Grants for Mentoring Programs 2026: OJJDP and Foundations

If you're the executive director, program manager or board chair of a community, school-based or faith-based mentoring program, this guide covers which federal mentoring money a local program can realistically reach, how foundation funding works, and how to find the funders in your state that already back mentoring.

Mentoring source review, Grantsights, October 29, 2026: Grantsights compared both FY 2026 OJJDP mentoring notices on Grants.gov (opens in a new tab), OJJDP's mentoring program page and youth.gov's mentoring overview, then checked them against mentoring grants named in 990-PF filings. Where official sources stop: OJJDP explains who can apply for its awards; it doesn't tell a 40-match local program where its next $25,000 comes from.

Why Mentoring Programs Need Steady Grant Money

According to youth.gov's mentoring overview (opens in a new tab), 8.5 million young people still lack supportive, sustained relationships with caring adults. Mentoring programs try to close that gap, and the work is labor-intensive. Volunteers mentor for free, but recruiting them, running background checks, training them, matching them and supporting each match all take paid staff time.

That makes mentoring a hard sell to funders who want to buy "things." The fix is to price the work in matches, which funders can picture:

OJJDP's FY 2026 Mentoring Grants

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention runs the Justice Department's youth mentoring grants. Its mentoring program page (opens in a new tab) links to a grantee map that shows both grantees and sub-grantees, which tells you something important: much of OJJDP's mentoring money reaches local programs through subawards.

According to Grants.gov (opens in a new tab), two FY 2026 notices were posted this fall under Assistance Listing 16.726:

The opioid-focused notice supports mentoring for youth who use or are dependent on substances, youth at risk of substance use, and youth with close family members experiencing substance use or dependency. It allows one-on-one, group, peer or hybrid mentoring. The multistate notice supports mentoring for youth at risk or high risk for delinquency, victimization and juvenile justice involvement.

The honest read for a local program: unless you're a statewide organization or a city or county government, you probably can't apply directly. That doesn't mean the money is out of reach. Find out which national or statewide organizations in your area apply, and ask whether they plan subawards to local programs. A county government applying under the opioid notice could also partner with your program as a service provider.

Which Foundations Fund Mentoring: What 990-PF Filings Show

Foundations are where most mentoring programs get their grants. Each private foundation must list its grants on IRS Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), according to IRS rules, including the recipient and a purpose line, so you can see which ones fund mentoring.

Mentoring falls under Grantsights' youth and children cause. The counts below cover the whole youth pool, which also includes camps, sports, scouts and after-school programs. They come from Grantsights analysis of 990-PF records pulled October 29, 2026:

Mentoring grants named in the filings

These tax year 2025 grants show the range of what foundations fund:

• The Jared and Carol Hills Foundation gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids, Iowa $200,000.
• The Wells Fargo Foundation gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta $150,000 for a stock market game pilot called Level Up.
• The Del E. Webb Foundation (opens in a new tab) gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona $100,000 to renovate a newly purchased youth mentoring center.
• The Lincoln Family Educational Foundation gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of Idaho $88,000 for scholarships.
• The Ginkgo Fund gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana $75,000 for its exempt work.
• The Protein Foundation gave Root Cellar in Lewiston, Maine $60,000 for food distribution and youth mentoring.
• The Salmon Foundation gave Everybody Wins Vermont $30,000 for its Power Lunch reading mentoring program.
• The Lincoln Financial Foundation gave Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire $25,000 through its education grants.

One organization in Maine shows a pattern worth copying: Root Cellar's grant paired mentoring with food distribution. Funders who care about hunger, literacy or college access will often pay for mentoring when it's tied to the outcome they already fund. The Everybody Wins grant came through a reading purpose, and the Lincoln Financial grants came through education.

Get the youth funder list for your state

Mentoring programs can search the Grantsights youth and children funder list, which names foundations that reported youth grants on their own 990-PF filings, organized by state, with funders that say they accept requests at the top. Recent recipients and purposes show you which funders already back mentoring, Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates or reading buddies near you. The state preview is free. The whole youth list costs $29 once and covers every state, the $99 plan adds every other cause list for a year, and Grantsights refunds either within 30 days.

