Each year, the DCF awards millions of dollars in grants to support the work of nonprofits addressing Delaware’s greatest needs and opportunities, with an eye to building opportunity and advancing equity.
Most DCF grants are from donor advised funds. Nonprofits are invited to apply for the grant opportunities on this page, including the DCF’s Community Impact Grants, which are funded by generous donors who believe in our work to build opportunity and advance equity in Delaware.
Read about our 2023 Community Impact Grants.
Grant Opportunities Currently Open
Read about general grant eligibility. Each grant also has individual eligibility requirements.
Please review our Grantee Publicity Guidelines.
This fund knows that our strength lies not only in the words we stand by, but most importantly through the actions of our initiatives. This organization stems from the humble mindset of Verino and Midge Pettinaro that “one always gives more than they may receive.” This organization was created to better community through love and kindness.
Pettinaro Supports Delaware Communities will support requests from organizations focused on one of these areas:
- Children
- Community Development
- Education
- Health
- Community Insecurities (Food, Housing, Basic Needs)
Nonprofit organizations supporting the needy in Kent County are invited to apply for grants from the Benjamin F. Potter Trust through the Delaware Community Foundation.
The purpose of the Benjamin F. Potter Trust, created in 1843 and one of the oldest continuing trusts of its type in the nation, is to aid the economically underprivileged in Kent County by supporting charitable organizations serving these individuals. The CenDel Foundation, which brings expertise in needs in Kent County, serves as the grant recommendation committee. The areas of focus considered for funding are:
- Crisis/emergency assistance funding for basic needs
- Homelessness
- Hunger
- Health care
Grants will support proposals for charitable organizations and activities involving programs that have a lasting, positive impact on Kent County.
All applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision in August 2024. For more information, please contact Mike DiPaolo at 302.355.6933. To find out more about CenDel, visit www.cendelfoundation.org.
The BluePrints for the Community Fund, a grant program of of the Highmark Delaware Fund at the DCF, is currently accepting applications for their large grants to support health-related projects and services. Grant proposals should aim to increase access to care and/or reduce health disparities through a program or project that falls within one of these five focus areas:
- Healthcare Access
For example: preventative care, disease specific, health literacy, research, etc. - Economic Stability for families and individuals
For example: financial resources strains, food insecurity, housing stability, etc. - Social and Community Context
For example: mental
health, physical activities, social connections, etc. - Neighborhood and Built Environment
For example: safety, transportation, environmental health, infrastructure, etc.
Grant Opportunities Currently Not Open
Small grants will support health-related projects, programs and supportive services. Preference is given to programs that fit BluePrints for the Community priority areas. The community priority areas are: increasing access to health care for uninsured/underserved, reducing health disparities in minority communities, supporting early childhood development with initiatives focused on health, recruiting and training health care professionals and addressing social determinants of health.
Grants are reviewed on a rolling basis with decisions announced to applicants at the beginning of each month. Small Grants cannot exceed $50,000.
Sample Application (for reference only – must apply online)
Educational programs and projects that promote racial justice and the empowerment of African Americans
Statewide small arts grants programs and projects
Education programming or Financial assistance programs for at-risk children or young adults up to age 21 to participate in programs or experiences that help them define their strengths, improve their self-esteem, and build a sense of hope for the future.
Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD) is pleased to announce this Call for Interest in Multi-Year Collaboration for Thriving Communities in Kent and Sussex Counties. We are currently working with fourteen communities and are looking for new community partnerships. We are seeking partners that are committed to collaboratively strengthening the vital conditions/social determinants of health that all people and communities need to thrive—humane housing, lifelong learning, a thriving natural environment, meaningful work and wealth, basic needs for health and safety, reliable transportation, a sense of belonging and civic muscle. This long-term support and investment are intended to foster new or support existing place-based collaborations in the Delaware communities experiencing the greatest inequities, with the long-term goal that all people and places in Delaware are thriving—no exceptions.
Questions can be directed to Kate Dupont Phillips to [email protected].
The FFW accepts applications from nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organizations for programs that address the needs and enhance the worth and potential of women and girls in Delaware by helping them to lead productive, self-sufficient lives. The FFW’s one-year grant offers organizations an opportunity to obtain seed money for innovative, creative programming or funding to continue or expand programs where effectiveness has been demonstrated. Grants will not be awarded to individuals.
Fund for Women hosted two grant application workshops to answer any questions about key dates and how to submit a Grant application. Please use the links below to reference resources from the Workshop.
- Presentation PDF
- 2024 Grant Rubric
- The Fund for Women (FFW) 2025 Grant Application
Questions regarding 2024 Grant Applications can be directed to [email protected].
These small grants will fund educational programming for pediatric healthcare providers. Supported programs include continuing education credit programming, conference, training for pediatric healthcare providers.
Awards will range from $2,500 to $5,000
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
Programs that conduct diabetes research or provide services and support for individuals with diabetes and related health conditions.
Awards will range from $500 to $1,000
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
These small grants will fund education programming supporting at-risk families for them to become self-sufficient. This includes but is not limited to tuition or daycare assistance, family wellness classes, transportation assistance.
