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.
Open Funding Opportunities
| DEADLINE | Grant Title | Organization | Brief Description | Eligibility | Amount (USD) | Location(s) of focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31-May-26 | Common Waters: Strengthening Community-based Coastal and Riverine Stewardship (RFP) | National Geographic Society | Funds projects that protect oceans, conserve marine/coastal ecosystems and promote community-based stewardship. Project can address concerns such as ecosystem restoration, sustainable fishing/agriculture practices, and climate change adaptation. | 18+ individuals with an academic or professional background in the project's focus area. Applicants must either be from the community or work with the community that the project will be based in. | Level 1 up to $20,000; Level 2: Up to $75,000 | International. Prioritizes projects in the Artic, Asia, Baja California, British Columbia, Costa Rica, Europe, Ireland, the Mediterranean, the Pacific Northwest, Panama, Patagonia, the Peruvian Amazon, Southeast Alaska, the South Pacific, and the United Kingdom. |
| 01-Jun-26 | Thrive Grant (RFP) | Thrive Philanthropy | Funds projects that promote awareness and access to plant-based food systems or provides alternatives to animal agriculture. | Medium to large nonprofit organizations. Prioritizes organizations with budgets less than $500,000. | $10,000 to $30,000 | Global, excludes United States; invite-only for African nations |
| 01-Jun-26 | Grassroots Communities Mining Mini-Grant Program | Indigenous Environmental Network; Western Mining Action Network | Supports communities who have been adversely impacted by the mining industry. | Community-based and/or nonprofit organizations, especially those that support indigenous communities. | $4,000 | United States and Canada |
| 02-Jun-26 | Mobilize Power Fund | Third Wave Fund | A rapid response fund that supports gender justice organizations that are responding to unanticipated changes or threats to their movement work within the last six months. | Gender justice organizations that are led by BIPOC youth and have an annual budget under $500,000 | Up to $10,000 | United States and its territories |
| 05-Jun-26 | CHEJ Small Grants Program | Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Supports organizations that address environmental harms and aim to increase their capacity or training/educational initiatives. | Grassroots groups or organizations, especially those that serve rural, urban, low-income, or BIPOC communities of color, with an annual budget less than $700,000. | Up to $5,000 | United States and its territories |
| 15-Jun-26 | Social Justice Grant LOI | The Barbara McDowell Social Justice Center | Covers attorney time charges and litigation expenses for social justice legal cases filed no earlier than October 1, 2025. | 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations only. | Up to $30,000 | United States |
| 18-Jun-26 | Environmental Justice for California’s Environment and Communities Fund | Rose Foundation for Communities & the Environment | Funds projects that mitigate or teach about hazardous waste contamination. | 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, fiscally sponsored projects, local government entities or tribal nations. | Up to $50,000 | California counties: Sacramento, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, San Joaquin, Orange, & Los Angeles |
| 26-Jun-26 | Climate Democracy Accelerator | People Powered | Funds a six-month training program that prepares participants to implement a regenerative agriculture and renewable energy project. | Civil society organizations staff, climate advocates, government officials, policymakers | $10,000 | Brazil, Indonesia, India, and Mexico (includes other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America |
| 30-Jun-26 | Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative | Yamaha Motor Corporation | Funds projects that promote land access for outdoor recreation, sustainability efforts, or trail development and maintenance. | Nonprofit organizations. Endorsement from Yamaha dealership. | Varied. | United States |
| 01-Jul-26 | Racial Equity Research Grants | Spencer Foundation | Funds research projects that aim to increase racial equity in education. Prioritizes projects that focus on youth and educator mental health, community-based approaches to workforce development and quantitive methods. | Principal investigator must have a doctorate and be affiliated with a nonprofit organization or public institution | Up to $75,000 | International |
| 01-Jul-26 | LSPA Environmental Justice Grant | Licensed Site Professionals Association (LSPA) | Funds community-driven projects in Massachusetts that address a wide variety of environmental concerns including water conservation, hazardous waste collection, natural habitat restoration, and education. | Nonprofit or community-based organizations. | Up to $5,000 | Massachusetts |
| 03-Jul-26 | Native Voices Rising | Common Counsel Foundation | Supports native-led groups that use collective action to fight for social change. | Nonprofit organizations or native-led groups. | $30,000 | United States and its territories |
