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The Greater Nashua Dental Connection has been providing access to dental care to vulnerable residents — from children to elders — for more than two decades. Read more.

The Greater Nashua Dental Connection has been providing access to dental care to vulnerable residents — from children to elders — for more than two decades. Read more.

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New Hampshire's nonprofit organizations help make New Hampshire a great place to live.
Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of New Hampshire citizens, the Foundation awards thousands of grants every year to organizations doing critical work in our communities, and improving quality of life for all. Together, we are doing great things.

What we fund

Through our competitive grant programs, we fund programs and operations of qualified nonprofits working in the areas of health and well-being, civic engagement, education, economic development, environmental protection and arts and culture.

We also make grants to nonprofit partners working in specific areas of strategic Foundation priorities – like fighting substance use disorders and increasing youth opportunity.

And we work closely with generous donors to connect them with funding opportunities that match their areas of interest in fulfilling community needs. Please create an organizational profile on GrantSource to help us connect your work with donor interest, and to have funding needs listed on Greater Giving, our online giving platform for donors.

Explore our grant opportunities for nonprofit organizations

  • Career Pathways Partnership Grants Program Please check back for 2022 application deadline

    The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire have launched the Career Pathways Partnership grants program to create career pathways for New Hampshire public school students — especially those furthest from opportunity — by supporting partnerships led by local chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations or school districts that work collaboratively with area businesses and educational institutions.

    Learn more

  • Community Grants Program - Express Grants Deadline: Extended to May 20, 2021

    This competitive grant program awards project support (for a set of activities conducted during a specified period of time) of $10,000 or less to nonprofit organizations working in New Hampshire and selected communities in Maine and Vermont.

    Learn more

  • Community Grants Program - Unrestricted Grants Deadline: August 4, 2021

    This competitive grants program awards unrestricted grants that support an organization’s general operations as a whole rather than a particular project or capacity-building effort. This program was formerly called ‘Operating Grants.’

    Learn more

  • Mary Gale Foundation Deadline: September 17, 2021

    The Mary Gale Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation that supports housing, health and other in-home services and programs for low-income women age 65 and older living in the Greater Manchester area.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Dash-Grants Program Deadline: Rolling

    The Dash–Grants Program supports projects in Coös County, NH and surrounding communities that focus on sustainable community and economic development.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Empower Coös Youth Grants Program Deadline: January 13, 2022

    The Empower Coos Youth Grants Program supports programs in Coos County, NH and Essex County, VT and surrounding communities in both states that focus on reducing carbon emissions; increasing extracurricular activities for youth; and strengthening community engagement. This grant program awards support of up to $10,000 to eligible organizations.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Local Grants Program Deadline: January 13, 2022 or July 14, 2022

    The Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund supports projects in Coös County, NH and bordering communities in the United States and Canada that focus on community revitalization. This grant program awards support of $20,000 or less to eligible organizations.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Large Grants Program Deadline: January 13, 2022

    The Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund supports projects in Coös County, NH and bordering communities in the United States and Canada that focus on community revitalization. This grant program awards support of $20,001 to $300,000 to eligible organizations.

    Learn more

  • New Hampshire Library Technology Grant Program Deadline: October 8, 2021

    The New Hampshire Library Technology Grant Program awards grants of up to $10,000 to community libraries to support online access, technology upgrades, distance learning and staff development.

    Learn more

  • Nonprofit Loan Program Deadline: Rolling

    The Nonprofit Loan Program is focused on strengthening nonprofits, helping them have greater impact in the community, through sound financial management and greater access to working capital.

    Learn more

  • Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund Deadline: December 6, 2021

    The fund supports restoration, protection, and enhancement of the river, wetlands, and shore lands within the Connecticut River watershed upstream of the confluence of the White River and the Connecticut River at White River Junction, VT and West Lebanon, NH.

    Learn more

  • Wellborn Ecology Fund Deadline: June 21, 2021

    The Wellborn Ecology Fund is dedicated to increasing environmental and ecological science knowledge in the Foundation’s Upper Valley Region.

    Learn more

Grants for teachers, artists and public officials

  • Caroline and Martin Gross Fellowship Deadline: February 11, 2022

    The Caroline and Martin Gross Fellowship honors individuals for their extraordinary work in public service.

    Learn more

  • Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Deadline: February 11, 2022

    Each year, the Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical awards a year-long leave of absence to an exceptional New Hampshire public school teacher.

    Learn more

  • David M. Brooks Music Fund Deadline: May 7, 2021

    The David M. Brooks Music Fund supports music education in New Hampshire’s public schools.

    Learn more

  • Louise Tillotson Teaching Fellowship Deadline: April 23, 2021

    The Louise Tillotson Teaching Fellowship program strives to raise public awareness about the value of excellence in education and to retain good public teachers in the New Hampshire’s North Country and in Essex County, VT.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Community Practitioners Network Please check back for 2022 application deadline

    The Community Practitioners Network is an 18-month program designed to advance the resiliency of Coös County and surrounding communities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine by cultivating the leadership and networking skills of 15 talented local residents.