Awards will range from $250 to $500
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
Assist in the training of professionally trained seeing-eye dogs and service assistance dogs for blind individuals, deaf individuals and/or individuals with mobility impairments and/or other physical disabilities
Provide support services in connection with the placements of such dogs with eligible recipients who are residents of the State of Delaware who demonstrate a drive to become more independent and who would not be able to acquire such dogs without financial assistance
Encourage the humane treatment of animals in Delaware through education of the public, adoption of animals without owners, neutering, and enforcement of laws governing the humane treatment of animals.
Awards will range from $2,500 to $7,500.
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
These small grants will support educational programming that fulfills terminally ill children’s wishes and will fund programs that support animals and their welfare.
Awards will range from $5,000 to $10,000
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
These small grants will support education programming for experiential science learning for underprivileged girls. This includes educational programming equipment, stipend for instructors, or overall programming for STEM based learning for girls.
Awards will range from $250 to $500
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
These small grants will fund programs that provide therapeutic riding and/or educational programs on therapeutic riding. Supported programs include therapeutic riding as a therapeutic modality, equipment needs to provide these programs and/or therapeutic riding programmatic needs.
Awards will range from $500 to $1,000
Sample Application – (for reference only – must apply online)
Grants are available to any nonprofit organization, including any qualified school (public or private) on the Delmarva Peninsula, with particular emphasis given to Western Sussex County. All applicants within the Delmarva region will be considered by the Foundation Committee. No applications for programs outside of Sussex County will be considered.
Sample Application (for reference only – must apply online)
The Roy Klein Education Fund supports nonprofits’ projects or programs that support improvements to life in central Delaware through economic development initiatives and related career and occupational education in Kent County, including all of Smyrna and Milford.
The fund is available to all 501(c)(3) organizations in Kent County or organizations that run programming that directly benefit the county.
The maximum award is $3,000.
Sample application (for reference only – must apply online)
Grants supports programs addressing addiction treatment, family services, emergency housing and homelessness prevention.
The Next Gen South Grant total is $10,000.
Since its inception in 2012, Next Gen South has supported initiatives that address the underlying social challenges facing vulnerable Delawareans in Kent and Sussex. Grant recipients from 2023 will NOT be eligible to receive funds for this year’s grants.
Sample application – (for reference only – must apply online)
The Caesar Rodney Rotary Foundation grant opportunity is available to nonprofit organizations in New Castle County, DE serving youth and young adults ages birth through 25 years who are underserved and at risk for not having the skills and support for a self-sufficient future. The grant maximum is $5,000.
The Caesar Rodney Rotary Foundation (CRRF) was formed in 2018, as a means for the Caesar Rodney Rotary Club to accelerate the mission of educating the community and addressing the needs of youth at risk in New Castle County, Delaware. Educating the community includes providing public awareness of the need as well as encouraging volunteer opportunities to address the needs. More information about the CRRF can be found on website www.crrfoundation.org.
Sample Application (for reference only – must apply online)
The Borkee Hagley Fund grants specifically support clinical research, care and social and emotional support services for the comprehensive and complex care of patients and families suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. This includes cognitive and movement disorders like Huntington’s Disease, ALS, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s. Previous and new potential grantees are welcomed to apply if their programs fit the Borkee Hagley Fund area of priority.
Sample Application (for reference only – must apply online)
DCF capital grants assist with the acquisition, final-stage design, construction, repair, renovation, rehabilitation, or other capital improvements of facilities, so nonprofits in all three counties can operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.
An ideal capital grant does more than just renovate or repair. It helps an organization that is already strong to serve its community even better. Supported capital projects will have a lasting, positive impact on the population or community served by the grantee organization.
Grants will not exceed $20,000 other than on rare occasions due to their exceptional merits, based on the discretion of the DCF Grants Committee. The capital grants are the only grants from the DCF that have a waiting period for grantees. Once an award is provided, grantees must wait two full grant cycles before applying again.
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Award Year: |
Year Organization is eligible to apply: |
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October 2024 |
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October 2025 |
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October 2026 |
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October 2024 |
October 2027 |
Sign up for Office Hours. Contact Yolanda Rushdan for more information.
Rubric
Sample Application(for reference only – must apply online)
Grants awarded will be $500 – $5,000 to nonprofit organizations working to address community needs in Georgetown and Millsboro.
Nonprofits organizations located in Georgetown or Millsboro will be given priority, but other organizations operating statewide can apply if they are a state agency.
Sample application (for reference only – must apply online)
In 2025, the Kent County YPB will provide support to non-profits that address the vital conditions of health for people and the protection of animals and the environment. Examples are services for the homeless, mental health, violence prevention, student support, and conservation of the land.
Sample Application(for reference only – must apply online)
In 2025, the New Castle County YPB will support programs that increase access to services that provide (youth) with basic necessities including mental health, safe housing, and food security with special consideration given to organizations that have an educational component.
Sample Application(for reference only – must apply online)
In 2025, the Sussex County YPB wants to assist students and families with their social, economic, and educational development. Nonprofits that focus on the following are encouraged to apply: access to K-12 sports/mentoring/tutoring, basic needs assistance, addiction recovery/prevention, and/or mental health (including animal therapy).
Sample Application(for reference only – must apply online)
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