economic mobility, with a focus on strengthening pathways from education to career to increase Black students' and families' economic mobility. In addition to the grants, selected leaders, known as Luminaries, receive leadership development support and membership in a network driving systemic change. Applicants should demonstrate proximity, lived expertise, and a deep commitment to advancing equity for Black students and communities most impacted by systemic inequities in education. | Deadline: February 23, 2025, for eligibility forms | More information and application.
National Fund for Sacred Places | Funding for Historic Houses of Worship | The National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers financial and technical support to community-serving historic houses of worship across the United States. Matching grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 are available for significant capital projects addressing urgent repair needs, improving accessibility, or making vacant or underused space usable for community outreach. Eligible properties must have been originally built to be a house of worship, be owned by an active community of faith, be occupied by a congregation that is community-minded and serves nonmembers, and possess historical, cultural, or architectural value or be listed on or be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Submissions are particularly encouraged from congregations that illuminate a unique or overlooked aspect of American history, as well as for historic sacred places of importance to historically and contemporaneously underrepresented communities. | Deadline: Applications will be accepted from January 10 to March 3, 2025 | More information and application.
Angel Philanthropy | Smart Family Fund | The Smart Family Fund’s mission is to discover, support, and mentor emerging U.S. nonprofit organizations and their leaders, providing the necessary backing to help them succeed. The Fund focuses on early-stage nonprofit ventures that have the potential to make a significant impact on the world, but that have yet to demonstrate the efficacy needed to acquire large-scale funding. Early-stage, U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply. Applicants must be able to clearly articulate how they will demonstrate the efficacy of the intervention, quantify the potential positive impact in the world, and communicate how the organization is differentiated and better than other ecosystem players. | Deadline: None | More information.
Arts Organizations
The Music Man Foundation: National Meredith Willson Awards | Awards up to $1 Million Promote Systemic Change Through Music | The Music Man Foundation seeks to empower organizations using music to catalyze enduring change. The Foundation is currently accepting applications for the National Meredith Willson Awards, which provide multi-year, general operating support to national programs and organizations using music to achieve systemic change. For 2025, the Foundation anticipates awarding grants to three to eight organizations. Successful submissions will clearly identify the primary system the organization is impacting, articulate how and why music plays a key role in advancing this system change, and demonstrate why the organization is well-positioned to take on this system change. Nonprofit organizations with three years of experience conducting programming with a national focus and an intentional presence in at least three U.S. states or territories are eligible to apply. | Application deadline: January 24, 2025, for Leadership Letters | More information and application.
Mid Atlantic Arts | Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants | Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects grants fund projects that support the vitality of traditional arts and cultures in the mid-Atlantic region. Non-profit organizations in DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, USVI, PR, or WV may apply for $1,000 to $7,000 grants. A 1:1 match is required. | Deadline: March 10, 2025 | More information and application.
The Milbank Foundation | Grants Facilitate Empowerment of People With Disabilities | The Milbank Foundation aims to integrate people with disabilities into all aspects of American life. Support is provided to nonprofit organizations in the United States working in the Foundation’s current priority areas: consumer-focused, community-based initiatives that empower people with disabilities and foster independence and self-sufficiency; rehabilitation and reintegration of veterans, especially veterans with disabilities; helping seniors to age in the place of their choice through non-institutional, community-based health and social services; market-oriented, patient-centered healthcare reforms across the country; and programs that address mental health issues and aim to prevent substance abuse and suicide, especially among young people. | Ongoing deadline. | More information and application.
MidAtlantic Arts | USArtists International Grants | USArtists International® supports in-person performances by artists from any state or territory in the U.S. at engagements at international festivals, global presenting arts markets, and other eligible engagements outside of the United States. The program funds individuals and ensembles across all performing arts practices and disciplines. Mid Atlantic Arts is committed to the development and expansion of both the careers and artistic goals of U.S. performers by providing connections to audiences, presenters, curators, and their peers through the USAI program. By elevating the voices that reflect a vibrant array of creative expression, we are able to celebrate and share the diversity and imagination of the United States. | Deadline: February 26th, 2025. | Application and information.
Mid Atlantic Arts | Special Presenter Initiatives | The Special Presenter Initiatives provide additional opportunities for the support of small to mid-sized performing arts presenters in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Native nations that share this geography. Fee support is available for engagements of performing artists based anywhere worldwide. Engagements include performances as well as community activities that offer meaningful exchanges between touring artists and a presenter’s community. Presenters based in partner states/jurisdictions listed above can receive up to 50% subsidy for the presentation of an artist/company plus support for other eligible project expenses. | Deadline: March 13th, 2025 | More information and application.
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) & Mid-America Arts Alliance | Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Program | These grants support non-clinical, community-based arts engagement programming for military and veteran populations, including family members and caregivers. | Deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2025 | More information and application.
