The Abell Foundation awards grants to nonprofit community partners working to improve the quality of life in Baltimore. We provide seed funding for innovative pilots, support for ongoing community programs and services, and funding for capital projects. In addition to providing grant funding, the Foundation supports our nonprofit partners through connection to our local and national networks, as well as our team’s deep experience in and knowledge of Baltimore as it relates to our program areas.
First-time applicants with grant requests greater than $10,000 should submit a short letter of inquiry prior to submitting a regular grant application. For guidance on what to include in your LOI, please reference our frequently asked questions.
For first-time or returning applicants with grant requests of $10,000 or less. We accept and review small grant applications on a rolling basis. There is no deadline to apply for a small grant.
For returning applicants and those who have a verified fit with the Foundation’s priorities for requests greater than $10,000. Regular grant applications are reviewed at one of five Board meetings each year.
Log into the grant portal below to return to a saved application or submit a report for a previously awarded grant. Report forms can be found under the “Requirements” tab.
B-360 STEM Education is a youth development program that utilizes dirt bike culture to equip youth and young adults with the skills and confidence to pursue STEM opportunities in school and beyond, while also promoting public safety through appropriate dirt bike riding practices. Youth learn and apply engineering theory to build and repair their own dirt bike. This grant provides B-360 with general operating support.
The YES drop-in center serves homeless youth ages 14 – 25, providing counseling, peer support, connections to resources, and a safe place for youth to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, laundry facilities, and access to phones and computers, among other things. YES staff and partner agencies provide employment counseling and job placement support; housing assistance; case management; assistance accessing public benefits; access to health care; legal services; and leadership development opportunities. This grant will support the construction and relocation costs associated with the YES Center’s move to a new, larger building that will better meet the needs of the youth it serves.
Baltimore and Maryland face critically important and increasingly difficult environmental issues and public health challenges while news organization coverage has shrunk dramatically over the last decade. WYPR, Baltimore’s local radio station, offers “The Environment in Focus,” a weekly program providing listeners with engaging and informative stories about the environment and environmental issues, from COVID and climate change, sea level rise, and endangered species to relevant federal rulings, state policy analysis and city actions. This grant pays the full production costs of the weekly radio program.
Since 1999, the Abell Foundation has supported Vehicles for Change in making low-cost cars available to low-income job seekers in Baltimore City. With funding from Abell, VfC plans to award 40 repaired and Maryland-inspected cars to Baltimore City residents referred by the following sponsoring agencies: Center for Urban Families, Humanim, Living Classrooms, JOTF’s Project Jumpstart, and the Biotechnical Institute of Maryland.
Up2Us aims to engage, train and support sports coaches to transform youth, programs and communities. The organization partners with AmeriCorps to offer year-long coaching placements with schools and community programs as a service learning opportunity. This grant will help subsidize the cost-share for community-based programs that operate in-person programming so that they are able to hire a high-quality coach.
Header photo courtesy of Thread.