Funding for Community Projects 2026: 317 Funders Gave

Community project source review, Grantsights, November 6, 2026: Grantsights checked HUD's CDBG program page (opens in a new tab), the eligible activities rule at 24 CFR 570.201 (opens in a new tab), the USDA Community Facilities grant rules at 7 CFR 3570.61 (opens in a new tab) and 7 CFR 3570.63 (opens in a new tab), the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town page (opens in a new tab) and Grants for Arts Projects page (opens in a new tab), and Maine's Creative Communities Grant listing (opens in a new tab) against the 1,048 filed grants. Where official sources stop: none of them says which local funder will pay for your corner of town or what your project should cost, so those answers come from past giving and quotes you collect.

Funding for Community Projects: What 990-PF Filings Show

1,048 grants from 317 foundations named community projects, betterment, beautification, neighborhood improvement or placemaking in the November 5, 2026 pull, worth $52,601,912 in all. According to IRS guidance on Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), private foundations use that return to report their charitable distributions, so each gift traces to a public filing.

The total hides how small most of these gifts are. The median was $5,000, a quarter of grants were $1,500 or less, and a quarter were $25,000 or more. 557 of the 1,048, just over half, came in at $5,000 or under. The two largest matches, $5,000,000 and $3,021,396, weren't neighborhood projects at all: one paid for a museum expansion and the other moved money between two related family foundations. Big gifts like those sit inside the total, which is one more reason to plan around the median.

Funders cluster where foundations are thick. 38 states had 3 or more matched foundations. New York led with 42, then California with 35, Texas with 24, Florida with 20, Iowa with 19, Ohio with 18 and Pennsylvania with 17. Iowa's count is high for its size, and its largest matched gifts, mostly from Des Moines-area family foundations, are filed under the label "community betterment."

The Regranting Route: Why Local Money Comes Through Intermediaries

4 of the 40 hand-checked recipients were service clubs or community funds that regrant, and the biggest matched gifts show the same pattern: national and regional donors hand a pool to a local intermediary, and that intermediary makes the small grants a neighborhood group can actually win.

• The Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation gave the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines $1,400,000 in 2024 for its New Horizons Fund community betterment project grants. The Kyle J. & Sharon Krause Family Foundation gave the same community foundation $609,851 and $340,467 in 2024 for community betterment.
• The Rees-Jones Foundation gave The Dallas Foundation $400,000 in 2023 and $150,000 in 2024 for the Rees-Jones fund for community projects.
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gave The Chicago Community Foundation $500,000 in 2024 to set up a regranting program for creative placemaking and placekeeping.
• The Walton Family Foundation gave Project for Public Spaces $200,000 in 2023 for community placemaking grants in Northwest Arkansas and $598,995 in 2024 for a second round of them.
• The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation gave Genesee County Habitat for Humanity in Flint $200,000 in 2024 to support resident-led neighborhood improvement projects.

Grantsights' view: if your city has a community foundation, start there, not with a national name. Its small grant program is often funded by the same family foundations that wouldn't take your letter directly. The Council on Foundations' Community Foundation Locator (opens in a new tab) lets you search a map for community foundations near you and filter to accredited ones. Then read the community foundation's own grants page for deadlines, the area it serves and whether it funds groups without 501(c)(3) status.

6 Kinds of Community Projects Foundations Paid For

These 6 project types come from the November 5, 2026 pull. Grantsights read each recipient and filed purpose; the general support grants filed under a stock "community projects" label are left out.

