Grants FAQ

The Poetry Foundation provides funding support in two ways: through program and media partnerships and the grant program. Starting in 2023, applications to the grants program are accepted two times per year.

Through the grants program, the Poetry Foundation funds nonprofit organizations based in the United States. If your nonprofit organization does not have a 501(c)(3) designation, you can apply using a fiscal sponsor with 501(c)(3) designation. (See the definition of fiscal sponsors below.) The Poetry Foundation does not provide grants to for-profit organizations or individuals.

Not at this time. However, the Foundation does have numerous award programs that individual poets and artists may be considered for.

No. Any nonprofit organization in the United States is eligible to apply. Our priority is supporting poetry organizations, programs, and publications.

No. Nonprofit organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) tax status can apply for funding with a fiscal sponsor.

A fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit organization that provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects. The fiscal sponsor must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a formal relationship with the organization working on the project and can provide a Memorandum of Understanding with the application.

Yes. The Foundation typically does not fund:

• Capital proposals
• Endowment campaigns
• Commercial ventures
• Religious activities (unless poetry services are proposed for all in the community)
• College scholarships
• Activities that took place prior to the grant award date
• As a rule, we do not fund the general operations of college/university academic departments (e.g. English Departments, Literature Departments, Creative Writing Departments, etc.) or faculty positions. However, we will consider applications from college/university academic departments for one-off programs and projects like poetry conferences/symposia, special research projects in the field of poetry, etc. Please reach out to [email protected] if you are a college/university academic department who is considering applying for a grant.

The Foundation is prohibited from funding:

• Political campaign activity
• Lobbying activity

The Foundation does provide grants to individuals or for-profit entities.

If you have any questions about whether your project is eligible for funding, please contact [email protected].

Please go to the Poetry Foundation online portal and click “request access”. You will complete a registration request, which can take up to three business days to approve. If your registration is approved, you will be sent an email with login credentials. Please note that the password link you receive expires within 7 days. If you do not receive an email within three business days, please check your spam folder. All emails will be coming from an @fluxx.io email address, so please adjust your permissions accordingly.

You can only reset your password if you have already created an account in Fluxx. If you have an account, go to the online portal and click the “reset or create password” link under the sign in button. Enter your email address and the password reset link will be sent to you. Make sure you meet the minimum password requirements: minimum of 8 characters; contains at least one (1) uppercase letter, one (1) lowercase letter, and at least two (2) numbers; password cannot contain your login username; maximum two (2) repeated characters in a row; password cannot be reused from last two (2) changes.

Please start by reviewing the information on the grants webpages to learn about our core funding priorities and eligibility guidelines to determine if your proposal aligns with our current grantmaking strategy. If you believe your proposal is a fit, please contact [email protected] with any application-related questions.

Funding amounts are set for each grant category. There are limited funds available. Therefore organizations should present a strong case of need proportional to their overall organizational needs. While many proposals are compelling, we do not have the resources to fund all requests.

Yes. Please refer to our funding program opportunities to review the specified deadlines and check the site frequently for updates.

The review process can take up to 12 weeks following the application deadline. If you have any questions on the status of your application, please direct them to [email protected].

Yes, we encourage our partners to highlight our support! Please refer to these guidelines.