| 23-Jul-26 | Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants | The Burroughs Wellcome Fund | Funds projects or research that foster new partnerships and focus on the intersection of climate and health including public health, climate communication, biomedicine, and natural disaster response. | Nonprofit organizations, or teams from degree-granting institutions. | $2,500 - $50,000 | United States or Canada |
| 31-Jul-26 | JustPax Fund Grant | JustPax Fund | Funds projects that support changes to uplift gender, environmental, and economic justice. | Open to individuals and nonprofit organizations | Up to $25,000 | United States and its territories |
| 31-Jul-26 | Healthy Food Financing Initiative FARE Fund | Reinvestment Fund; U.S. Department of Agriculture | Funds projects that promote access to healthy foods, for underserved communities and provides technical assistance to SNAP authorized healthy food retailers. | Nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, tribal nations, state and local governments, academic institutions. | $20,000-$250,000; $75,000 for technical assistance related to the project | United States; eligible underserved areas |
| 30-Oct-26 | Community Action Fund | NDN Collective | Supports travel, equipment, or contractual services for non-violent direct actions that prioritize Indigenous communities, rights, land and natural resources. | Grassroots organizers, community-based groups, tribes, frontline groups, nonprofit organizations or fiscally sponred projects. | Up to $15,000 | US, Canada, Mexico, Hawai’i, Borikén/Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| Rolling | Nominations for Black Voices For Black Justice Fund | Black Voices for Black Justice Fund | Awards black leaders who fight against racism and injustice within education, healthcare, jobs, and voting. | Black social entrepreneurs, activists and leaders. | Varied | United States |
| Rolling | Colcom Grant LOI | Colcom Foundation | Supports environmental and conservation projects in southwestern Pennsylvania. | Nonprofit organizations | Varied | Southwestern Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland. |
| Rolling | NCF Grant | Nathan Cummings Foundation | Supports organizations that are committed to fighting racial economic, and environmental injustice. | 501(c)3 organizations | $50,000 to $250,000 | United States and its territories; mainly U.S. South: AL, AR, GA, KY, MO, OK, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV |
| Rolling | The Indigenous Power & Light Fund | Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy | Provides rapid-response grants to address energy crises on Indigenous land. Funds can be used to electrify homes, replace diesel systems, and strengthen infrastructure. | Tribal leaders/governments and nonprofit organizations pursuing projects that impact Indigenous land or communities. | $5,000 - $500,000 | U.S. and its territories |
| Rolling | Social Impact Fund | American Heart Association | Funds projects that address the social determinants of health so that people and communities can have access to food security, good-quality health care and economic opportunities. | Mission driven for-profits or non-profit organizations | Up to $250,000 | Florida, West Virginia, Minnesota, Chicago (IL), Los Angeles (CA), Minnesota, New York City (NY), Philadelphia (PA), and Toledo (OH) |
| Rolling | The Commonwealth Fund LOI | The Commonwealth Fund | Funds research projects that encourage experts of various backgrounds and disciplines to address health care disparities, including equitable access to quality care. | Tax-exempt non-profit organizations. | $37,000 - $450,000 | International |
| Rolling | DRK Grant | Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation | Funds early-stage projects that focus on social impact and environmental problems. | Non-profit organizations or mission-driven for-profit entities. | Up to $300,000 | Africa, Europe, India, and the United States |
| Rolling | W.K. Kellogg Foundation | W.K. Kellogg Foundation | Funds projects that support health care, education, food justice, career development, and equitable, anti-racist efforts. | 501(c)(3) or non-profit organization, public or governmental entity, charitable for-profit organization. | Varied, Unspecified | United States, namely Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico; central and southwest Haiti. |
| Rolling | SNF Grant | The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) | Funds projects or organizations whose values align with arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. | Non-profit organizations. | Varied, Unspecified | International |
| Rolling | Transformative Change on a Human Scale | The Harris & Frances Block Foundation | Funds organizations who work on environmental impact, including environmental justice, or food and farm initiatives. | Grassroots, non-profit organizations who focus on maintain sustainable communities. | Up to $35,000 | Vermont, North Carolina, Southwest Virginia, and New York City |
| Rolling | Latitude Fund | Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation | Funds organizations with a time-sensitive internal capacity needs who focus on environmental justice and education. | Grassroots 501(c)(3) non-profits with budgets under 500,000 USD or fiscally-sponsored projects in Texas. | $2,500-$7,500 | Texas |
| 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 | 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 | 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 |