COVID-19 Response Resources
  • The Red Backpack Fund – Spanx and Global Giving: Since its inception, Spanx and The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation have been dedicated to elevating and supporting women through entrepreneurship. Knowing the ripple effect that empowering women can have to strengthen communities, the foundation donated $5 million to support female entrepreneurs in the wake of COVID-19 and teamed up with GlobalGiving to establish The Red Backpack Fund. GlobalGiving is making at least 1,000 grants of $5,000 each to female entrepreneurs in the U.S. to help alleviate the impact of the crisis. Deadline: July 13, 2020 and August 10, 2020.

  • NEW! Small Business Grant – Nav: Nav is offering grants to their small business customers who share their story of perseverance in the face of COVID-19 challenges. Nav will award a $10,000 grand prize, $2,000 1st runner-up, and $1,000 2nd runner-up. Deadline: September 1, 2020 

  • Economic Injury Disaster Loan – U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on small businesses, Missouri has been granted a disaster declaration by the SBA. This makes low interest disaster loans available to small businesses and private non-profits severely impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance for each affected small business or non-profit. These loans can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. Deadline: December 21, 2020.

  • Public Assistance Program – Missouri Department of Public Safety State of Emergency Management Agency (SEMA): SEMA’s Public Assistance Section (part of SEMA’s Recovery Division) administers federal grants to eligible public entities for the repair and restoration of damaged roads, bridges, public infrastructure and facilities in federally-declared disaster areas. These expenses included emergency protective measures or response costs as a direct result of the disaster. Public entities include municipal and county government, school districts, state agencies, and certain private, nonprofit organizations. The deadline for local governments and eligible nonprofits to submit a Request for Public Assistance has been extended for the duration of the current Public Health Emergency, unless otherwise announced by FEMA.

  • The Main Street Initiative – Mainvest: If you have an existing brick & mortar business that has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and you launch a capital raise on Mainvest, you may be eligible to receive a $2,000 zero-interest loan immediately*. Then through your capital raise, you can receive over $100,000 of investment from your community.

  • Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund: A coalition of charitable, business and government partners has joined together to create the Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to address the needs of the Kansas City region's most vulnerable communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund provides grants to nonprofit organizations that have experience supporting impacted communities – particularly those that are disproportionately affected by this global pandemic and its economic consequences. This program is available for Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray counties in Missouri.

  • Small Business Relief Initiative - GoFundMe: GoFundMe has partnered with Yelp and Intuit QuickBooks to create a Small Business Relief Fund to help small businesses negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of these three companies has contributed $500,000 to the Fund, and it's receiving additional donations from the public. The fund will provide $500 grants to any small business that raises $500 on GoFundMe.

  • COVID-19 Nonprofit Response Fund – Community Foundation: This fund’s purpose is to support nonprofit organizations impacted by efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus, with a priority for those providing vital basic needs services and resources to disproportionately impacted individuals and families impacted by following public health recommendations. Grants may be made to nonprofit organizations, churches, schools, or units of government located in or significantly serving one or more of the following counties: Adams, Brown, Hancock & Pike in Illinois; and Clark, Knox, Lewis, Marion, Monroe, Pike, Ralls, and Shelby in Missouri. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Current Grant Opportunities
  • Grants for Arts Projects – National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Through project-based funding, NEA supports public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation, the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, learning in the arts at all stages of life, and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life. Projects may be large or small, existing or new, and may take place in any part of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. NEA encourages projects that address the following activities: celebrate America’s creativity and/or cultural heritage; invite a dialogue that fosters a mutual respect of the diverse beliefs and values of all persons and groups; enrich our humanity by broadening our understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society; and engagement with typically underserved constituencies. Cost share/matching grants generally will range from $10,000 to $100,000. In the past few years, well over half of the agency's grants have been for amounts less than $25,000. Deadline: Submit preliminary info to grants.gov July 9, 2020, submit application July 14-21, 2020.

  • National Fund for Sacred Places – Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation: This program offers participating congregations with two critical resources to support the stewardship of their historic facilities. This includes capacity-building technical support services and capital grants for the restoration of the building. Each participating congregation is required to send representatives to capacity-building training. Planning grants that average $5,000 are administered to participants on a rolling basis upon request and can cover a variety of professional services needed beyond the expertise of the congregation. Participating congregations will also receive a package of individualized technical assistance. After finalizing a comprehensive fundraising plan and scope of work—and once participating congregations have completed the National Fund training and received other capacity-building services—participants are ready to request a capital grant of $50,000-250,000. Deadline: July 13, 2020.

  • Major Grants – Missouri Humanities Council: MHC awards grants to non-profit organizations including museums, libraries, educational institutions, local government, civic associations, and other similar organizations for programs in any format that facilitates interaction between public audiences and humanities experts such as scholars, authors, and educators. MHC will also assist with funding for projects such as (but not limited to) interpretive exhibits, content-based web site enhancements, living history and museum theater presentations, media and publication projects that support the mission of a humanities-based organization. Major grants are offered two times per year. Deadline: August 1, 2020. 

  • NEW! Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) – USDA: The RCDG’s purpose is to provide financial assistance to improve the economic condition of rural areas through cooperative development. Eligible applicants are a non-profit corporation or an institution of higher education. Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Deadline: August 3, 2020.

