GrantStation International Insider | September 2025

Application deadline: September 30, 2025
Grant amount: One-off funds of up to £5,000 or funds of up to £3,000 a year for three years
Description: The Matrix Causes Fund, managed by Prism, offers grants to charities in the U.K. and worldwide. Funding focuses on promoting access to justice, equality of opportunity, and environmental sustainability. Priority is given to organizations supporting vulnerable populations such as prisoners, asylum seekers, those with mental health challenges, children with disabilities, and women in refuges. Applications are encouraged from groups directly addressing these urgent social and environmental needs.

Application deadline: September 30, 2025
Description: The King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award, created by Bahrain’s Ministry of Youth Affairs, honors youth contributions toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Youth Action Category recognizes individuals and youth-led or youth-focused entities, awarding up to five $20,000 prizes across the themes of People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace, and Partnership. The Youth Enablers Category is open to governments, private sector, NGOs, and media organizations that support youth through institutional, financial, or technical initiatives, with NGOs eligible for a $25,000 prize. Together, these awards encourage global youth engagement and institutional support to drive sustainable development.

Application deadline: Focus Grant and Frontier Grant inquiries: none; Miller/Packan Film Fund: November 15, 2025
Description: The Rogovy Foundation funds people and nonprofits dedicated to fostering a more enlightened and harmonious planet. Its Focus Grant addresses urgent issues like investigative journalism and humanitarian aid through an Emergency Response for Ukraine, with awards up to $25,000. The Frontier Grant provides seed capital for early-stage projects in education, civics, and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the Miller/Packan Film Fund supports feature-length documentaries on social issues, offering grants for development, production, and post-production stages.

Application deadline: General RFP pre-proposals December 1, 2025
Average grant: $160,000
Description: The Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) supports scientific research critical to advancing the solid waste management industry. Open to U.S. and non-U.S. institutions, the Foundation funds projects that drive sustainability, improve efficiency, and expand knowledge in waste management. Current research priorities include climate change impacts and greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of emerging contaminants, and advancing recycling and circular economy practices. Through these focus areas, EREF aims to provide practical solutions and innovative strategies that strengthen environmental stewardship across the global waste sector.

Application deadlines: September 19, 2025 and October 31, 2025
Geographic scope: Primarily Norway, though limited support may be available globally
Description: The Fritt Ord Foundation supports freedom of expression, public debate, and cultural development, primarily within Norway or projects with strong Norwegian ties. Its funding spans areas such as non-fiction literature, journalism, documentary film and photography, libraries, and arts and culture. Alongside regular grants, the foundation issues targeted calls for proposals, scholarships, and prizes promoting media and free expression. While international support is limited, priority is given to global organizations that defend press freedom and independent journalism.

Application deadline: November 30, 2025
Description: The Toshiba International Foundation is dedicated to enhancing international understanding of Japan. It funds projects that highlight Japan’s culture, society, and global role. Support is provided across four key areas: symposia and seminars, cultural programs, research and studies, and training for future experts. Through these initiatives, the Foundation fosters deeper global connections and appreciation of Japan.

Application deadline: October 31, 2025
Geographic scope: Africa
Grant amount: Conservation Awards up to £3,000; Expedition Awards up to £5,000
Description: The African Bird Club (ABC) provides vital funding for ornithological conservation through its two main grant programs. Conservation Awards back a range of initiatives including bird surveys and monitoring, educational projects, training courses, the creation of local-language bird guides, support for grassroots bird clubs, and awareness campaigns on pressing conservation issues. Expedition Awards focus on conservation projects with a strong emphasis on birds that typically involve international travel to conduct fieldwork. Together, these awards empower both local and international efforts to protect Africa’s avian biodiversity while fostering education and community engagement.

Application deadline: October 31, 2025
Geographic scope: Rainforests in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
Description: The Rainforest Fund supports initiatives that defend the civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights of Indigenous and tribal peoples. A core focus is safeguarding land rights and preventing harm from resource exploitation. The Fund backs projects in community development, natural resource management, institutional strengthening, legal defense, public awareness, and policy engagement. Additionally, it emphasizes climate change mitigation to ensure Indigenous and tribal communities can maintain sustainable, healthy livelihoods.

A recent Executive Order makes substantial changes to the development, decision-making, and disbursement of discretionary grants at the federal level. This article summarizes some of the most salient details for nonprofit organizations.

Some people learn best in an in-person environment. The GrantStation database (Members only) offers a search term for conferences, seminars, and workshops. If you'd like to get support to attend one of these types of events, or to host your own, this search term can help you find interested funders.

Webinar date: September 11, 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: Custom AI tools such as GPTs (from ChatGPT) and GEMS (from Gemini) can transform how you manage your workload. Well-developed tools can help in a wide variety of domains—from writing grants and donor communications to analyzing data. During this practical workshop, Alice Ruhnke and David Gates, will show you how to create your own AI “assistants” that reflect your organization’s voice, goals, and structure.

Webinar date: September 16, 2025, 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: If your organization has a national or regional orientation, you know the private grants landscape is increasingly competitive. Your foundation prospects accept only a small percentage of new applicants. In this session, Susan Schaefer of Resource Partners will help you navigate the unique obstacles and opportunities you face as a national or multi-state nonprofit when securing major foundation and corporate grants.

Webinar date: September 17, 2025, 2:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: The nonprofit and philanthropic sector is full of amazing people trying to do good work. At the same time, we’re trapped in systems that sometimes make it nearly impossible. In this candid conversation, Vu Le of NonprofitAF joins Alice Ruhnke of GrantStation to explore the key themes of his latest book, challenging long-standing philosophies and practices that may be holding the sector back. Expect Vu’s trademark sense of humor, sharp analysis, and refreshing honesty.

We received over 245 excellent entries in this year’s Winning Grant Proposal Competition. They reflected grant proposals with compelling narratives, succinct and engaging executive summaries, strong and workable plans, and well-defined budgets. We are appreciative of the work and efforts of each entrant.

A complete list of winners and many of the prize-winning grant proposals are available on the GrantStation website.

Congratulations to Grand Prize Winner Julia Mascioli at Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop!

GrantStation provides comprehensive tools for every step of your grantseeking journey. Membership gives you access to diverse grant opportunities, detailed funder & grant profiles, reliable and up-to-date data, and affordable professional-grade tools.

Two days only, September 16 & 17, at TechSoup.

GrantStation shares database profiles of local, national, Canadian, and international grantmakers with upcoming deadlines each week. Information on featured funders is available on the GrantStation homepage.