How to Build a Mentoring Budget a Funder Can Read

A mentoring budget has 5 parts, and funders read them in roughly this order. Grantsights doesn't publish a standard cost per match, because it varies too much by model, region and staffing. Build your own from your books, line by line:

Divide the total by the number of active matches to get your own cost per match per year. Then build each request around it: a funder with a $5,000 median can sponsor a stated number of matches for a year, and you can report on exactly those matches.

Two budget habits help reviewers trust the number. First, show staff time as a ratio of matches per full-time match support specialist, so a reviewer can see you aren't stretching one person across too many matches. Second, split one-time costs, such as a new database or a mentor training curriculum, from the yearly cost of a match. Foundations that won't pay for ongoing staff will often pay for a one-time improvement.

Public Money Closer to Home

OJJDP's notices aren't the only public source, but the closer sources vary by place, so check rather than assume. Three places are worth a call:

1. Your school district. School-based mentoring programs sometimes run under a district contract or a partnership agreement that pays for a site coordinator. Ask the district's family engagement or student support office.
2. Your city or county youth services office. Local governments are named among eligible applicants for the FY 2026 opioid-focused OJJDP notice. A county that applies needs mentoring providers to deliver the work.
3. Your state's juvenile justice agency. Statewide organizations are also eligible for the opioid-focused notice. Ask which ones in your state are applying and whether they plan local subawards.

Each of these routes runs on relationships built before a notice appears. A program that has already shared its outcome data with the county youth office is the one the county calls when it needs a partner.

What OJJDP Doesn't Tell You About Funding a Local Mentoring Program

1. Subawards are the real door. OJJDP's own map shows sub-grantees. A local program with good data is an attractive subrecipient for a statewide or national applicant that needs local delivery partners.
2. Safety practices are a funding asset. Screening, background checks, training and match supervision are what funders want to see. Document them in writing, with numbers: how many applicants you screened, how many you declined, how often staff check in with each match.
3. Match length is your outcome. Report average match length and the share of matches lasting a year or more.
4. Pair mentoring with another outcome. Reading, college access, workforce readiness and substance use prevention each have their own funders. Mentoring tied to one of them gets a second pool of money.

Common Mistakes in Mentoring Grant Requests

• Applying to OJJDP as an ineligible local nonprofit. A common mistake is spending weeks on a federal application the program can't submit. Check the eligible applicant list on Grants.gov (opens in a new tab) first.
• Asking for "mentors." Volunteers are free. Funders pay for the staff, screening and support that keep matches safe and lasting. Ask for that.
• No waitlist data. The number of young people waiting for a mentor is one of the strongest needs statements a program has. Track it monthly.
• Underestimating staff time. Budgets that show one coordinator for 150 matches are a red flag to experienced reviewers. Show a realistic staff-to-match ratio.
• No federal registration. Any federal or federal pass-through award needs an active SAM registration. See how to register on SAM.gov.

A Mentoring Program Funding Calendar

Use Grantsights' how to write a grant letter of inquiry for short asks and how to read a 990-PF to check funders. The DOJ crime victim assistance guide covers other Justice Department programs, and the Grantsights grant database lists open federal programs.

Related Guides for Youth Programs

Mentoring programs share funders with after-school, youth development and literacy groups. See grants for after-school programs, grants for youth programs, grants for literacy programs and the roundup of best grants for youth development nonprofits.

• Grants For Scout Troops
• Grants For Therapeutic Riding Programs

FAQ: Common Questions

Does OJJDP have mentoring grants open in 2026? Yes. The FY 2026 Mentoring for Youth Impacted by Opioids notice offers awards up to $2,000,000 and closes November 16, 2026.

Can a small local mentoring program get OJJDP money? Rarely as a direct applicant. Look for subawards from national and statewide grantees.

What do foundations pay mentoring programs for? Matches, staff, scholarships and space, such as the Del E. Webb Foundation's $100,000 for a mentoring center in Southern Arizona.

How much does a mentoring match cost to fund? It depends on the model. Price a full year of one match, including screening, training and support.

How big is a typical foundation grant to a youth program? Grantsights analysis of 990-PF youth grants found medians of $5,000 to $10,000 in most states.

Sources

• Grants.gov: OJJDP FY 2026 Mentoring for Youth Impacted by Opioids and Other Substance Use (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: OJJDP FY 2026 Multistate Mentoring Programs (opens in a new tab)
• OJJDP: Mentoring (opens in a new tab)
• youth.gov: Mentoring (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)