Western Arts Alliance | Performing Arts Discovery (PAD) Showcase 2025 | The PAD Showcase invites applications for their 2025 cycle of their Performing Arts Discovery (PAD) program. This program is an international online showcase and marketing opportunity for US-based artists who are ready to tour internationally. U.S.-based artists and ensembles from all music, dance, and theater disciplines, with a demonstrated capacity to tour internationally, are eligible to apply. | Deadline: Friday, January 17, 2025 | More information and application.
Mid Atlantic Arts | ArtsCONNECT | ArtsCONNECT supports performing arts touring projects collaboratively developed by presenters working together in the mid-Atlantic region.The tours include performances as well as complementary engagement activities designed to create greater understanding or connections between artists, audiences, and communities. | Deadline: February 25th, 2025 | More information and application.
National Endowment for the Arts | NEA Big Read | NEA Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, is a national program that offers matching grants of up to $20,000 to support community-wide reading programs in the United States. The grant helps bring communities together around the shared activity of reading and discussing the same book. Each applicant organization selects one of 22 available books from the NEA Big Read library; engages with community partners to develop, conduct, and promote engaging literary and artistic programs that illuminate the book and theme; and offers events and activities related to the theme and chosen book. The theme for the 2025-26 cycle is “Our e: How Our Physical Environment Can Lead Us to Seek Hope, Courage, and Connection.” Nonprofit arts organizations, universities, libraries, service organizations, museums, school districts, and tribal governments are eligible to apply. | Deadline: January 23, 2025, for intents to apply, and January 30, 2025, for applications | More information and application.
History Organizations
New Jersey Historical Commission | County History Grant FY25 Program Guidelines | The County History Partnership Program (CHPP) was created in 2015 to extend local regranting programs to all of the state’s twenty-one counties. The program enables the NJHC to support both existing and emerging local history organizations and practitioners serving diverse audiences. Through the partnership with county re-granting agencies, NJHC support can more effectively reach history organizations, and projects in communities throughout the state. In addition to re-grant funding, counties may apply for their operational costs and programming related to New Jersey history. | Guidelines available here.
New Jersey Economic Development Authority | History Property Grant Survey Program: Applications are OPEN | The Historic Property Survey Grant Program is a $400,000 pilot program that will provide grants up to $125,000 for the preparation of Historic Property Surveys throughout the state that include within the defined scope, properties located within a Government Restricted Municipality or that would be considered distress asset/s. | Application and Information.
USDA | Department of Agriculture Heritage Site Protection Program | The Heritage Site Protection program seeks assistance in the protection and management of significant cultural resources on public lands. This initiative aims to foster co-stewardship between USDA Forest Service and historic preservation-focused partners to assist the agency in managing, preserving, and sharing history for public enjoyment and professional use. | Deadline: February 7, 2025 | More information
National Fund for Sacred Places | Funding for Historic Houses of Worship | The National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers financial and technical support to community-serving historic houses of worship across the United States. Matching grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 are available for significant capital projects addressing urgent repair needs, improving accessibility, or making vacant or underused space usable for community outreach. Eligible properties must have been originally built to be a house of worship, be owned by an active community of faith, be occupied by a congregation that is community-minded and serves nonmembers, and possess historical, cultural, or architectural value or be listed on or be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Submissions are particularly encouraged from congregations that illuminate a unique or overlooked aspect of American history, as well as for historic sacred places of importance to historically and contemporaneously underrepresented communities. | Deadline: Applications will be accepted from January 10 to March 3, 2025 | More information and application.
Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities | National Digital Newspaper Program | The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress (LC) to create a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963, from all the states and U.S. jurisdictions. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at LC and will be freely accessible online (see the Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website). The accompanying US Newspaper Directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website directs users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats. During the course of its partnership with NEH, LC will also digitize and contribute to the NDNP database a significant number of newspaper pages drawn from its own collections. | Deadline: January 10, 2025 | More information and application.
National Endowment for the Humanities | Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections | Cultural institutions, including libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations, face a complex challenge: to preserve humanities collections for future generations through environmentally sustainable preventive care strategies to reduce energy consumption and costs as well as to strengthen institutional resiliency in the face of a changing climate. Cultural institutions can accomplish this work most effectively through managing collections’ environment, including aspects such as temperature, relative humidity, pollutants, and light; providing protective storage enclosures and systems for collections; and safeguarding collections from theft, fire, floods, and other disasters. By using environmentally sustainable methods, institutions reduce reliance on fossil fuels and ensure collections are better protected from current and future disasters. | Deadline: January 10, 2025 | More information and application.
National Endowment for the Humanities | The Landmarks of American History and Culture Program | The Landmarks of American History and Culture program supports a series of one-week residential, virtual, and combined format workshops across the nation to enhance how K-12 educators and higher education faculty and humanities professionals incorporate place-based approaches to humanities teaching and scholarship. | Deadline: February 12, 2025 | More information and application.
