fundraising

New Bedford Creative has collected a wide range of grant and fundraising opportunities for individuals, artists and entrepreneurs, as well as non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations, charitable organizations, government entities, and more. We’ve tailored our selections where we hope most New Bedford arts, culture and creative individuals or enterprises would be eligible to apply.

Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant

The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant is for mature painters, printmakers and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. While they recognize the economic toll of the COVID-19 crisis, they are not able to assist with funds to replace lost or

Agnes M. Lindsay Trust

The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust‘s Funding Priorities include Health and Welfare, Dental/Oral Health, Camp Scholarships, Education, and Homeless Shelters, their newest initiative. Special focus on Food Pantries. Applicants must be located in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Vermont. For new applicants, the process begins with a Letter of Inquiry. Grants range from $1,000 to $30,000.

Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund

The Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund‘s Funding Priorities include medicine, social welfare, visual arts, historic preservation, and land conservation. Grants are made exclusively for capital projects and capital purchases, and only to organizations existing and operating in Massachusetts.

Annuity Freedom Micro-grant

The Annuity Freedom Micro-grant is a combination of marketing and $100 micro grant opportunities given out each month in three categories: 1) artists, 2) black or minority business owners, and 3) women-owned business owners. No fees required to apply.

Artists’ Fellowship

The Artists’ Fellowship provides emergency aid to professional fine artists and their families in times of sickness, natural disaster, bereavement or unexpected extreme hardship. Due to the overwhelming requests, they are limiting relief and assistance applications to those qualified applicants who are dealing with IMMEDIATE MEDICAL EMERGENCIES and the aftermaths.

Artwork Archive’s Complete Guide

Artwork Archive’s Complete Guide to 2021 Artist Grants & Opportunities includes a list of artist grants, residencies, and calls-for-entry in 2021. Topics include international open calls, residencies, fellowships, and awards.

Awesome Foundation

The Awesome Foundation awards $1,000 grants to help fund programs, projects and ideas that are “awesome”. The grants have “no strings”, or stipulations. If they like your project best, they will fund it.

Barr Foundation

The Barr Foundation‘s Funding priorities include Arts and Creativity, Climate, and Education. Their geographic focus is on Massachusetts. The best approach is to email a brief description (300–400 words) of your organization and the funding priority to be addressed.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts Foundation

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts Foundation‘s Catalyst Fund grants (up to $5,000) support capacity-building expenses for Massachusetts community-based organizations to address a health or health care component of their work.

Bob’s Discount Furniture Charitable Foundation

The Bob’s Discount Furniture Charitable Foundation‘s gift cards support 501c3 nonprofit organizations. Apply by letter.

Borealis Philanthropy

Resourcing grassroots leaders and social justice movements for transformative change. Borealis Philanthropy directs resources to people building powerful, thriving communities that serve all of us, with those most impacted by injustice leading the way. They invest in leaders, organizations, and movements using diverse and innovative strategies to pursue transformational change, and they work with donors

Boston Center for the Arts

The Boston Center for the Arts‘ Public Art Residency program supports two artists or artist teams each year to activate their public plaza and other areas across BCA’s campus with interactive, temporary public art. This process-oriented residency provides an opportunity for artists to experiment with their craft, develop focus, and engage in active public dialogue.

Cigna Foundation

The Cigna Foundation‘s Healthier Kids for Our Future initiative seeks programs that bracket or augment in-school efforts to provide food and nutritional education to children. Activities can be based in community organizations, schools, or health care settings. Grants are also available for Community Health Navigation. Application process begins with a screening questionnaire.

Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank‘s focus areas include fighting hunger, money management, and strengthening communities. They prioritize projects that provide direct services to low- or moderate-income populations, projects that are around one year in duration, projects that exhibit long-term sustainability and potential for replication, and projects that address unmet needs.

Coca-Cola Foundation

The Coca-Cola Foundation‘s funding priorities include women’s entrepreneurship and economic development; clean water initiatives; healthy living, education, and youth development. The online grant application process begins with an eligibility questionnaire.

Cornell Douglas Foundation

The Cornell Douglas Foundation‘s funding focuses on environmental health and justice. Grants generally range from $15,000 to $50,000.

Costco

Costco‘s funding priorities include children, education, and health & human services. Max award is $5,000.

Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Craig Newmark Philanthropies‘ funding priorities include trustworthy journalism, voter protection, women in technology, veterans, and military families.

Cruise Industry Charitable Foundation

The Cruise Industry Charitable Foundation actively supports programs that meet the needs of economically disadvantaged populations. Proposals that incorporate partnerships with community groups and local organizations are encouraged.

D’Addario Foundation

D’Addario Foundation grants support programs that bring music back into communities and schools and get kids playing as early and as frequently as possible. The application process begins with a letter of inquiry.

Donors Choose

Find a classroom project that inspires you and give as little as $1. When a project is fully funded, Donors Choose will purchase all the requested items and ship them directly to the school. Every donor gets a thank-you letter from the teacher, photos from the classroom, and a report of how each dollar was spent.

