Grants for Municipalities 2026: 117 Funders, $5,000 Median

Municipal source review, Grantsights, November 6, 2026: Grantsights checked the charitable contribution definition at 26 U.S.C. 170(c) (opens in a new tab), HUD's Community Development Block Grant program page (opens in a new tab), the USDA Community Facilities grant rules at 7 CFR part 3570 (opens in a new tab), the Grants.gov notice for the Economic Development Administration's Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs (opens in a new tab) and the IRS page on Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab) against foundation filings that name municipal governments. Where official sources stop: none of these pages tells a village of 1,200 people which local trust already paid for a library roof two towns over, or whether the railroad that runs through it gives civic grants. The filings below do.

Grants for Municipalities: What 990-PF Filings Show

Grantsights analysis of 990-PF community grants pulled November 5, 2026 found 117 foundations that made 232 grants to 162 municipal recipients, worth $8,691,848 in all. According to IRS guidance on Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), private foundations file that return each year and use it to report the gifts they paid, which is how a check to a township ends up on a public record.

The total hides how small most of these checks are. According to the same November 5, 2026 pull, the median grant was $5,000, a quarter of the grants came in at $1,000 or less, a quarter ran above $19,749, and 119 of the 232 (51%) were $5,000 or under. A town asking a local trust for library shelving, a festival or a memorial plaque is asking for an ordinary amount.

Three economic development gifts carry 26% of the total on their own, $2,300,000 of the $8,691,848:

Each of these funders gave to a single town. That's the honest answer to "who gives grants to small towns": a foundation with roots in your place, not a national program.

The community count is small next to the all-cause count, and that's expected. Across every cause, the same name match pulled November 5, 2026 reaches 3,524 foundations and 10,359 grants worth $486,692,799, with a $6,000 median; most of those gifts carry no cause tag at all, so only the 232 tagged as community giving fall inside this guide's lead numbers. A Grantsights hand check of 40 all-cause recipients found 39 municipal governments or departments, and 2 of those rows were employee co-op matches that this guide doesn't use.

Private foundations aren't a town's main revenue. Property and sales taxes, utility fees, state aid and federal formula money pay for streets, water and payroll. Foundation grants fill the gaps a budget won't: the library addition, the veterans memorial, the downtown match, the festival, the park bandshell.

4 Kinds of Foundations That Give to Towns

Grantsights grouped the funders behind the 150 largest community grants in the November 5, 2026 pull into 4 types. Each example row below is an actual filed grant.

Hometown family foundations write the biggest checks. The Wilson Works Foundation gave the City of Wilson $276,657 in 2023 and $299,529 in 2024. The Cannon Foundation gave the Town of Granite Quarry, North Carolina $100,000 in 2024 for phase 1 of its civic park improvements. The Van Andel foundation's Ada Township gift sits beside $100,000 to the City of Rockford in 2024 and $50,000 to the City of Harbor Springs, Michigan in 2023, all filed as community development. For example, Muscatine received $401,000 from the HNI Charitable Foundation in 2025, filed as civic and community giving.

Company foundations give where they operate. Among the 150 largest community grants, the BNSF Railway Foundation filed at least 19 civic grants worth $192,500 to towns in 10 states along its rail lines, ranging from $4,000 to $35,000; the City of Manning, Iowa got $5,000 in 2023 and the City of Mount Vernon, Washington got $25,000 the same year. The Red Wing Shoe Company Foundation gave the City of Red Wing, Minnesota $35,000 in 2023, the Cheniere Foundation gave the City of Gregory, Texas $100,000 in 2024 for a community development project, and the Antero Foundation gave the City of Pennsboro, West Virginia $25,000 in 2024. If a railroad, pipeline, plant or utility runs through town, check its foundation before anyone else.

Civic foundations and library trusts give steadily. One town in Arkansas, McGehee, received $12,911 in 2025 from the Joseph Francis Wallace Trust for its Owlfest festival and flood relief, after $1,000 in 2023. The Krukar charitable trust gave the City of Tomah Public Library in Wisconsin about $30,000 a year from 2023 to 2025, and the Henry L. Thielen Trust gave the City of Red Bud, Illinois roughly $8,000 a year for civic work over the same 3 years.

