New England Grassroots Fund: SEED Grant

The New England Grassroots Fund offers SEED Grants to support community-driven projects in New England, particularly those initiated by groups with limited resources and experience. These grants aim to empower organizations that represent diverse voices in their communities and focus on local environmental issues. Eligible applicants include grassroots organizations without formal tax status, emphasizing the fund's commitment to accessible funding for innovative, grassroots solutions.

Note: You can apply for a Seed grant any time of year.Background
The Seed grant program is geared towards groups launching new projects or starting to significantly change the direction of an existing project. Most often, groups have been working on the project less than a year and usually don't yet have much direct experience with implementing the idea.
Seed grants prioritize support for community groups who represent a broad range of voices in their community and who are not being reached by other funders. The Grassroots Fund interprets the word 'environment' broadly and provides funding for a wide range of activities.
We prioritize:

• groups that are volunteer-driven or have no more than 2 full-time paid staff (80 hrs/week)
• groups that have an approximate annual operating budget under $100,000 (see Update for 2022 )

Eligibility

We only fund:groups doing local, grassroots work in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or VermontNote that groups do NOT need to have formal tax status or a fiscal sponsor. A group only needs a bank account in the group's name (see FAQs below to learn how to set that up).

Ineligibility

We don't fund:IndividualsNational or international workLobbying or partisan political activityAcquisition of land and/or buildingsStudies with no follow-up actionPublication of books or reportsMicro-, mini-, re-granting programsRetroactive (pre-dating application submission) expenses