Grants for Mosques 2026: Security, Schools, Buildings

Mosque source review, Grantsights, November 1, 2026: Grantsights checked FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant Program page (opens in a new tab), its NSGP application process page (opens in a new tab), IRS Publication 1828 (opens in a new tab) and the text of 26 U.S.C. 501 (opens in a new tab) against 990-PF filings that name mosques. Where official sources stop: none of them tells a mosque how to keep paying for a security guard, a school principal or a food pantry coordinator once a one-time grant ends.

How Grants for Mosques Break Down by Need

Of the 1,192 grants in the November 1, 2026 pull, 785 were $5,000 or less, so most foundation money reaches a mosque as a small, general gift. Funders draw a line between a mosque's prayer and religious teaching and the services it offers the neighborhood. This table sums up where each kind of need usually finds money.

Give every program its own budget page before you ask for money. A health foundation paying for a food pantry wants to see what the pantry costs: food, a coordinator's hours, a freezer, a share of the utilities. It doesn't want to see the cost of Friday prayer. If the pantry is open to anyone in the neighborhood, describe it as a public service run by a congregation; the grants for food pantries guide covers the funders that pay for that work.

Who Funds Mosques: What 990-PF Filings Show

Grantsights analysis of 990-PF filings pulled November 1, 2026 found 339 foundations that made 1,192 grants to named mosques and Islamic centers, totaling $25,987,390. According to the IRS page about Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), private foundations use that return to report charitable distributions and activities, so each gift below can be traced to a public filing. The 6 largest grants add up to about $10.9 million, or roughly 42% of the total, which is why the $3,000 median is the better guide for a typical mosque.

The pattern is plain in these rows. Most big gifts come from a Muslim family foundation to a mosque in its own city, often for a building or a school. For example, the Carbondale Muslim Center in Illinois received $2,917,958 in 2025 and $359,000 in 2024 from the Ahmad Family Charitable Foundation for a building addition and remodeling, plus $38,000 in 2023 for help to individuals. A few of these funders call themselves a waqf, the Islamic term for a charitable endowment, such as the Riverside Waqf in California, which gave the Islamic Center of Riverside $21,370 in 2025 to improve Islamic education.

Where the funders are

States follow the recipient's address. Twenty-eight states were home to 3 or more of these funders in the November 1, 2026 pull.

Michigan stands out: 61 funders but mostly modest checks. The Shakir Charitable Trust, for instance, gave $1,000 to $2,500 a year to several Michigan centers for daily operations, and the Kronlund Foundation Charitable Trust gave the Islamic Center of Detroit $3,500 to $5,000 a year for general operating costs. That's the shape most mosques should expect: steady small gifts from a few local foundations, renewed each year.

Health and Community Foundations That Paid for Mosque Programs

When a mosque gets a large gift from a foundation outside the Muslim community, the filings almost always name a program, not the mosque itself. According to the November 1, 2026 pull, 2 gifts from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to the Islamic Center of Rochester in New York totaled $464,365: $264,365 in 2023 for food, shelter and health awareness programs for the Rochester area, and $200,000 in 2024 to meet the basic needs of refugees and people coming home from incarceration.

Other examples from the same pull:

• Capacity building. The Colorado Health Foundation gave the Downtown Denver Islamic Center $200,000 in 2024 for capacity building, after $35,000 in 2023.
• Operating support from a regional funder. The Barr Foundation gave the Islamic Society of Boston $50,000 in 2023 for general operating support.
• Community engagement. The Gates Foundation gave the Muslim Association of Puget Sound $75,000 in 2023 and $25,000 in 2024 for community engagement grantmaking.
• Schools. Lilly Endowment gave the Indianapolis Muslim Community Association $50,000 in 2024 through a Marion County K-12 education effort.
• Food for children. The Andersons Foundation gave the Foundation of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo $5,000 in 2023 for weekend food bags.
• A small-town pantry. One organization in Maine, the Omar Bin Al Khattab Masjid, received $5,000 from the Sam L. Cohen Foundation in 2023 for a community food pantry.
• A bank's foundation. The ION Bank Foundation gave the Bridgeport Islamic Community Center in Connecticut $2,500 in 2023 and $2,000 in 2025 for its food pantry, and $2,000 in 2024 for a transit assistance program.