What Towns Use Foundation Grants For

Grantsights analysis of the 150 largest grants in the November 5, 2026 pull found at least 39 grants worth $870,974 that named a city or town library, at least 12 worth $1,193,252 that named a memorial, monument, statue or veterans park, and at least 14 worth $3,236,186 filed as economic development. These groups overlap a little, and the rest went to community centers, festivals, historic preservation and general civic work.

Libraries are the steadiest door. Municipal libraries drew the most grants of any department. The Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation gave the City of McCall, Idaho $50,000 in 2023 for the McCall Public Library's roof replacement, and The Roundhouse Foundation gave the City of Oakridge, Oregon $50,000 in 2024 to enclose and renovate a library meeting room. If your town has a library, it's often the easiest place to start a foundation relationship. See grants for libraries for library-specific funders.

Memorials draw one-time gifts. The Knaebel Family Foundation gave the City of Spring Hill, Kansas $79,839 in 2023 for its veterans park monuments, and the Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation gave the City of Florence, South Carolina $62,500 in 2023 for a World War II statue at its veterans park. Grants for veterans memorials covers how those campaigns are usually built.

Economic development money is real but concentrated. Besides Portsmouth and Monmouth, the Kitty M. Perkins Foundation gave the City of Cambridge, Nebraska $50,000 in 2023 to support its economic development committee,. The Ford Family Foundation's $20,000 to the City of Hubbard, Oregon in 2023 paid for an economic and community development plan, a good first step for a town that needs a plan before it chases bigger money.

Municipal Grants by State

Massachusetts's 12 funders lead the November 5, 2026 community pull, and 18 states have 3 or more. This table counts grants by the state where the town sits, for the 11 states with 5 or more funders.

Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico and Pennsylvania have 3 funders each. Big single gifts drive several rows: the Eagle Lake grant is 54% of the Texas total, the Pattee grant is 81% of Illinois, and the 3 Van Andel gifts are 95% of Michigan. Massachusetts and New York look different: many funders, small checks, a median-sized ask.

Counting every cause, Massachusetts (237 funders), Florida (236), Pennsylvania (226), New York (209), Texas (179) and Ohio (173) lead, and 49 states have 3 or more. The all-cause list shows bigger hometown giving, such as the Walton Family Foundation's $5,000,000 to the City of Bentonville, Arkansas in 2024 for the 8th Street Gateway Park, the Maud Ferris Robinson Charitable Trust's $5,012,415 to the Town of Vienna, Virginia in 2024 for its sidewalk fund, and the Iowa West Foundation's $3,166,667 to the City of Council Bluffs in 2024 for phase 4 of its riverfront.

State samples in the free preview

Four states put the same railroad first. In the free preview of the Grantsights community funder list, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin all lead with the BNSF Railway Foundation, which takes requests and lists a contact on its filings; its sample grants include $5,000 each to the City of Wilmington (2025) and the Village of Hinsdale (2023) in Illinois, and $10,000 each to the cities of Alvarado and Killeen, Texas in 2025.

Oregon opens with The Roundhouse Foundation, whose filings say it takes requests and list what to send, deadlines, limits and a contact; its sample shows the Coquille and Oakridge library grants. Iowa's sample is the HNI Charitable Foundation, and Nebraska's is the Fairbury Civic Foundation. Michigan opens with the Herman & Irene Gertz Foundation, which gave the Village of Millersburg $9,000 in 2025 and the Township of Case $4,500 in 2024, both filed as civic grants. Read past the first name in Massachusetts and Virginia: those samples, The Janet Malser Humanities Trust and the Twin County Community Foundation, don't say on their filings that they take requests.

California's municipal funders

California has only 3 community funders for municipalities, with 5 grants worth $644,750, according to the November 5, 2026 pull. The free preview leads with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which takes requests and lists what to send, deadlines, limits and a contact. Its 2 grants to the City of Long Beach in 2023, $435,000 and $200,000, paid the city's economic development department to create a skills training program placing young people into aerospace careers. That's 98% of the state's total, and it's a poor model for a small town: Long Beach is a large city, and the grant paid for a workforce program, not civic work.