    Learn more

  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Empower Coös Youth Grants Committee Member Please check back for 2022 application deadline

    The Empower Coös Youth Grants Program seeks area high-school students from Coös County and surrounding communities in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to decide how to award up to $50,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on reducing carbon emissions; increasing extracurricular activities; and strengthening community engagement.

    Learn more

  • Piscataqua Region Artist Advancement Grant Deadline: April 30, 2021

    The Artist Advancement Grant Program provides financial support to individual visual artists and craftspeople in the Piscataqua Region to promote their artistic growth.

    Learn more

Explore our interactive map to see where New Hampshire generosity is making a difference.

Search Foundation grantmaking by region, interest area, initiative and more.

Nonprofit Resources

Webinars and presentations

Grantee press kit

CEP Grantee Perception Survey

Final and interim grant reports

Fiscal sponsorship agreement form

Grant change request form

 

Guidance for tracking and reporting lobbying grants

New Hampshire Eligibility Checklist

Strategic Plans



Grants in Action

Kate Knox of Dover, NH, winner of the 2021 Piscataqua Region Artist Advancement Grant. (Photo by Tammy Byron.)

Kate Knox awarded 2021 Artist Advancement Grant

Dover artist wins grant that helps cultivate the Piscataqua Region’s arts community, boost artists’ careers and keep artists living and working in the area.

Annie Day, manager of Families In Transition Adult Emergency Shelter in Manchester. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Everyday superheroes showed up when their communities needed them most

It was April of 2020. Everyone who could was working from home, going to school from home, grocery shopping curbside and staying away from crowds. Annie Day decided to take a new job: She would manage the Families In Transition Adult Emergency Shelter.

Pictured (left to right): Lidia Yen, Maggie Fogarty, Anthony Harris and Grace Kindeke of the American Friends Service Committee. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Showing up on the side of justice

In an era of new complexities, tensions and awareness, the New Hampshire program of the American Friends Service Committee has been unwavering and expansive in its dedication to mission, working on a towering array of issues — from racial equity to immigrants’ rights to economic justice.

Bear-Paw Stewardship Coordinator Rue Teel (left) and Executive Director Katrina Amaral explore the Dearborn Forest in Raymond with Teel’s dog, Tilda. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Keeping open space open

As people took to local trails in record numbers during a global pandemic, they discovered that much of that open space had been conserved and access to it provided by small land trusts like Bear-Paw Regional Greenways.

Eileen O’Grady, a Report for America fellow and the education reporter at the Concord Monitor. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Local news matters

A conversation with Eileen O’Grady, a Report for America fellow and the education reporter at the Concord Monitor. A grant from the Charitable Foundation is helping to support her position.

350NH volunteers. (Courtesy photo.)

Local organizing, education, action to fight climate change

Nonprofit 350NH works to combat the climate crisis by promoting the use of clean and renewable energy sources and advocating to phase out polluting and non-renewable energy sources.

Devon, Morgan and Rawson Phillips embrace at Country Day School in Colebrook. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

This is who we are

Who we are is never more apparent than during times of crisis. The Charitable Foundation's 2020 annual report features 10 stories from a time of shared crisis that give us enduring hope.

Eric Schlapak, a Dover High School teacher, has been awarded the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Dover High School’s Eric Schlapak awarded Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical

Schlapak will help Career and Technical Education teachers connect the dots for students between math concepts and career skills. Math matters in diagnosing auto problems, adjusting recipes in a culinary class, welding, carpentry, reading meters in electrical work — even in cosmetology, where geometry helps sculpt hairstyles.

William Tuthill and his husband, Greg Anderson. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Supporting LGBTQ youth

Mentoring partnership between Big Brothers Big Sisters and Seacoast Outright gets help from the Respect for All Youth Fund.

Susan Griffin, second-grade teacher at Brown Elementary School in Berlin, NH. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

New Hampshire’s children deserve school-funding fairness

In New Hampshire, according to a recent American Institutes for Research report, “The highest poverty school districts have the lowest student outcomes. The negative relationship between poverty and outcomes is very strong.” The Charitable Foundation is supporting two nonprofit organizations that are addressing these issues: Reaching Higher New Hampshire and the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness project. Because all students in New Hampshire should have equal access to educational opportunity so they can thrive in school, graduate and grow into adults who are able to help sustain New Hampshire’s communities and economy.

Young entrepreneurs share stories

On February 9, Stay, Work, Play New Hampshire is offering the opportunity to hear from three young New Hampshire entrepreneurs about their experiences as people of color starting businesses in the Granite State. The event is part of Stay, Work Play’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion series, of which the Foundation is a proud sponsor.

Kristin Lizotte, a teacher at Kearsarge Regional Elementary School, was awarded the 2019 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Teacher Kristin Lizotte reflects on her McAuliffe Sabbatical year

Each year, the Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical awards a year-long leave of absence to an exceptional New Hampshire public school teacher. The sabbatical provides the teacher with the time, space, and funding to explore, through a self-designed project, new ideas and ways to enhance classroom teaching. Here, Kearsarge Elementary School teacher Kristin Lizotte, who was awarded the McAuliffe Sabbatical in 2019, reflects on her experience.


We're here to help

  • Wendy Cahill
  • Senior Community Grants Associate