Grantsights' view: these are the gifts a mosque can most easily copy. A community or health foundation won't fund a prayer hall, but many will fund a pantry, a refugee program or a health fair run out of one, if the program is open to everyone and reports results. Mosques that resettle newcomers share funders with the groups in grants for refugee resettlement.

FEMA Security Grants for Houses of Worship: $300 Million in FY2026

According to FEMA's NSGP page, the program pays for target hardening and other physical security improvements at nonprofits at high risk of terrorist attack, and its resources mention places of worship by name. FEMA's September 28, 2026 award announcement (opens in a new tab) says the $300 million went to more than 1,600 nonprofits, and that the majority of the funding will go to houses of worship. The same release lists cameras, alarm systems, gates, lighting, access-control tools and staff training among the upgrades.

FEMA's page, checked November 1, 2026, shows the FY2026 awards and no FY2027 notice yet. The next round depends on the FY2027 appropriation.

Limits per mosque

FEMA's FY2026 changes summary (opens in a new tab), dated June 2026, sets these limits:

• Each Investment Justification can ask for up to $200,000 per site (a location, physical site or address).
• A nonprofit can apply for up to 3 sites in each stream, Urban Area and State, for at most $600,000 per organization in a state or territory.
• In states with no Urban Area, a nonprofit can file no more than 3 applications.
• Nonprofits that have never received NSGP money get 15 points added to their project score.

Those first-time points matter for a mosque that has never applied. They don't guarantee an award, since your state and FEMA still score every request, but they're a good reason to apply with the project you have instead of waiting for a bigger one.

How a mosque applies

According to FEMA's application process page, the State Administrative Agency (SAA) is the primary applicant, nonprofits apply to it as subapplicants, and the SAA sets its own deadline, which comes before the federal one. FEMA's one-page NSGP application checklist (opens in a new tab) lists the steps: find your SAA by your building's location, check whether you're in a FEMA-designated Urban Area, confirm the state's due date, gather what the state requires, do a vulnerability assessment of the site and complete the FEMA Investment Justification. FEMA also posts the same checklist in Arabic (opens in a new tab), which helps when board members read Arabic more easily than English.

The checklist notes that a vulnerability assessment can be done at any time of year, whether or not an application period is open. Do it now. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) runs a houses of worship security page (opens in a new tab) with a self-assessment tool and information on its Protective Security Advisors. Grantsights' church security grants guide walks through the same program step by step, and nearly all of it applies to a mosque.

Tax Status: IRS Publication 1828 Names Mosques

According to IRS Publication 1828 (revised August 2015), the IRS uses the word church "in its generic sense as a place of worship," and it names mosques and synagogues as examples. The same publication says churches that meet the requirements of section 501(c)(3) are automatically treated as tax exempt and don't have to apply for recognition, and it lists churches among the organizations not required to file Form 990, 990-EZ or 990-N.

That has 3 practical effects for a mosque:

1. Funders can't look you up as easily. A mosque that doesn't file a 990 won't show up in public charity data the way most nonprofits do, so expect foundations to ask for your bylaws, a board list and a budget.
2. Some funders still want a letter. Publication 1828 says many churches seek IRS recognition anyway because it reassures leaders, members and donors. A mosque that plans to apply to many foundations may save time by getting a determination letter.
3. A separate school or relief group may not count as a church. Publication 1828 distinguishes churches from other religious organizations. An Islamic school or relief agency set up as its own nonprofit may have to file returns, so check its status separately.

The campaign rule is the other line to respect. The text of 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) requires that an exempt organization "does not participate in, or intervene in" any political campaign for or against a candidate for public office. Voter registration or a candidate forum funded by a grant has to stay nonpartisan, and many foundations repeat that condition in their grant agreements.