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation grants support efforts to improve the lives of individuals through innovative strategies, systems changing approaches, and disrupting technologies.

Eastern Bank Foundation

The Eastern Bank Foundation‘s funding categories include Community Grants (average award is $2,900 to applicants with a 501c3) and Neighborhood Grants (average award is $2,000 to applicants without a 501c3).

ECMC Foundation

The ECMC Foundation‘s funding priorities include requests that address the immediate challenges and opportunities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, with emphasis on implementing systemic reforms to increase college success and career readiness for students from underserved backgrounds.

Emergent Fund

The Emergent Fund‘s funding priorities include coalitions and alliances; mobilization; organizing and advocacy; healing, inspiration, and liberation; and access for digital spaces and digital organizing. Their population focus is on people of color. Grants range from $10,000 to $30,000.

Entertainment Community Fund

The Entertainment Community Fund offers a broad spectrum of programs, a calendar of workshops, support groups, online resources and emergency financial assistance to support the unique, essential needs of all who work in performing arts and entertainment.

Foundation for Contemporary Arts

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts‘ Emergency Grants provide urgent funding for visual and performing artists who have sudden, unanticipated opportunities to present their work to the public when there is insufficient time to seek other sources of funding, or who incur unexpected or unbudgeted expenses for projects close to completion with committed exhibition or performance

Global Youth Mobilization

Do you have an idea for a solution to overcome a challenge created by the COVID-19 pandemic? Want to support your local community? Campaign for change in your local area? Young people ages 14-30 can apply for grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 from Global Youth Mobilization today.

GoFundMe

GoFundMe‘s Small Business Relief program will provide $500 micro-grants to qualifying small businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Groundswell

Groundswell‘s Rapid Response Fund supports grassroots organizations led by women of color, trans people of color, and low-income women and trans people in critical, but unexpected, fights to protect and advance reproductive and social justice.

Harry Chapin Foundation

The Harry Chapin Foundation‘s funding priorities include arts-in-education programs, community education programs and agricultural & environmental programs. Their funding focus is grassroots organizations with budgets up to $500,000. Max award is $10,000.

Island Foundation

The Island Foundation‘s grant priorities fall within four categories: Environment, New Bedford, Alternative Education, and Global. In New Bedford, the Island Foundation works with organizations that promote progressive social change and combat discrimination in all its forms, supporting youth programs, community development, arts and culture, and basic needs. To be invited to apply, the first

Jazz Road Tours

Jazz Road Tours is an artist-centric touring and residency grants program promoting deeper engagement between jazz musicians, presenters, and communities, offering grants of up to $15,000 to develop tours into communities across the country. Emerging and mid-career jazz artists, take your music to places it’s never been. Jazz Road Tours is led by South Arts, one of NEFA’s

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! awards grants up to $15,000 to support the purchase of equipment for construction or renovation of a playground. Funding is intended to serve children from low-income families by creating safe play spaces for local communities, including the replacement of unsafe existing equipment.

Kars4Kids

Kars4Kids‘s funding focus is on education, mentoring, and youth development programs that help children develop into productive members of their community. Grants typically range from $500-$2,000.

Klarman Foundation

Klarman Foundation grants support the purchase, rental or repair of instruments used for music education programs reaching low-income Massachusetts youth during the school day or out-of-school time.

Learning for Justice

Learning for Justice‘s Educator Grants support projects that promote affirming school climates and educate youth to thrive in a diverse democracy. Grants will fund school-level, classroom-level and district-level projects, and range from $500-$10,000.

Leveler

Leveler: Peer to Peer Wealth Distribution is a tool for people with job security to help people whose work status has been impacted by COVID-19. The list includes freelancers, service industry, and gig economy workers. Click the “receive” button if you’re seeking assistance.

Liberty Mutual Foundation

The Liberty Mutual Foundation‘s focus areas include education and human services. Their funding priorities are children and teenagers, with funding categories including capital, programs, and general operating.

Life Comes From It

Life Comes From It awards grants ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 to support grassroots movement-building in restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking, with work rooted in lived experience and relationships.

Lowe’s/LISC

Lowe’s/LISC Small Grants for Businesses provide up to $20,000 to small business owners to help meet their most immediate needs. Eligible expenses include payroll, rent and utilities, outstanding debt to vendors, technology or infrastructure upgrades, and other immediate operational costs.

Lyft

Lyft ride credits valued at $3,000 are awarded to nonprofits. Funding priorities include arts and culture, civic advocacy, education, employment services and job readiness, environmentalism and sustainability, food access and security, healthcare, and social and legal services.

Mabel Louise Riley Foundation

The Mabel Louise Riley Foundation‘s funding priorities include education, human services, neighborhood revitalization, arts access programs for underserved communities, support for foster care children and those aging out of the system, vocational education and job training, and affordable housing and shelter for vulnerable families. One-year grants normally fall in the range of $50,000 to $100,000.

Mass Cultural Council

Stay informed about all of Mass Cultural Council‘s offerings using Agency Dates, a complete list of key dates and deadlines for grant opportunities, convenings, and events. This page is updated frequently, so check back often.