1. Town beautification. The Gerry Foundation gave the Town of Liberty, New York, $150,000 in 2023 and the Village of Monticello $100,000 that year for community beautification projects. The Jennie Thompson Foundation gave the City of Ligonier, Indiana, $64,325 in 2023 and $66,000 in 2025 for a city beautification project.
2. A community park. The Hawks Foundation gave the Downtown Riverfront Trust in Omaha $2,000,000 in 2024 for a community park project. At a smaller scale, the Martin Foundation gave the Trust for Public Land $100,000 in 2025 for the Canal Boatyard Community Park project in San Rafael, California.
3. Rural placemaking. The C.K. Blandin Foundation made a run of "leadership boost" grants for creative placemaking in rural Minnesota in 2023, including $125,000 each to the Granite Area Arts Council, the Tower-Soudan Historical Society and the Wells Historical Society, and $100,000 to the City of Park Rapids. It also gave the City of Chisholm $100,000 that year for downtown revitalization.
4. A mural. The Lyndhurst Foundation gave the Athens Area Council for the Arts in Tennessee $70,000 in 2024 for a placemaking mural, and grants for public art programs covers more mural funders. A charitable fund named for Catherine Vincent Deardorf gave the Harcourt Public Library in Iowa $13,032 in 2024 for its collection and a town beautification mural.
5. Congregations as neighbors. The Jessie Ball duPont Religious Charitable Fund filed many "placemaking" grants in 2023 and 2024, including $95,000 each to the Church of the Good Shepherd and St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville in 2023 and $366,530 to the City of Jacksonville in 2024.
6. A downtown or civic building. The Peter Kiewit Foundation gave the City of Columbus, Nebraska, $500,000 in 2024 for capital costs of its Columbus Community Building project. The William Stamps Farish Fund gave the Blue Grass Community Foundation $100,000 in 2023 for the City of Versailles downtown revitalization project in Kentucky. Downtown groups should also compare grants for Main Street programs.

Small beautification groups show up too, mostly with repeat local donors. Hampton Bays Beautification Association in New York drew 5 grants from 3 foundations worth $30,080, and Bronxville Beautification Council drew 7 small grants from 3 foundations worth $3,700. One organization in Montana, the Fort Benton Community Improvement Association, drew 9 grants from 5 foundations worth $88,500, the most funders of any matched recipient. For a volunteer group, a handful of loyal local funders is the realistic goal.

Service Clubs and Small Local Funders

Service club gifts in the filings were small and steady, from a few hundred dollars to about $10,000. The Robers Foundation gave the Waterford Lions Club in Wisconsin $9,200 in 2024 and $9,000 in 2025 for community betterment. The Clack Foundation gave the Rhinelander Kiwanis Foundation $10,000 in 2025 to support local youth and community work, and the Murray Rotary Club Foundation gave the Rotary Multicultural Club of Utah $9,400 in 2025 for community projects. The Kaye B. Smith Foundation gave the Chester Lions Club in Georgia $500 to $550 a year from 2023 to 2025 for community projects.

Read that two ways. Clubs get money for local projects, and clubs give it. A Rotary, Lions or Kiwanis club in your town may co-sponsor a park bench program, a playground or a cleanup, lend volunteers and add a few thousand dollars, though nothing in the filings promises any club will fund a given project. Ask a member to bring your project to a meeting rather than mailing a letter.

Local bank and utility foundations belong on the same list. Commerce Bancshares Foundation gave the Community Foundation of Central Missouri $15,000 in 2024 for a highway interchange beautification project fund, and Wells Fargo Foundation gave Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation in San Diego $60,000 in 2025 for beautification at its affordable housing sites.

Federal, State and Corporate Programs for Community Projects

Government money for community projects is real, from CDBG street and park work to USDA grants covering up to 75% of a rural facility, but a neighborhood group almost never applies to the agency itself. Here's what each program's own page or rule says, checked November 6, 2026.

CDBG through your city or county. According to HUD's CDBG page (opens in a new tab), entitlement grantees are principal cities of metropolitan areas, other metro cities of at least 50,000 people and qualified urban counties of at least 200,000, while states award CDBG money to smaller local governments. Eligible activities include building public facilities and improvements such as streets and neighborhood centers, and each activity must meet a national objective: benefit low- and moderate-income people, prevent or eliminate slums or blight, or meet an urgent need. The rule at 24 CFR 570.201(c) (opens in a new tab) lets public facility work be carried out by the recipient or by public or private nonprofit entities, and says it may include decorative pavements, railings, sculptures, pools of water and fountains, and other works of art. That's the federal basis for a mural or plaza feature inside a funded street or park project.