Weekend Schools, Full-Time Schools and Youth Programs

Education is where mosques see the most program money from family foundations. According to the November 1, 2026 pull, the Jawad Omair Yasin Foundation gave the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City $520,000 in 2023 and $200,000 in 2024 toward its Mercy School complex. In Texas, the Noor Foundation gave the Islamic Society of Greater Houston $50,000 in 2023 for Everest Academy, and the Mohammady Foundation gave the Islamic Institute of Orange County in California $220,000 in 2023 and $141,000 in 2024 for education.

Smaller programs get smaller, steadier gifts:

• The Al-Sawwaf Family Foundation gave the Islamic Center of Union County in New Jersey $7,000 in 2023, $2,000 in 2024 and $7,000 in 2025 for an after-school educational program.
• The Mohammad Suleman Family Foundation gave the Jefferson Muslim Association in Louisiana between $25,000 and $29,200 a year from 2022 to 2024 for work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs.
• The Shakir Charitable Trust gave the Michigan Islamic Institute $1,000 in 2023 for K-12 education.

A weekend Quran or Arabic school is closer to a heritage language school than to a private academy, and the grants for heritage language schools guide explains which funders back that kind of part-time program. A full-time Islamic school competes for the same scholarship and building money as other religious day schools; see grants for private schools. Tutoring and homework help open to neighborhood kids fits the funders in grants for after-school programs.

Building and Expansion Projects: 4 Ways Mosques Pay

Buildings drive the biggest numbers in the pull. Of the 8 largest grants in the table above, 5 were plainly tied to a building, a community center or a school complex. Here's how mosques usually put a building project together:

1. Member pledges and a lead family. Most building campaigns rest on members' pledges over several years. In the filings, the lead gift often comes from a family foundation: the Khaki Foundation gave the Ithna-Asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest in Washington $856,154 in 2023 and $528,064 in 2024 to set up community centers.
2. Several family foundations in one city. In Houston, the Albaba School Foundation gave the Islamic Society of Greater Houston $220,000 in 2023 and $245,000 in 2024, and Global Charitable Foundation gave it $177,000 in 2024 toward a construction fund for a masjid.
3. Specific equipment. One organization in Arizona, Muhammad Mosque in Phoenix, received $50,000 from the Joshua Foundation in 2023 to buy new air conditioning units. A narrow, priced request is easier for a funder to say yes to than "the building fund."
4. Program space framed as a program need. A commercial kitchen for a meal program, a clinic room or a classroom wing for a school open to the neighborhood can draw community funders who won't pay for a prayer hall. The grants for community centers guide covers those funders.

If you're replacing doors or adding lighting during a renovation, line up the NSGP request so the security grant pays for the security items and members pay for the rest. Keep the 2 budgets separate, since state reviewers check that every requested item ties to the vulnerability assessment.

Funder Lists: Why Grantsights Doesn't Sell a Mosque List

Grantsights doesn't sell a mosque funder list, and its church funder list isn't the right tool either. That list is built from gifts carrying a faith tag, and in the November 1, 2026 pull almost no mosque gifts carried one; most had no cause tag at all. No single cause reached the level needed for a mosque list. Community-tagged gifts came from 38 foundations, with 8 states home to 3 or more, and education-tagged gifts from 31 foundations, with 4 states at that level.

Two free state previews can still help, as long as you know what they cover:

• The community funder list shows foundations that fund community foundations, civic clubs and local groups. It suits a mosque's civic and neighborhood programs, not its religious life.
• The education funder list shows foundations that fund schools, libraries and scholarship funds. It suits a weekend school or a full-time Islamic school.

These rows count every community and education grant on 990-PF returns in Grantsights analysis of filings pulled October 29, 2026, not mosque grants. Neither list was picked for mosques, so check each funder's past gifts before you write. One state's full list costs $29, a year that opens every cause and every state costs $99, and you can ask for a refund on either within 30 days. The Grantsights grant database also tracks open federal and state notices, including security programs.

What FEMA and the IRS Don't Tell You About Mosque Funding

These 5 points come from reading the FEMA and IRS pages side by side with the 1,192 grants in the November 1, 2026 pull.

