Grant Opportunities for Food System Organizations and Businesses

Grant Opportunities for Food Assistance Partners:

• Human Resources Nonprofit Grant: The City of Rockville provides grants annually to local organizations that partner with the city to support human services access in the city. The FY23 application will open in November 2021. Please contact Ali Hoy, Grants and Program Analyst, at ahoy@rockvillemd.gov with any questions. Only nonprofit organizations that provide human services to individuals residing in the corporate city limits of Rockville are eligible to apply.

• The W. K. Kellogg Foundation: Accepts healthy kids and community/civic engagement grant applications throughout the year with no submission deadline.

• Nonprofit, Interest Free, Micro Bridge Loan Account (NIMBL): This interest-free, micro bridge loan program and fund supports the operations of nonprofit entities. The program is administered by the Maryland Nonprofit Development Center and the Maryland Department of Commerce.
  • • The program provides short-term financing support to qualifying nonprofit entities between the award date of a government contract and the actual receipt date of those awarded funds. 
    • Application accepted on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis.
• Open Road Alliance Charitable Grants: This grant is for organizations engaging in direct COVID-19 response. They will prioritize organizations and activities that have a clear and direct role in ‘flattening the curve’ and thus limiting, shortening, or minimizing the economic and social, as well as health effects of the pandemic.
  • Organizations can apply for up to $100,000 and can cover any geography and any sector, providing they can demonstrate that they are directly contributing to ‘flattening the curve’ in their community.

Grant Opportunities for Food Businesses & Farms:

• Maryland Agriculture Council’s Grants Program: Each year the Maryland Agriculture Council, Inc. offers an opportunity to various agencies and organizations to submit grant applications for the purpose of promoting Maryland agriculture. If you are interested, please complete the attached application and email with supporting
  material to cfs@umd.edu.  by October 30, 2020.
• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Grant: In this first round of PRS funding, USDA is targeting support to small businesses in certain commodity areas, farmers markets, and small specialty crop producers. While USDA is focusing this first round of funding to 1) small producers, 2) food processors and distributors that meet small business size standards, and 3) farmers markets, USDA may expand eligibility in future rounds of funding to include additional businesses not covered by the first round.
  • Application Deadline: November 22, 2021
• Commercial, Industrial & Agricultural Grant Program: The Maryland Energy Administration (“MEA”) is providing the Fiscal Year 2022 Commercial, Industrial & Agricultural Grant Program (“FY22 CI&A Program”) to Maryland commercial, industrial, farms, and other agricultural entities for the implementation of energy efficiency improvement projects to their facilities.
  • Application Deadline:

    • Application Period: October 28th – December 28, 2021. Applications are due by 11:59 P.M. on December 28th.  Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis by an Evaluation Team. Award announcements will be made as applications are competitively selected for award.

    Good Food Doing Good Microgrant Program: This grant opportunity provides up to $2,500 in funding to individual food entrepreneurs and/or including food growers, and up to $7,500 in funding to 501(c)3 nonprofit cooperatives, culinary incubators, and/or workforce development programs to build capacity to scale their products more broadly.

  • Preference will be given to growers or producers of healthy, culturally relevant foods that  fit USDA K-12 meal pattern requirements and for prepared items such as condiments, sauces, soups, stews, breads, and entrees.
    • Fall/Winter deadline: November 30th.
• Small, Minority and Women Owned Business Account COVID-19 RELIEF Program: To support Maryland’s small businesses facing continued financial impacts from COVID-19, the state established the Minority and Women-Owned Business Account COVID-19 RELIEF Program with $10 million in state Relief Act funding.