USDA Community Facilities in rural areas. According to USDA rules at 7 CFR 3570.61 (opens in a new tab), eligible applicants are public bodies, nonprofits with strong ties to the local rural community, and federally recognized tribes in rural areas, and the facility must be an essential community facility serving a rural area. 7 CFR 3570.63 (opens in a new tab) caps a grant at 75% of the cost to develop the facility, scales the grant share by population and income, and bars paying initial operating expenses. The 75% share applies when the community has 5,000 people or fewer and meets the income test. USDA Community Facilities grants walks through the rest.

NEA Our Town for creative placemaking. According to NEA guidance on its Our Town page (opens in a new tab), Our Town supports creative placemaking projects that tie arts, culture and design to local economic, physical and other outcomes, and projects must be place-specific. You now apply by picking the Design & Our Town discipline in Grants for Arts Projects. The Grants for Arts Projects page (opens in a new tab) lists 501(c)(3) nonprofits, units of state or local government and federally recognized tribes as eligible, requires at least 5 years of arts programming and a cost share, and lets most applicants request $10,000 to $100,000. As of November 6, 2026, that page lists only the February 12 and July 9, 2026 Grants.gov deadlines, both past, so check it for the next cycle. The FY2027 Design and Our Town instructions strongly encourage, but don't require, partnerships between nonprofits and local government.

State arts council example: Maine. According to Maine's Creative Communities Grant listing (opens in a new tab), the Maine Arts Commission program funds arts-based placemaking projects with a maximum award of $7,000 and a 1-to-1 cash or in-kind match. 501(c)(3) organizations, K-12 schools, municipalities and tribal entities in Maine may apply, and non-501(c)(3) groups can't apply through a fiscal sponsor. The 2026 round ran February 25 to March 30, 2026, and the listing says future rounds are anticipated. Your own state's arts and humanities councils may run something similar; read their current pages.

AARP Community Challenge. As of November 6, 2026, the program's page (opens in a new tab) says the 2027 Community Challenge is coming in January. AARP describes it as an annual quick-action grant program for local projects that make communities more livable for people of all ages, with a focus on adults 50 and older, and says it awarded $8.3 million to 750 projects in 2026. Check its FAQ for who can apply before you plan around it.

T-Mobile Hometown Grants. As of November 6, 2026, T-Mobile's Hometown Grants page (opens in a new tab) says the program is entering its final phase, with final grants announced June 26. The page describes a 5-year commitment that began in April 2021, grants of up to $50,000 for shovel-ready projects in towns under 50,000 people, and eligibility for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) nonprofits and local government entities. Don't build a 2027 plan around it.

What HUD's CDBG Pages Don't Tell You About Neighborhood Projects

The HUD page and the rule explain what CDBG can buy, but they leave out 5 things a volunteer group needs to know.

1. You apply to your city, not to HUD. Entitlement cities, urban counties and states hold the money. Call your community development office and ask how and when it takes project requests.
2. The national objective decides fit. A park improvement in a low- and moderate-income area has a clear path; a planter program in a high-income district usually doesn't. Ask the city which of your project's blocks qualify before you design it.
3. Federal requirements come with the money. CDBG carries rules a private grant doesn't, and meeting them adds time. Small groups underestimate how long a federally funded bench takes to install, so ask the city which requirements apply before you promise a date.
4. Art rides along with a facility. The rule's list of decorative features sits inside public facilities work, so a mural pitched as part of a street, park or plaza project fits better than a stand-alone painting.
5. Private money is simpler for small jobs. For a $5,000 project, a community foundation or a local family foundation is usually the easier route. Save CDBG for the larger, physical work your city already plans.

What a One-Page Community Project Budget Looks Like

The median grant was $5,000 and a quarter were $1,500 or less, so most community project budgets should fit on one page. The next table is illustrative, not data: it shows a small pocket-park cleanup and bench project with a mix of cash, donated goods and volunteer time.

Three habits make this budget work. Get the city's permission in writing before you apply, since funders want to know the site is real. Show who maintains the benches and plants after the ribbon cutting. And list every in-kind donation, because many local funders like seeing a project the neighborhood is already paying for in time.

