Seeking Rapid Response Grants? These Funds Are Offering Help.

We will continue to update this story as we find out about more emergency funds. For a detailed list of updates, please scroll to the bottom of the article.

With the future of federal funding for the nonprofit sector uncertain and layoffs mounting, foundations and other grant makers are stepping up efforts to deliver emergency funds to civil society organizations.

Among major grant makers pledging to spend more is the Mellon Foundation, which recently announced $15 million in emergency funding for state humanities councils affected by federal funding cuts. Last month, the Trump administration began canceling millions of federal grant dollars from the National Endowment for the Humanities as it seeks to ultimately terminate the agency. NEA funding for state humanities councils supports museums, historical sites, and cultural festivals across the country, among other activities.

“The work of these councils touches every aspect of communities across our country,” Phillip Brian Harper, Mellon’s program director for higher learning, said in a statement. “This grant ensures that these irreplaceable institutions can continue their mission and look forward to a sustainable future.”

Of the total grant, $2.8 million will be used for “challenge grants” of up to $50,000 that will allow councils to match donations from local funders and potentially double support for their programs, the foundation said.

Last month, the Skoll Foundation launched a $25 million emergency fund to help its existing awardees and grantees that have been impacted by the near elimination of U.S. international aid this year. Founder Jeffrey Skoll, a billionaire whose philanthropic organizations hold more than $1.7 billion in assets, has acknowledged the fear among donors to oppose President Donald Trump. However, the Trump administration’s actions, specifically the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, “threaten to erode decades of humanitarian progress,” he said on stage at the Skoll World Forum last week. That is why the foundation is increasing its payout by more than 30 percent this year to “signal to other funders to consider this an emergency and increase their grant making,” Skoll said.

“We know that this fund and philanthropy more broadly cannot make up for the global reductions in foreign assistance,” a Skoll spokesperson told the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “As such, the funding is not meant to be a bridge or a replacement but instead is designed to serve as support while partners adjust and revise strategies given the new context.”

In addition to foundations like Skoll and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that have pledged to increase payouts this year, intermediary groups like Borealis Philanthropy have been urging funders to support their efforts to create rapid response funds. Below is a list of emergency response funds compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. To let us know about more funds, contact us at editormail@philanthropy.com.

National Funds

Borealis Philanthropy funds
The intermediary group has several funds that provide grants to nonprofits supporting marginalized communities — such as Black and LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. It also offers funding to organizations working to advance racial equity and changes to criminal justice systems.

Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Emergency Grant Cycle
This competitive grant cycle will provide support to organizations with HIV treatment and prevention programs, specifically those focused on transgender people, women, young people, and LGBT youth. Grants are for one year only and shall not exceed $25,000. Eligibility is restricted to organizations with at least three years of experience in delivering HIV/AIDS programs. The application process for these grants opens on April 16 and closes on May 31.

Emergent Fund grants
Emergent Fund is a participatory grant-making group that provides rolling, no-strings-attached rapid response grants to organizations for urgent and unanticipated crises, particularly for grassroots groups led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Late last year, the group joined with the Transgender Law Center to launch a separate Action for Transformation Fund with the goal of providing $1 million in rapid response grants to trans-led organizations amid a growing backlash to efforts to advance transgender rights. The Action for Transformation Fund is a pilot that will provide one-time grants of $5,000 to $20,000.

The Fortitude Fund at the Pride Foundation
The fund aims to provide flexible grants of $10,000 to $50,000 to LGBTQ organizations affected by policies from the Trump administration, state-level legislation, and the “broader cultural realities these factors are creating,” according to the Pride Foundation website.

Four Freedoms Fund’s Immigration Frontlines Fund
Four Freedoms is a funder collaborative launched more than 20 years ago by NEO Philanthropy, which aims to raise $10 million this year to advocate for and protect immigrant communities.

Mobilize Power Fund from Third Wave Fund
Third Wave Fund is offering grants of up to $10,000 (or up to $20,000 for partnerships or coalitions of two or more groups) on a monthly basis to gender justice nonprofits, with a focus on youth-led and intergenerational organizations, Black trans and other LGBTQ groups, and immigrants. The fund prioritizes underfunded areas in the Southwest, deep South (specifically Mississippi and Florida), Midwest, and Puerto Rico. So far this year, Third Wave said it has given $150,000 in rapid response funds.

Mellon Foundation Grants for State Humanities Councils
The foundation is providing $15 million to the Federation of State Humanities Councils. The funds will be distributed to 56 state and territorial humanities councils, the federation said. Each council will receive an immediate, unrestricted grant of $200,000 with an additional $50,000 available to use as a challenge fund to offer matches for donations from local funders.

Regional Funds

The Denver Foundation’s Critical Needs Fund
The foundation is soliciting donations for its ongoing rapid response fund to help provide legal aid, educational resources, nonprofit operational support, and other assistance to immigrant and refugee communities.

The Meyer Foundation’s rapid response grants
The Washington, D.C.-based foundation provides funding to nonprofits in the surrounding area, including cities and counties in Maryland and Virginia. It is offering one-time, rapid response grants of $10,000 to $20,000 to current grantees focused on racial justice and systems change.

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation grants
Based in Concord, the foundation is offering an additional $3 million to nonprofits. It will provide $2 million in emergency funding to existing grantees that promote “health, wellness, safety, and belonging” for vulnerable people. An additional $1 million will be delivered through the foundation’s community grants program. Nonprofits can apply for up to $20,000 for one year or $40,000 for a two-year grant. Applications open on July 7, and the deadline is August 21.

International Funds

The Catalyst Fund from Population Services International
PSI has revived this fund, which was initially created during the pandemic, to deploy small grants to global health care organizations whose U.S. funding has been terminated.

GlobalGiving’s Community Aid Fund
GlobalGiving, an intermediary group that connects donors and companies to nonprofits, aims to raise $1 million to support locally led nonprofits worldwide that have been impacted by the freeze on U.S. international aid.

Global Philanthropy Project’s Fund Our Futures Campaign
Launched in advance of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and in anticipation of anti-LGBTQ backlash and funding cuts worldwide, the Global Philanthropy Project is a funder network that has raised $105 million from 31 funders and seeks $150 million total for LGBTQ causes, which will be distributed over the next three to five years. Fund Our Futures doesn’t run through a specific funding mechanism, rather all campaign-pledging donors make awards through their existing methods, and some have already moved urgent funds to LGBTI grantees, according to a Global Philanthropy Project spokesperson.

The Rapid Response Fund for international aid from Founders Pledge and the Life You Can Save
This fund aims to help international aid nonprofits such as the International Rescue Committee. The groups have raised more than $3 million so far.

Skoll Foundation’s emergency fund
The $25 million fund will support current Skoll Foundation grantees affected by U.S. international aid cuts.