The France-Merrick Foundation is taking a different approach for our 2025-2026 grantmaking strategy. In a moment that calls for new approaches, quicker decisions, and a responsibility to preserve progress on issues we care about, we’re launching the Meet the Moment Fund — a one-year grantmaking strategy that responds to impacts of recent public policy changes on Baltimore residents, neighborhoods, and nonprofits.
We aim to help our neighbors maintain gains made in housing, health, education, and economic mobility, while also maintaining the vibrancy of Baltimore through the arts, the environment, historic preservation, and community development. To achieve this, we’re committed to devoting significant grant funding to support the people, places, and work affected by recent funding cuts and public policy changes.
For our next fiscal year (July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026) the Foundation will:
- Increase our overall grantmaking budget by 1%;
- Continue our traditional grantmaking style in the context of public changes; and
- Fund evolving needs in Baltimore through a new “Meet the Moment” Fund, which will be up to 40% of our annual distribution.
TRADITIONAL GRANTMAKING
Through our traditional grantmaking process, the France-Merrick Foundation will continue to support long-term priorities in our Areas of Focus. These are one-time investments in capital projects, equipment, and technology. Given the context of rapid public change, the Foundation will prioritize shovel-ready projects, rather than supporting pre-development or providing early capital.
MEET THE MOMENT FUND
Through a new Meet the Moment Fund, the France-Merrick Foundation will provide short-term financial support to organizations working to advance one or more of the following:
- Preventing and addressing disruptions that negatively impact essential community needs and services, such as health, housing, safety, education, and environmental protection.
- Supporting strategic responses to sustain organizations and/or vital services.
- Investing in collaborative structures and practices to meet complex needs with reduced resources.
The Meet the Moment Fund will focus on gap support for nonprofits with a plan for operational sustainability and strategic response support for nonprofits or groups of nonprofits collaboratively working to address dramatic organizational or sector changes.
Previous and existing France-Merrick grantees will be prioritized and we will consider requests from organizations responding collaboratively in Baltimore to advance the Foundation’s Areas of Focus. The Fund is not intended to sustain programs or organizations impacted by long-term funding cuts without a plan for future operating sustainability.
Given the urgent needs facing many nonprofits in Baltimore, the Foundation adopted an expedited review process to accelerate grant decisions made from this Fund.
APPLYING FOR A GRANT
To apply for our Traditional Grants, please follow the steps outlined below.
Visit the Meet the Moment Fund page to learn more and apply.
Letter of Inquiry
Requirements
After reviewing our basic requirements, the first step for an organization interested in applying for a grant is to send the Foundation a 1-3 page Letter of Inquiry (LOI). The LOI should be on official letterhead, signed by the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director and contain the following information:
- Legal organization name, mailing address and 501(c)(3) Tax ID number of the organization/fiscal sponsor
- Contact information (name, title, phone number and email address) for the person who can best answer questions about the LOI
- Brief description of organization including mission, population served, scope of activities and current organizational budget
- Brief description of the proposed project for which funding is sought
- Total cost of the proposed project, any funds already committed, the fundraising gap and the amount of the request
- Timeline over which funding is needed, and overall timeline of the project
How to submit
Online Application
After confirming eligibility for your organization and project, please visit the link below to start your LOI submission. You will have the ability to save your progress and return to the application as needed.
Create an account and submit a new LOI
Return to a saved application
If you need assistance with the online portal, please contact our Grants Administrator, Nate Kalb at nkalb@france-merrickfdn.org.
Timeline
We accept LOIs on a rolling basis and encourage organizations to send them anytime. Foundation staff acknowledge letters within 24 hours if received on a business day. We communicate decisions about smaller requests (under $50,000) on a monthly basis and wait until after the LOI closing date listed below to make decisions about inviting proposals over $50,000. Applicants will be notified within 10 days of the closing date as to whether or not a proposal will be invited. Due to limited resources, we cannot request proposals from all inquiries that meet our criteria. Organizations with requests that are clearly not a fit with our priorities, style of funding, geographical preferences or other reasons may hear from us before the decision closing dates so that they can more quickly look for alternative funding.
Timeline for requests for $50,000 and under:
| LOI Submission | Proposal Deadline | Grant Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Rolling | One month after decision is made on LOI – usually communicated the first week of each month | Approximately one month after receiving proposal |
Timeline for requests for over $50,000:
| LOI Closing Date | Proposal Deadline | Grant Decisions |
|---|---|---|
| May 30, 2025 | July 11, 2025 | October 2025 |
| August 22, 2025 | October 10, 2025 | January 2026 |
| December 5, 2025 | January 16, 2026 | March 2026 |
| February 6, 2026 | March 20, 2026 | June 2026 |
Proposal
Organizations that receive a proposal invitation and guidelines have approximately one month to prepare and submit a proposal. As general practice, we request project budgets, organizational budgets, board lists and audits as part of our application. Our questions are fairly standard, and we are flexible about format. We will accept a proposal prepared for another funder as long as it addresses the questions we ask. A program officer is assigned to each proposal and follows up to ensure that our process is clear and that we fully understand each request, which frequently requires a site visit to better appreciate the organization and need addressed in the proposal. Following this review, grant requests are presented for consideration to the Grants Committee. Proposals for over $50,000 go on to our Board of Directors, which meets four times each year.
Post-Grant Process
Organizations that receive a grant must sign an agreement that outlines the terms of the grant, including reporting requirements and payment schedule. Payments are made within one month of signed agreements. Final reports are generally due one year after the final payment date. Per Foundation policy, new funding requests may only be submitted after completing a two-year waiting period from the final payment date of a previous grant.
Crediting
If our grantees choose to recognize a grant from the Foundation with crediting in publications, press releases, websites, social media and other forms of written and verbal communication, the Foundation should be acknowledged as the “France-Merrick Foundation.”
Downloadable logos are available to our grantees for use in crediting when appropriate. If your acknowledgement is part of press release or permanent public installation (i.e., a sign or donor wall), prior approval of our name and logo use is required. The logo should not be resized or modified in any way.
Please contact Nichele Belton (nbelton@france-merrickfdn.org) if you have any questions about crediting, if your project requires a higher resolution file or color variation, or if your usage requires prior approval.
France-Merrick Foundation Logos
All files here are PNGs. To download: click on the name for the file you would like to download (the image will open in a new tab). Next, right click and select “save image as.” JPEGs or ESP files are available upon request.