The other 2 California funders gave under $10,000 between them, for art exhibition awards at a Santa Rosa community center and a veterans monument in Placentia. Counting every cause, 149 California foundations gave to municipal recipients, so a California town should read the all-cause giving of funders in its own county.

Why the Community List for Towns

Tagged gifts to towns spread across several causes, but civic, economic development, memorial and community center giving sits in community, and that's where the hand check was cleanest: 40 of 40 recipients were municipal. A town government should start with community funders and add education or youth funders for a library or recreation project.

These rows cover all community giving on 990-PF returns in each state, according to Grantsights analysis of filings pulled October 29, 2026, not just grants to towns. The share of funders saying they take requests runs from 24% in New York to 42% in Nebraska, and those are the funders worth a first letter from a clerk or manager. The community funder list covers every state, and a town that finds it wasn't worth the money can get a full refund within 30 days.

How a Town Takes a Foundation Grant

According to 26 U.S.C. 170(c)(1) (opens in a new tab), a contribution to a state, a possession or any political subdivision counts as a charitable contribution only if it's made for exclusively public purposes. A town, village or township is a political subdivision, so it can take a gift directly, and 232 community grants in this pull did exactly that.

Two reasons still favor a partner charity:

1. Some funders give only to 501(c)(3) groups. Their own guidelines say so even when the law would allow a gift to a town. A friends of the library group, a parks foundation or a fund at a community foundation can accept those grants. The Robins Foundation's $50,000 grant in 2023 went to the City of Richmond Public Library Foundation, not to the city itself.
2. A charity can hold money across budget years. A memorial campaign or a 3-year downtown match is easier to manage in a restricted fund than in a general fund that resets each July.

Ask each funder which recipient it wants before you write the request. A common mistake is sending a town's request to a funder that only pays charities, then losing a cycle while a friends group is formed.

Federal and State Money That Fits Small Towns

These 4 routes fit towns of a few hundred to 20,000 people best, as of November 6, 2026. The federal grants for local governments guide covers the rest.

1. State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). According to HUD's CDBG program page (opens in a new tab), 49 states and Puerto Rico run the State CDBG program, and states award those grants only to non-entitlement units of general local government, meaning the smaller towns and counties that don't get their own HUD allocation. The same page says at least 70% of funds must benefit low- and moderate-income people over 1, 2 or 3 years, and that buildings for the general conduct of government are generally ineligible. A small town applies to its state's CDBG office, not to HUD. The community development block grant guide explains the national objectives.

2. USDA Community Facilities grants. Under 7 CFR 3570.61 (opens in a new tab), a municipality, county or district can apply if the facility serves a rural area, which the rule defines as a place of 20,000 people or fewer. Section 3570.63 caps the grant at 75% of cost and sets a sliding scale: 75% only for communities of 5,000 or fewer with the lowest incomes, then 55%, 35% and 15% as population and income rise. It also bars paying operating costs. Read the USDA Community Facilities guide for the income tests.

3. EDA Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance. According to Grants.gov, the EDA notice (opens in a new tab) for these 2 programs had no deadline as of November 6, 2026: applications are taken on an ongoing basis until a new notice is published, the notice is cancelled or funds run out. It lists cities, counties and other political subdivisions as eligible, awards from $100,000 to $30,000,000, requires cost sharing, and was last updated May 11, 2026. That makes it a fit for a town with an industrial park, a water line serving new jobs, or a plant closing, and a poor fit for a library or a park. The EDA Public Works readiness guide covers the job evidence it expects.

4. Corporate small-town programs. T-Mobile's Hometown Grants (opens in a new tab) page says the program funded shovel-ready projects of up to $50,000 in towns under 50,000 people, with no match required, but as of November 6, 2026 it also said the final proposals were under review and the last 25 towns would be announced on June 26. Treat it as closing. AARP's Community Challenge (opens in a new tab) page says AARP awarded $8.3 million to 750 quick-action projects in 2026 and that the 2027 round is coming in January; it hadn't opened as of November 6, 2026.

What HUD Doesn't Tell You About Small-Town Funding

HUD's page lists 7 kinds of eligible CDBG activities and then names the one most towns want first: buildings for the general conduct of government are generally ineligible. Put that next to the filings and 4 lessons stand out.

