Nonprofits May Find Grant Opportunities in the New Stimulus Plan

The National Council of Nonprofits has begun publishing a series of Special Reports to help nonprofit organizations better understand the elements of the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and to quickly prepare for their critical role in our nation's economic recovery. The Alliance has developed a checklist to help you quickly identify areas of potential funding contained in the Act, both in broad stokes and in a more detailed programmatic list.

General areas of funding with potential opportunities include:

• Arts
• Education
• Youth services
• Environment
• Energy
• Housing and community development
• Health and human services
• Volunteer and national service
• Nonprofit assistance
• Technology access
• Workforce development

More specifically, the new law provides funds for:

• Arts organization assistance
• Child Care and Development Block Grants
• Community Development Block Grants
• Community Development Financial Institutions
• Community Service Employment for Older Americans
• Community Services Block Grants
• Economic development assistance
• Emergency food and shelter
• Emergency food assistance
• Energy assistance focused on weatherization and energy efficiency and conservation
• Environment and conservation through Public Lands Corps, Youth Conservation Corps, Student Conservation Association and other programs serving young adults
• Head Start and Early Head Start
• Health centers
• Health prevention and wellness
• Health technology
• HOME investment grants
• Homeless prevention and rapid re-housing
• Housing foreclosure assistance and redevelopment
• Job training, employment and reemployment services
• Native American Housing Block Grants
• Nonprofit capacity building
• School-based and youth programs, including Title I, special education and education for homeless children and youth
• Senior meals
• Service learning through National Service Trust
• Technology access for broadband services in undeserved areas
• Volunteer service through Americorps and VISTA

To read more about these specific funding streams, refer to the National Council's Special #1 at this site: http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/files/Special%20Report%201%20-%20Overview%20(Feb%2023%20FINAL).pdf

This report includes:

• Provisions of Potential Interest: detail on specific grants in program areas in the Act that could be of interest to a wide range of nonprofits. Each summary describes the nature of the program and shows the amounts appropriated;
• Appendix: summarizes the major appropriations and tax cuts in the 407-page Act.