Grants

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.

Learn More About Our Process

Eligibility and Review Criteria

For all nonprofit organizations seeking grant funding, regardless of the request amount. 

Small Grants Process

For grant requests of $10,000 or less.

Reviewed on a rolling basis. There is no deadline to apply.

Regular Grants Process

For grant requests greater than $10,000.

Reviewed at one of the Foundation’s five annual Board meetings.

Submit an Application

Considering Applying?

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.

Submit an LOI

Ready to Apply for a Small Grant?

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.

Start a Small Grant Application

Ready to Apply for a Regular 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.

Start a Regular Grant Application

Returning to a Saved Application or Submitting a Report?

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.

Return to Your Application or Submit a Report

See Our Past Grants

Environmental Integrity Project (EIP)

$50,000 / 2020 / Environment

With community partners, EIP will focus technical analysis and legal research into strengthening regulation of methane pollution from landfills, a gas that is 86 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide on a 20-year scale. The state’s largest municipal solid waste landfill, Quarantine Road Landfill, happens to be located on Hawkins Point in Baltimore City. It is the third largest emitter of methane in Maryland in 2018 and produces 500,000 tons of Greenhouse Gases annually. EIP will encourage waste reduction and diversion as well as alternative methods of waste disposal.

The Community Builders

$100,000 / 2020 / Health and Human Services

The Community Builders is a national nonprofit organization that develops and operates affordable housing supported by services designed to strengthen and sustain both the residents of the buildings and of the surrounding communities. This grant will support the construction of a health and wellness center at City View at McCulloh, a 350 unit apartment building that houses low-income seniors and non-elderly people with disabilities.   

Civic Works, Inc.

$100,000 / 2020 / Workforce Development

The Center for Sustainable Careers (CSC) has built a multi-tiered green career “pathway out of poverty” by training and placing Baltimore City residents in the infastructure remediation and residential energy-efficiency industries.  Across its programs, CSC has maintained an average job placement rate of 93%.  Since 2014, 81% of graduates have remained employed for at least one year.  Over the next year, with funding from the Abell Foundation, CSC will train 80 Baltimore City residents for entry-level positions as well as 24 incumbent workers. .  

City Life Community Builders

$30,000 / 2020 / Community Development

City Life Community builders is renovating and selling 53 market rate houses just south of the Henderson Hopkins School. Grant funds will be used to support down payment and closing cost assistance for police officers and others working in security staffing in the neighborhoods surrounding their Henderson Crossing redevelopment project.

CASH Campaign of Maryland

$120,000 / 2020 / Workforce Development

The Baltimore CASH Campaign—Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope—was launched in 2001 to increase access to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a powerful work incentive and poverty-alleviation tool, lifting more families out of poverty than any other federal aid program.  Now a program of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, Baltimore CASH plans to serve 7,500 Baltimore residents by operating 15 to 20 free tax preparation sites, continuing its efforts to build high volume sites that can provide quality tax preparation, and asset development services.

Header photo courtesy of Thread.