We understand that financing intentional communities by grants can feel daunting for founders. We hope our free grants lists and experienced consultants can help. Unless otherwise noted, the lists on this page contain grants that individuals or groups can apply to without having non-profit status.
Partners for Financing Intentional Communities by Grants
Non-profit fiscal sponsors: These can act as important partners in grant-funding. You might find a local certified non-profit willing to receive a portion of funding as the administrator of your grant funds. If not, this link can point you to organizations that are ready to provide this service for aligned projects. The umbrella organization will expect some remuneration for the paperwork involved. Open Collective Foundation, for example, requires 5% of a grant but offers several additional services.
Partnership Grants: Team up with a certified religious institution, school, or local municipality to act as an umbrella organization under which you can apply for additional grants. The umbrella organization will expect to receive some of the funding for administrative costs.
Publicly-funded support: Adding residential slots for vulnerable populations could add more than just grant eligibility to your community. Ideas for service offerings eligible for grant funding can be found in the descriptions of intentional communities that provide care and a social safety net.
Grant writers: Our grant writing consultants may be able to help you identify grants you are eligible for and fine tune your applications.
Lists of Grants for Project Initiation and Operational Costs
Some foundations don’t send out requests for proposals. Instead, you can write a brief letter of inquiry to ask if they are open to a proposal. If you find one that seems promising but you don’t feel up to the task, our listed grant writers may be able to help.
Organizations with non-profit (NP) status are eligible for a greater number of grants. Where the lists note grant availability for “individuals,” this could include IC founders’ groups or businesses. The “individuals” designation is meant to indicate you don’t need to have non-profit status or be a government entity.
We’ve tried to not list the same grants in more than one list, so that grants that are local to a state or province will not also be found in the national grants. Likewise, if you are looking for affordable housing grants specifically for refugees, the grants for general affordable housing will not be included in that list.
Affordable Housing
- Grants for affordable housing projects (in U.S.)
- Grants for homeless families or at-risk-of-homelessness (in U.S.)
Ecological Sustainability and Food Security
- Grants for farm & ecological projects in BC (some require non-profit status)
- Grants for farm & ecological projects in Canada (some require non-profit status)
- Grants for farms (in U.S.)
- Grants to individuals for small agriculture projects (in U.S.)
- Grants to individuals for small agriculture projects (outside U.S.)
- Grants for ecological projects (in U.S.)
- Grants or scholarships for forest management (in U.S.)
- Grants for international agriculture (not U.S. & Canada)
- Grants for food security (in U.S.)
Potentially Vulnerable Populations
- Grants for elderly in the U.S.
- Grants for abused populations in the U.S.
- Grants for foster children in the U.S.
- Grants for refugees in the U.S.
- Grants for homeless populations in the U.S.
- Grants for addicted populations in the U.S.
- Grants for LGBTQ+ projects in the U.S.
Ethnic Minority Populations
- Grants for Indigenous American heritage in the U.S.
- Grants for Latin American heritage in the U.S.
- Grants for African American heritage in the U.S.
- Grants for Asian and India heritage in the U.S.
Arts & Culture
- Grants arts & culture Canada (some require non-profit status)
- Grants arts & culture U.S. (these do NOT require non-profit status)
General Grants
- Grants General International (some require non-profit status)
- Grants in Colorado relevant to human services and housing (some require non-profit status)
Further Reading
Hoeschele, W. (2018). The economics of abundance: A political economy of freedom, equity, and sustainability. https://www.routledge.com/The-Economics-of-Abundance-A-Political-Economy-of-Freedom-Equity-and/Hoeschele/p/book/9781138383371
Horowitz, B. (2021). How to co-purchase and thrive on a land share. https://issuu.com/cowichanvalleyvoice/docs/april_2021_issue_149_web
Phil. (2020). Co-buying property with friends: Learning to love the process. https://supernuclear.substack.com/p/co-buying-property-with-friends?s=r
See also our page on other financing options.