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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 2021 application deadline after March 1, 2021

    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: May 7, 2021

    We will be accepting applications for project grants up to $10,000. Please check back on Monday, March 15 for more details about this year’s Express Grant program.

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  • Community Grants Program - Unrestricted Grants Please check back for 2021 application deadline after March 31, 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.’

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  • Mary Gale Foundation Please check back for 2021 application deadline after June 30, 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.

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  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Empower Coös Youth Grants Program Deadline: January 14, 2021

    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.

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  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Local Grants Program Deadline: January 14, 2021 or July 15, 2021

    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.

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  • Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund - Large Grants Program Deadline: January 14, 2021

    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.

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  • 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.

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  • Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund Please check back for 2021 application deadline

    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.

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Grants for teachers, artists and public officials

  • Caroline and Martin Gross Fellowship The Fellowship is suspended for 2021. Please check back for 2022 application deadline

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

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  • Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Deadline: February 12, 2021

    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.

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  • 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 Deadline: April 15, 2021

    The Empower Coös Youth Grants Program seeks area high-school students from Coös County and surrounding communities in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to help decide how to award up to $30,000 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

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.

Bobbie Bagley, director of the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

More community health workers being deployed in Nashua

New Hampshire’s COVID-19 Equity Response Team recommended deploying an army of COVID-19 response community health workers to help people of color access care, testing and other services and resources to improve health outcomes. A grant from the Foundation’s Community Crisis Action Fund, combined with federal CARES Act funding, is making it possible for the City of Nashua to hire four community health workers to serve communities of color disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Woman walking her dog on a snowy trail. (Photo courtesy of Trail Finder).

Trail Finder put trails — and local businesses — on the map

Trail Finder puts up-to-date, trail-manager-sourced information for multiple outdoor activities at users' fingertips, along with information about local businesses — from inns to bike shops to breweries. Grants from the Foundation's Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund are supporting the service.

Nonprofits helping educate about absentee voting

All New Hampshire voters will be allowed to vote absentee in next month’s general election — for the first time ever. A coalition of New Hampshire nonprofits is working to help ensure that people know how to vote safely and securely.

Photographer Carl Austin Hyatt of Portsmouth, NH, winner of the 2020 Artist Advancement Grant. (Photo by Tammy Byron.)

Carl Austin Hyatt Awarded 2020 Artist Advancement Grant

Portsmouth photographer receives grant that helps cultivate the Piscataqua Region’s arts community, boost artists’ careers and helps keep them living and working in the area.

Teacher Martha Sharp works with child at Easterseals Child Development Center in Manchester. (Photo by Cheryl Senter.)

Progress for the youngest among us

In recent years, the Charitable Foundation has made investments that helped push statewide policy change and funding, build coalitions and secure significant federal dollars to help improve outcomes for young children. Christina Lachance, who had been leading that work, has now taken the helm as director of the New Hampshire Council For Thriving Children.

Big Brothers Big Sisters. (Courtesy photo.)

Partnership focuses on training mentors to support LGBTQ youth

The Respect for All Youth Fund at the Charitable Foundation is supporting PRISM, a partnership between Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire and Seacoast Outright, to make sure that LGBTQ youth have supportive mentors in their lives.

Sarah Mattson Dustin, executive director of New Hampshire Legal Assistance (courtesy photo).

NH Legal Assistance sees increasing demand for services

The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic mean an increase in need for services from the nonprofit that represents people in civil cases. Unlike in criminal cases, litigants in civil court have no guarantee of counsel, even when their homes, economic stability or personal safety are on the line. That is where New Hampshire Legal Assistance comes in. A grant from the Foundation's Community Crisis Action Fund is helping meet the need.

Addressing food insecurity north of the Notches

The New Hampshire Food Bank has hired a North Country food systems coordinator, with help from a grant from the Foundation's Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, to work with local organizations, strengthen infrastructure, improve accessibility to fresh food and improve distribution in the region.

Family resource centers step up for vulnerable families

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it hit the lives of vulnerable families with an overwhelming tangle of complication and peril. Family resource centers around the state rose to the moment, coming to the aid of people who needed them.


We're here to help

  • Wendy Cahill
  • Senior Community Grants Associate

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37 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301-4005
603-225-6641
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