  • Our Town – National Endowment for the Arts: Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systemic changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into local strategies for strengthening communities. Through Our Town projects, the National Endowment for the Arts Endowment intends to achieve the following objective: Strengthening Communities: Provide opportunities for the arts to be integrated into the fabric of community life. Project outcomes may include economic change, physical change, social change, and systems change. These projects require a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization. Matching grants range from $25,000 to $150,000, with a minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount. Deadline: Submit preliminary info to grants.gov August 6, 2020, submit application August 11-18, 2020.

  • Historic Preservation Fund – Missouri State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO): The Historic Preservation Fund will be funding National Register, Survey, Planning and Outreach and Predevelopment (also known as Preconstruction) projects. Development projects will not be funded this round. All Certified Local Governments, all county governmental entities, municipalizes, and qualified non-profit organizations with a historic preservation mission are eligible to apply for Historic Preservation Fund grants. A required pre-application submission is due by August 31, 2020 for review and comment from the Grants Manager. Deadline: October 15, 2020.
Highlighted Ongoing Grant Opportunities
  • Cultural Facility Revenue Bond Program – Missouri Development Finance Board: Tax-Exempt Bonds can be used to finance cultural facilities for charitable organizations which are qualified 501(c)(3) entities. Interest rates on tax-exempt bonds are significantly below conventional rates. Money can be applied to land acquisition, machinery and equipment, building acquisition, renovation, construction, architectural and engineering, issuance cost (2%), and land improvements. Potential facilities that bonds may cover the cost of purchase, construction, expansion or improvements are museums, recreational facilities, and other facilities for 501(c)(3) not for profit entities. Deadline: ongoing.

  • Emergency/Intervention Funding – National Trust for Historic Preservation: Intervention funding from the National Trust is awarded in emergency situations when immediate and unanticipated work is needed to save a historic structure, such as when a fire or other natural disaster strikes. Funding is restricted to nonprofit organizations and public agencies. Emergency grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000, but unlike the majority of our grant funding, a cash match is not required for intervention projects. Deadline: ongoing.

  • Jeffris Heartland Fund – Jeffris Family Foundation: The Jeffris Family Foundation invites applications for grants to support the development of important historic preservation projects in eight Midwestern states including Missouri. The decision to purse a grant from the fund must be made in consultation with a Director of the foundation to discuss your project and request an application form. Grants will be made in the range of $5,000 to $50,000 with a 1:1 match by the recipient. The grant will cover 50% of the cost of an historic structure report. Eligible sites must be owned and governed by 501(c)3 non-profit organizations or units of government, be located in small towns or cities outside of major metropolitan areas, and have statewide or national significance documented on their National Register of Historic Places nomination. Upon completion of a quality study in a timely manner, recipients may be invited to submit a proposal for a Capital Campaign Challenge Grant from the foundation. Deadline: ongoing. 

  • Community Facilities Fund– Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation: Rural LISC created the Community Facilities Fund to provide capital to help develop and improve essential community facilities in rural areas. Rural LISC utilizes this fund to provide permanent and construction-to- permanent financing for rural community facilities, including health care centers, hospitals, educational facilities, and other nonprofit and public facilities in rural communities with populations under 20,000. Deadline: ongoing.
Any Special Projects?
Do you have a special project in your historic district that we can keep in mind when researching funding resources? Email Katelyn at katelyn@momainstreet.org .
Share Your Success
We would love to share any grant success stories in a future issue of the Grant Resource Directory in order to provide ideas for how the funding has been used in Main Street communities. If you have any projects you would like to share, email Katelyn at katelyn@momainstreet.org .
How can MMSC assist your community?
Community Empowerment Grant Program
The Community Empowerment Grant (CEG) program is a two-year grant for services as a 60/40 matching grant. The community is responsible for 40% of the costs totaling $12,320. To be eligible for this program, a community representative must attend an CEG workshop. Check here for upcoming workshops.

The CEG program includes hands- on training and guidance to help the community establish a local Main Street program.
Strategic Teams Engaging People
Strategic Teams Engaging People (STEP) is a one-year grant for services as a 75/25 matching grant. The community is responsible for 25% of the costs totaling $5,000.

The STEP grant provides individualized training with a focus on initiatives for sustained revitalization and technical development to advance the Main Street organization's downtown development.
People Energizing Places
People Energizing Places (PEP) is a two-year grant for services as a 75/25 matching grant. The community is responsible for 25% of the costs totaling $9,600.

The PEP grant was developed to provide the next step for local Main Street programs with more advanced training and development customized for the community's needs.
The opportunities included in this email are not a complete list of possible funding resources. This list is not meant to take the place of an individual organization’s research. Not every opportunity will be applicable to each organization or community. This list may include grants for government entities, other non-profits, etc. whose work supplements that of a Main Street organization. 

The Grant Resource Directory is a benefit for Missouri Main Street Connection network members. Thank you for joining and supporting the work of MMSC and Main Streets in Missouri!
Missouri Main Street Connection
3044 Shepherd of the Hills Expy Suite 214
Branson, MO 65616
417-334-3014