1. Security grants don't pay forever. NSGP pays for equipment, planning and training. A common mistake is forgetting the yearly cost of monitoring, maintenance and any guard you hire after the cameras go up.
2. Your state's date is the one that counts. FEMA's notice gives the date your SAA submits. Your own deadline comes earlier, and missing it ends your chance for the year.
3. Your own community is the biggest funder. Most of the largest gifts in the pull came from Muslim family foundations giving close to home. Ask members whether their family has a foundation or a donor-advised fund before you write to strangers.
4. Outside funders pay for programs, not the mosque. Mother Cabrini, Colorado Health, Barr and Lilly all paid for something specific or for organizational strength. Each program needs its own budget and its own results.
5. Not filing a 990 cuts both ways. It saves paperwork, but a funder that can't see your finances will ask for them. Keep a short packet ready.

Grantsights checked these points against FEMA's and the IRS's current pages on November 1, 2026; rules can change with each new notice.

Grantsights' honest take: apply for NSGP if your building has real security gaps, build at least one program that serves the whole neighborhood and report on it well, and ask your own families before anyone else. Don't expect outside grants to cover the core cost of running a mosque.

Common Mistakes in Mosque Grant Requests

Five mistakes come up again and again in requests from congregations of every faith, and mosques are no exception.

• Missing the SAA deadline. It's earlier than FEMA's, and it's the one that decides whether you're in.
• Security items the assessment doesn't support. A red flag for state reviewers is a camera or gate that the vulnerability assessment never mentions.
• Asking outside funders for prayer or salary costs. Most decline. Pay those from members' giving.
• Underestimating federal paperwork. NSGP comes with federal reporting and record-keeping rules. Keep every invoice and a photo of every installed item.
• Asking far above a funder's usual gift. With a $3,000 median, a first request to an unknown foundation should match what it has given before. Learn how to read a 990-PF before you name an amount. A new congregation without its own nonprofit structure can work through a fiscal sponsor at first; what is a fiscal sponsor explains how that works.

A 12-Month Mosque Grants Calendar

This calendar pairs the NSGP cycle with foundation asks. Your state's dates set the real schedule, so confirm them with your SAA first.

Related Guides for Mosques and Islamic Centers

The grants for faith-based organizations guide explains the federal rules for religious groups that run public programs. Congregations of other faiths face the same split between worship and community work: grants for synagogues covers Jewish congregations and their federations, and grants for churches covers Christian congregations and the church funder list.

If your mosque runs a pantry, read grants for food pantries; if it helps newly arrived families, grants for refugee resettlement shows who funds that work. Weekend Quran and Arabic classes fit grants for heritage language schools, and full-time schools fit grants for private schools. Congregations that want to build affordable housing or run a business corridor program usually set up a separate nonprofit, and grants for community development corporations explains how faith-based developers are funded.

FAQ: Common Questions

Can a mosque get a federal grant? Yes, for security, through FEMA's NSGP and your state.

How much can a mosque get from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program? Up to $200,000 per site and $600,000 per organization in a state in FY2026.

Do private foundations give grants to mosques? Yes: 339 foundations gave 1,192 grants in the November 1, 2026 pull.

How big is a typical foundation grant to a mosque? The median was $3,000, and 785 of 1,192 grants were $5,000 or less.

Does a mosque need an IRS determination letter to get grants? Not under tax law, though some funders ask for one.

Does Grantsights sell a list of foundations that fund mosques? No. The community and education previews fit a mosque's programs and schools.

Sources

• FEMA: Nonprofit Security Grant Program, funding totals and FY2026 documents (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: NSGP application process and State Administrative Agency contacts (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: Fiscal Year 2026 NSGP changes summary, June 2026 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: FY2026 NSGP award announcement, September 28, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: NSGP application checklist (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: NSGP application checklist in Arabic (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• CISA: Protecting houses of worship (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Publication 1828, the federal tax guide for churches, mosques and other religious organizations (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• GovInfo: 26 U.S.C. 501, exemption from tax (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)