1. The town hall is a foundation project. CDBG generally won't build one, so the money tends to be local. The Richard King Mellon Foundation's $651,000 grant to Ligonier Borough, Pennsylvania in 2024, filed in the all-cause pull to update and enhance its town hall, shows where that money comes from.
2. Federal money wants a match, and foundations pay matches. Community Facilities grants top out at 75%, EDA requires cost sharing, and Land and Water Conservation Fund park grants cover no more than half. A local foundation pledge is often what makes a small town's federal application possible.
3. Operating money is the hardest ask. The Community Facilities rule bars annual operating costs, and most foundation grants in this pull paid for a thing, not a salary. The exceptions are library and memorial upkeep trusts, such as the Veterans Memorial Trust Fund's yearly gifts to the City of Belleville, Illinois for upkeep of its veterans memorial.
4. Being small helps on some forms. USDA's 75% rate is reserved for places of 5,000 or fewer, and T-Mobile's program was only for towns under 50,000. Say your population and median income in the first paragraph of every request.

Common Mistakes in Municipal Grant Requests

These 6 mistakes cost small towns money, whether the ask is a $1,000 library gift or a $400,000 economic development grant.

• Asking a national funder first. The data says the money is local. Start with the family, bank and company foundations in your county, then your state's largest foundations, and skip national programs that don't list towns your size among past grantees.
• Asking for the general fund. A red flag for most funders is a request that reads like budget relief. Name the thing: the roof, the bandshell, the memorial, the festival, the plan.
• Asking once and stopping. Repeat gifts are common. The Mervyn W. Jenkins Foundation gave the City of Chillicothe, Missouri $81,000 in 2023, $36,750 in 2024 and $42,000 in 2025, all filed as community development. Thank the funder and report back before the next cycle.
• Mixing public safety into a civic request. Police, fire and EMS gifts were left out of this count because they have their own funders. Read grants for volunteer fire departments and grants for police departments for those.
• Underestimating how long a match takes to raise. A federal application with a foundation match needs the pledge letter before the deadline. Ask the local funder 6 to 9 months ahead.
• Sizing the ask to the foundation's assets. A trust with $20 million in the bank that sends towns $1,000 checks will keep sending $1,000 checks. Look at its past gifts first; the guide on how to read a 990-PF shows where they're listed.

Related Guides for Towns and Villages

Towns building a single facility have closer guides: grants for community centers, grants for libraries and grants for Main Street programs for downtown work. A park or recreation department raising money for its own programs should read grants for parks and recreation departments, and residents' groups with a project of their own can use grants for community projects.

Infrastructure is mostly federal and state money, so a town with a water, sewer or road project should start with water infrastructure grants and infrastructure grants under the IIJA. A town clerk worried about ransomware on the town hall network should read grants for cybersecurity, and a council pricing public chargers for a municipal lot can start with grants for EV charging stations. Open federal and state notices for towns, sorted by state, are in the Grantsights grant database.

FAQ: Common Questions

Are there private foundation grants for municipalities? Yes. 117 foundations made 232 community grants to towns and their libraries, centers and memorials in the pull dated November 5, 2026.

How many foundations give grants to small towns? 117 in the community count and 3,524 across every cause.

How big is a typical foundation grant to a town? The median was $5,000, and 119 of 232 community grants were $5,000 or less.

What federal grants can a small town apply for? State CDBG through your state, USDA Community Facilities for places of 20,000 or fewer, and EDA's rolling Public Works and Economic Adjustment notice.

Can a city receive a foundation grant directly, or does it need a 501(c)(3)? Directly, for public purposes, though some funders give only to charities, so a friends group helps.

Is T-Mobile still giving Hometown Grants to small towns? Its page said the final round was under review as of November 6, 2026. Don't count on a new one.

Sources

• 26 U.S.C. 170, charitable contributions (U.S. Code, 2024 edition) (opens in a new tab)
• HUD: Community Development Block Grant Program (opens in a new tab)
• USDA Community Facilities grant rules, 7 CFR 3570.51 to 3570.100 (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY 2025 EDA Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Programs (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
• T-Mobile: Hometown Grants (opens in a new tab)
• AARP: Community Challenge (opens in a new tab)