England Family Foundation Grant

The England Family Foundation Grant aims to amplify local solutions for inclusive prosperity in Washington, DC. It welcomes 501(c)(3) organizations to apply for general operating grants that align with its strategic priorities, including economic justice and community safety. The foundation prioritizes funding for organizations addressing systemic inequalities and fostering leadership among youth. Grants are awarded twice a year, with a commitment to reducing gun violence and supporting vulnerable communities. Interested applicants can submit inquiries via an online portal.

NOTE:
Letter of Inquiry - The foundation accepts unsolicited inquiries through our online grant portal. Prospective grantees are welcome to complete an eligibility questionnaire to make sure they meet our grant guidelines. Organizations that meet our eligibility criteria, will be invited for a 30-minute virtual conversation with a member of our team.Full Proposal - Invite Only - Once we have determined that we are a good fit, you will have access to our online grant portal where you will fill in more information about your organization and submit your grant request. We accept applications on a rolling basis during the year. Grant decisions are made twice a year, in October and in May.Applications received August 2 through March 31st will be reviewed in May.Applications received April 1 through August 1st will be reviewed in October.
We make general operating grants because we trust that our partners who are closest to the issues know best how to allocate resources.
Our Strategic Priorities:

• We provide funding to organizations whose mission and programs align with the England Family Foundation’s strategic goals.
• Economic Justice: Preserving people’s dignity and ensuring that poverty has no endurance.

Extreme inequality creates barriers to access opportunities that are probative to this goal. In DC, economic inequity falls starkly across lines of race with white households holding 81 times the wealth of Black households and 22 times the wealth of Latinx families . If our vision, as a foundation, is for all individuals to fulfill their potential and participate in a thriving community, we feel it is imperative that we focus a portion of our grantmaking on strategies that create pathways out of poverty for DC families.Our economic justice grants focus on meeting the urgent needs of people in crises today, while scaffolding solutions to create generational wealth and financial security in the long run. Specifically, we fund organizations working in: Food Security, Housing Equity, Family Support Services and Financial Strength.Next Generation of Leaders: Preparing local youth to be a force for positive change.Our goal is to prepare the next generation to be leaders with vision and compassion. To achieve this, we partner with organizations that value youth’s experiences, present positive avenues for them to develop their passions, and create opportunities for youth to voice their perspectives.Understanding that a quality education is a critical pillar for lifelong success, the Foundation also aims to eliminate academic achievement gaps, especially for those students who face significant barriers to success. We support programs and organizations that help students achieve through high school, and ultimately attend and persist through college.Representative Democracy: Celebrating diverse voices to shape a more just and multiracial democratic system.As a place-based funder focused on Washington, DC, the England Family Foundation upholds that DC’s ability to maintain home-rule and jurisdiction over its own constituents is critical to ensuring the wellbeing of its people.We trust in the power of the American democratic system. Its only limitation is the effective participation of all its people and the ability for institutions to respond to their needs, once heard. The Foundation makes grants with the goal of ensuring that all people can and know how to participate in their democracy, and that its systems are able to adapt to legitimate calls for reform.Special Initiative – Community Safety and Harm Reduction: In pursuit of a peaceful, healed and safe community, we are committing $1,000,000 over five years to end gun violence in DC. Too many tragedies result from gun violence, and it must stop. The England Family Foundation supports coordinated city-wide efforts to reduce gun violence in DC.

Eligibility

We fund 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that can indicate some evidence of their efficacy and importance to the DC area.The applying nonprofit should be able to provide clear financial statements and a 990 or 990 – EZ or audited financial statements, if available.The England Family Foundation provides grants to organizations that are actively serving the Washington D.C. community.If there are DC-based organizations that have additional sites in communities considered part of the DC region (Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Northern Virginia), we will extend funding to those sites.We will consider funding capital campaign requests for existing grantees only.

Ineligibility

We do not fund organizations that are serving communities outside of our geographic scope.We do not fund program sites of DC-based nonprofits that fall outside of our geographic focus.We do not fund organizations that are based in Washington, DC, but are focused on national efforts.We do not fund school parent associations or neighborhood associations. We do not fund individual public or public charter schools, or private schools.We do not fund multiyear grants, unless by invitation or trustee discretion.