Grant Opportunities for Food System Organizations and Businesses

Grant opportunities for food assistance partners:

• 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.
• Reopen Montgomery County Grant: The grants will reimburse Montgomery County businesses and nonprofits for expenses incurred to comply with State and County reopening requirements.
  • • Grants up to $5,000 still available to provide assistance to small businesses and nonprofits: Montgomery County businesses that have purchased items they need to comply with State and County regulations to protect the public health are encouraged to apply.

Grant opportunities for food businesses and farms:

• Food for Thought, Food Systems Game Changers Lab: If you have ideas, initiatives, or innovations that have the potential to bring positive change to global food systems, the Food Systems Game Changers Lab is open! Submit your ideas to the Global Open Call on OpenIDEO by May 14.
• TEDCO’s Agriculture and Rural Rebuild (ARR) Challenge was created to assist Maryland’s rural and agricultural businesses that have been detrimentally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic downturn. The ARR challenge will specifically fund technology-empowered initiatives that will help our rural and agricultural businesses recover, rebuild and pivot from the current economic crisis.
  • Application Deadline: May 14, 2021
• The Mid-Atlantic Food Resilience and Access Coalition (MAFRAC) Local Food Grant Application: MAFRAC is offering funding to help local businesses and nonprofits source from local farmers and food businesses. The Local Food Grant is an initiative that supports food relief by nonprofits and businesses that are distributing food for free or pay-what-you-can models.  MAFRAC will pay for the local foods you are giving away, up to $15,000. Learn more. 
• USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the availability of $76.9 million in funding for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP). FMLFPP has two subprograms – the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) and the Local Food Promotion Program(LFPP) – with a separate Request for Applications (RFA) for each subprogram. Both programs provide grants on a competitive basis for a wide variety of direct-to-consumer and local food marketing projects.
  • Application Deadline: June 21, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT and all submissions must be done through grants.gov.
• The Rural and Underserved Business Recovery from Impact of COVID-19 (RUBRIC) program is an economic relief initiative to benefit socially and economically disadvantaged and rural early-stage technology-based businesses hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. This program is supported by $5M recently allocated from the Governor.
  • Expected Deadline: June 2021
• 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.
    • Summer deadline: July 30th, 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.
• Neighborhood Events Matching Funds Grant Program: This program is administered by the five Regional Service Offices to promote community engagement, encourage capacity building, networking, and stimulate the local economy.
  • Funding Cycle: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021
• COVID-19 Layoff Aversion Fund: Governor Larry Hogan and the Maryland Department of Labor have launched the new COVID-19 Layoff Aversion Fund, which is designed to support businesses undergoing economic stresses due to the pandemic by preventing or minimizing the duration of unemployment resulting from layoffs. The award (up to $50,000 per applicant), will be a quick deployable benefit and customizable to the specific needs of your business to minimize the need for layoffs.