Why the Community List for Community Projects

614 of the 1,048 matched grants carried no cause tag, so there's no community-project funder list on its own. Among tagged grants, community had the most: 117 grants from 47 foundations, worth $5,634,675, ahead of human services (75 grants) and arts (67 grants). Civic, neighborhood and beautification gifts that carry a tag mostly land under community, so that's the list Grantsights points community project groups to. The free preview on the Grantsights community funder list shows community funders in your state broadly, not funders picked for your project.

These rows count all community giving in each state, from Grantsights analysis of 990-PF filings pulled October 29, 2026, so none of it is limited to projects. They're the 6 states with the most matched community project funders. Statewide community medians of $1,550 to $5,000 match what a first ask to a local funder should look like. The community funder list covers every state, and if it doesn't help your project, Grantsights refunds it within 30 days.

Common Mistakes in Community Project Grant Requests

These 6 mistakes trip up requests near the $5,000 median.

• Writing to a national foundation first. The biggest names in the pull gave through regranting funds. Find the local program they back instead.
• Starting before the site is secured. A red flag for any funder is a park or mural project with no permission from the property owner or city.
• Mistaking a stock label for an open door. 15 of the 40 hand-checked recipients got general support filed under a stock "community projects" or "betterment" label. A funder that writes that label isn't necessarily taking neighborhood requests.
• Forgetting upkeep. Plants die and murals fade. Say who maintains the project for 3 years.
• Asking one funder for everything. The small groups in the pull drew several local donors each. Split a larger project into pieces that different funders can own.
• Skipping the tax status check. If your group isn't a 501(c)(3), line up a fiscal sponsor before you apply. What is a fiscal sponsor covers how that works, and grants for grassroots organizations covers funders that back informal groups.

Related Guides for Community Projects

The $52,601,912 in this pull spreads across many kinds of projects, and most have their own guide. Neighborhood associations sorting out tax status should start with grants for neighborhood associations. Green space is covered in grants for community gardens and grants for tree planting programs, and play spaces in grants for playgrounds. A garden club setting up a teaching hive should look at grants for beekeeping associations, and a group whose project is a cooking class or a produce stand will find better matches in grants for nutrition programs.

Towns and cities can read grants for municipalities. For a step-by-step search method, see how to find grants for your nonprofit, and search federal and state notices in the Grantsights grant database.

FAQ: Common Questions

Where does funding for community projects come from? Mostly local: community foundations, United Ways, service clubs and local family, bank and utility foundations.

How big is a typical community project grant? The median was $5,000, and 557 of the 1,048 grants were $5,000 or less.

Can a neighborhood group without 501(c)(3) status get a community project grant? Sometimes, through a fiscal sponsor, a community foundation or the city; check each program's rules.

Is there federal money for community projects? Yes, mostly through your city or county via CDBG, or USDA Community Facilities in rural areas.

Is the AARP Community Challenge open? Not as of November 6, 2026; AARP says the 2027 round is coming in January.

Does this guide cover community project grants in the UK, Ireland or Canada? No. It covers U.S. funders and programs only.

Sources

These sources, checked November 6, 2026, back the federal, state, corporate and filing claims above.

• HUD: Community Development Block Grant program (opens in a new tab)
• eCFR: 24 CFR 570.201, basic eligible activities (opens in a new tab)
• eCFR: 7 CFR 3570.61, eligibility for Community Facilities grant assistance (opens in a new tab)
• eCFR: 7 CFR 3570.63, Community Facilities grant limitations (opens in a new tab)
• National Endowment for the Arts: Our Town (opens in a new tab)
• National Endowment for the Arts: Grants for Arts Projects (opens in a new tab), with its FY2027 Design and Our Town application instructions
• Maine Office of Community Affairs: Creative Communities Grant listing (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
• AARP Community Challenge (opens in a new tab)
• T-Mobile Hometown Grants (opens in a new tab)
• Council on Foundations: Community Foundation Locator (opens in a new tab)
• Grantsights pull of 990-PF grant records, November 5, 2026, and community statewide pull, October 29, 2026