Funding Opportunities

Our Mission is to impact the lifesaving capabilities, and the lives of local heroes and their communities. This is accomplished by providing lifesaving equipment and prevention education tools to first responders and public safety organizations. All requests must fall within our Foundation's funding guidelines which can be found on our website via firehousesubsfoundation.org/about-us/funding-areas. See below for information regarding items that are not supported by our grants program.

The HFI Grant Program focuses on fire prevention, critical infrastructure protection, and forest and watershed restoration through reduction of hazardous vegetation. Projects should complement strategically planned or existing fuels management initiatives, such as State of Arizona, US Forest Service, or Bureau of Land Management thinning projects. Priority will be given to projects that target high risk areas, have a clear sustainability plan, and that support Arizona's vegetation management, and/or wood product industries.

Eligible applicants include, fire departments and fire districts, government organizations - including state, county, and local - public educational institutions, 501 (c) non-profit organizations, and Indian Tribes. Private landowners qualify if working through one of the eligible applicants listed above, but cannot directly apply. For-profit companies do not qualify. Projects may occur on state, private, federal, and tribal lands in Arizona.

Fuels mitigation is a vital component to reducing the threat of wildfires across Arizona. But, it also protects the health of our forests by removing diseased vegetation, invasive species, and dense fuel. Plus, fuels reduction work aids in the health of our watersheds and our wildlife habitat.

The goals and objectives of this program are:
Food Waste Reduction Objectives
Reduce municipal food and waste
Divert residential and commercial food waste from landfills
Composting and Conservation Objectives
Generate compost
Increase agricultural producers’ access to compost
Reduce reliance on, and limit the use of, chemical fertilizer
Improve soil quality
Encourage waste management and permaculture business development.
Increase rainwater utilization (capture, infiltration, or absorption)

Non-native, invasive plants are a major threat across the state of Arizona. They recognize no borders and occur across all land ownerships. Non-native invasive plants change the natural fire regime, alter watersheds, degrade wildlife habitat, out-compete native vegetation and crops, and destroy the natural beauty of the Arizona landscape.

Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, with funding provided by the State of Arizona and US Forest Service, is soliciting project proposals from $10,000-200,000 to treat invasive plant infestations that threaten Arizona's lands and waters.

Program Objectives
DFFM's Invasive Plant Grant program focuses on prevention, control, and eradication of invasive plants and aims to achieve the following objectives:

Target and treat invasive plants that are capable of transforming native plant communities in forests, woodlands, or rangelands
Assist in preventing fire and flooding, conserving water, and restoring habitat to wildlife
Increase local capacity to manage and prevent encroachment of invasive plants
Use an integrated weed management approach when treating areas infested with invasive plants through the utilization of available tools, including manual, cultural, mechanical, chemical, and biological control methods. Reseeding and planting native vegetation are also components of an invasive plant project

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management is currently accepting applications for the Urban Forestry Program's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Grant Program. The IRA Grants are to be used to improve community forest conditions and access to disadvantaged communities, address the backlog of local community forestry work, and position Arizona’s community forests as a valuable piece of mitigating climate change impacts and urban heat.. Projects should be aimed at improving the long-term health and care of the urban forest, or at initiating new urban forestry projects in Arizona communities that would not otherwise be funded through existing budgets. This program is being made possible from funds allocated to Arizona from the USFS during the first round of funding distribution and not the public Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The IRA Project's theme is: Improving urban forest conditions in disadvantaged communities for climate resilience and heat mitigation. Project timelines for this grant should be 4 years. The projects must be in service to supporting disadvantaged communities as defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: CJEST - https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/(link is external).

The Community Challenge Grant Program focuses on activities to encourage and promote citizen involvement in supporting long-term and sustainable urban and community forestry programs at the local level. Local and tribal governments, non-profit organizations, and public educational institutions qualify.

Community Challenge Grants are intended for promoting and enhancing the quality of Arizona’s urban and community forests. The program aims to fund projects that might not otherwise be funded through existing budgets, and research project funding is intended as “seed-grants” because of the limited funding available. All proposed projects should be designed to improve the long-term health and care of the urban forest, or initiate new urban forestry projects in Arizona communities.

In evaluating grant proposals, consideration will be given to projects that:
- Improve understanding of the benefits of protecting, maintaining, and preserving tree cover.
- Promote volunteerism, multi-cultural awareness, and involvement of nonprofit organizations, agencies, and the private sector in implementing urban and community forestry programs.
- Increase the number of communities assisted through technology transfer, training, and education in tree care or urban natural resource management.
- Increase the number of partnerships and cooperators in urban and community forestry activities through technical, financial, and in-kind support.
- Increase the number of communities given technical, financial, or other forms of urban and community forestry assistance (i.e. tree inventories, tree board establishment, ordinance development, management plans, or infrastructure).
- Enhance the technical skills of individuals involved in the planning, developing, and maintaining urban and community forestry programs.
- Expand existing research intended to improve understanding of southwestern (a) tree growth and maintenance, tree physiology and morphology, and species adaptations; and (b) the role of urban trees in conserving energy and mitigating the urban heat island.

All projects selected for funding should be completed within one year and a final project presentation is required at the annual Community Forestry Grantee Showcase that is held every fall.

Are You Ready to Solve a Problem?

We’re ready to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time.

We are open to ideas that identify a single problem and its proposed solution. We welcome applications from around the world as well as from both nonprofit and for-profit organizations (subject to the rules that govern private foundations). We hope to inspire a wide range of applications that propose real, measurable solutions to significant problems from any field or sector

The National Park Service’s (NPS) History of Equal Rights Grant Program (HER) will preserve sites related to the struggle of all Americans to achieve equal rights. HER grants are funded by the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), administered by the NPS, and will fund a broad range of preservation projects for historic sites including: architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and physical preservation to structures. Grants are awarded through a competitive process and do not require non-Federal match.

The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) (Headquarters) Aquatic Resources Program protects and restores riparian and wetland areas, aquatic habitats, and water resources to provide functioning ecosystems for a combination of balanced and diverse uses including fish and wildlife, and for the long-term needs of future generations. BLM is requesting projects for the Aquatic Resources Program (15.244) that Build Drought Resilience in Aird Watersheds and/or restore healthy waters through Implementing and/or Increasing BLM's Ability to Implement Riverscape and Wet Meadow Restoration. This program also supports projects funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Sections 50221 Resilience, 50222 Ecosystems Restoration and 50303 DOI.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is proud to support the nation’s arts sector with grant opportunities so that together we can help everyone live more artful lives. The arts contribute to our individual well-being, the well-being of our communities, and to our local economies. The arts are also crucial to helping us make sense of our circumstances from different perspectives as we emerge from the pandemic and plan for the future. Grants for Arts Projects is our largest grants program for organizations, providing comprehensive and expansive funding opportunities for communities. Through project-based funding, the program supports opportunities for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector. We welcome applications from a variety of eligible organizations, including first-time applicants; from organizations serving rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities of all sizes; and from organizations with small, medium, or large operating budgets. An organization may submit only one application under these FY2025 Grants for Arts Projects guidelines. If an organization applies to the Challenge America category, it may not also apply to the Grants for Arts Projects category. The National Endowment for the Arts’ support of a project may start on or after June 1, 2024. Generally, a period of performance of up to two years is allowed.