Mass Humanities Bridge Street Sponsorships

Mass Humanities Bridge Street Sponsorships support history organizations across the state. Through the generosity of donors, Mass Humanities will sponsor up to 3 free, public online programs by historical societies, centers, museums, or historic sites, at $500 per-program.

Mellon Foundation

The Mellon Foundation seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

Musicians Foundation

The Musicians Foundation provides one-time mini-grants of $200 to professional performers, educators and composers who meet the requirements. The form will be temporarily closed at times when application volume is very high.

Nathan Cummings Foundation

The Nathan Cummings Foundation‘s funding focus areas include racial and economic justice; inclusive clean economy; corporate & political accountability; and voice, creativity, and culture. The application process begins with a letter of inquiry.

Nellie Mae Education Foundation

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation‘s grantmaking strategy encompasses six grant funds. Each fund is structured to reinforce one another in advancing their mission of championing efforts that prioritize community goals that challenge racial inequities and advance excellent, student-centered public education for all New England youth.

New England Foundation for the Arts

NEFA invests in artists and communities and fosters equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation.

New England Musicians Relief Fund

To be considered eligible for the New England Musicians Relief Fund, you must reside or be professionally active primarily in the six contiguous New England states or in the Upper Hudson Valley of New York. At least 50% of your income must have come from employment as a performing musician and/or music teacher in the

Peace Development Fund

The Peace Development Fund‘s De Colores Rapid Response Fund is available for quick, short-term delivery to hot spots of opportunity for organizing in marginalized communities. Grants range from $500 to $1,000.

PNC Foundation

The PNC Foundation‘s funding focuses include early childhood education, economic development, affordable housing, community development, community Services, arts and culture. Their funding priorities are sustainability and diverse populations.

Pop Culture Collab

The Pop Culture Collab‘s Rapid Response grants support individuals and organizations working to build movements, drive campaigns, produce stories, and leverage media and entertainment mediums to drive positive narrative and social change in popular culture. Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000.

Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People

Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People grants support people who are oppressed by poverty and social systems, want to take charge of their own lives, are organizing to do something about their own conditions, have decided that what they are going to do will produce long term changes for their lives or communities, utilize SDOP

Rauschenberg Emergency Grant

NYFA and the Rauschenberg Foundation have teamed up to offer visual and media artists and choreographers in the US Rauschenberg Emergency Grants of up to $5,000 for medical related emergencies.

Red Sox Foundation

The Red Sox Foundation‘s funding focuses are children, families, veterans, and communities in need. Their funding priorities are health, educational, and recreational opportunities. Grants range from $1,000 to $5,000.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation‘s Pioneering Ideas: Exploring the Future to Build a Culture of Health program seeks proposals that are primed to influence health equity in the future. Focus areas include future of social interaction, future of food, and future of work.

Roddenberry Foundation

Inspired by the life and legacy of Gene Roddenberry, The Roddenberry Foundation (TRF) supports innovative thinking, original ideas, and extraordinary people who can change the world.

Ronald W. Burkle Foundation

The Ronald W. Burkle Foundation offers grants of up to $350,000 to support nonprofit activities that positively impact people around the world and their communities. The process begins with a letter of inquiry.

Russell J. Efros Foundation

The Russell J. Efros Foundation encourages artists to apply for a Sprout Fund grant for projects that involve their communities.

School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network

School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network grants will support licensed mental health professionals to coordinate behavioral health services utilizing Telehealth technology and academic coordination activities with school administration in collaboration with school district designated program personnel. Max award is $250,000. Funding is available until depleted.

SoGal Foundation

The SoGal Foundation‘s in-kind grants of up to $10,000 support equal opportunities in business for Black female or nonbinary entrepreneurs. The funding collaborative seeks high-impact ideas and solutions that break down barriers caused by racial inequality.

State Street Foundation

The State Street Foundation‘s focus areas include education and workforce development. Their funding priority is helping the disadvantaged.

The Vela Foundation

The Vela Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation dedicated to promoting improved nutrition and wellness in underserved communities. They support entrepreneurial programs that provide nutrition education and improve access to healthy foods.

Third Wave Fund

The Third Wave Fund offers Rapid Response and Capacity Building grants.

TJX U.S. Foundation

The TJX U.S. Foundation‘s funding priorities are: 1) Basic needs for those in need (food, clothing, and shelter); 2) Access to opportunities outside of school that enable school success for at-risk youth, pre-k to grade 12; 3) Workforce readiness training for at-risk youth ages 16-24; and 4) Safety from domestic violence (shelter, prevention, and services).

Verizon

Verizon‘s funding priorities include K-12 STEM education and domestic violence education and prevention for youth, women, and older adults. New applications are by invitation only.

Wallace Global Fund

The Wallace Global Fund‘s funding priorities include challenging corporate power, defending and renewing democracy, protecting the environment, promoting truth and creative freedom in media, and advancing women’s human rights and empowerment. Grants range from $10,000 to $120,000.