Responsive Grant

The Foundation for Seacoast Health supports organizations working to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities across the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and southern Maine. Its geographic catchment area includes Portsmouth, Rye, Newington, New Castle, Greenland, North Hampton, Hampton, and Seabrook in New Hampshire, as well as Kittery, Eliot, and York in Maine. Geographic alignment is evaluated according to where program participants reside, where services are delivered, and the extent to which the proposed work benefits Seacoast residents. Priority is given to programs with strong local reach, although regional and systems-level efforts may be considered on a case-by-case basis when they demonstrate a clear benefit to Seacoast residents. The Foundation's Responsive Grant Cycle occurs annually from August through November. The cycle is intended to address efforts that strengthen organizational resilience, build organizational capacity, and support urgent or unanticipated needs. The Foundation's broader funding priorities include Mental Health, Healthy Aging, Thriving Communities, and Healthcare Career Pathways. Mental Health encompasses prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery, and access to care. Healthy Aging focuses on helping older adults remain healthy, independent, connected, and able to age with dignity. Thriving Communities includes conditions such as access to care, housing stability, food security, economic opportunity, and civic belonging. Healthcare Career Pathways supports health-related education, training, and career advancement that strengthens the regional healthcare workforce. The Foundation also values organizations seeking to improve health outcomes for people and communities most affected by systemic barriers to health and opportunity. Responsive Grants provide up to $20,000 as single-year general operating support. The Foundation typically will not award a grant exceeding 20 percent of an organization's annual operating budget. The provided materials do not identify a separate minimum grant amount, total amount available for the Responsive Grant Cycle, or anticipated number of awards. No matching or cost-share requirement is stated. Requests that are not eligible for funding include political or lobbying activities, sectarian or religious programs, grants to individuals, loans or debt repayment, capital campaigns or endowment campaigns, for-profit organizations, and programs that primarily benefit for-profit entities. Eligible applicants include organizations recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, excluding private foundations. Public entities such as municipalities, schools, colleges, and universities may also be eligible when their programs improve health. Community partnerships and collaboratives may participate when they have an eligible fiscal sponsor. In addition to organizational eligibility, applicants must demonstrate appropriate geographic alignment with the Foundation's defined Seacoast service area. The Foundation evaluates that alignment based on participants' residence, service delivery locations, and the strength of the benefit to Seacoast residents. The guidelines do not state that organizations themselves must be headquartered within the listed communities. The 2026 Responsive Grant Cycle will open on August 17, 2026. The Foundation states that the Request for Proposals will be published at that time. The Foundation generally offers two open grant cycles each year, with Requests for Proposals typically released in February and August and announced through its website and Foundation communications. Instructions for submitting through the Foundation's online grant portal are included in the applicable RFP. Because the 2026 Responsive Grant RFP has not yet been published in the materials provided, a final application deadline, pre-application requirement, specific application questions, required uploads, evaluation criteria, and award notification date are not currently available from the source. Prospective applicants may contact the Foundation with questions about eligibility, funding priorities, and the application process by completing its contact form. No individual grant contact, email address, telephone number, or direct PDF URL is provided in the supplied materials. The Responsive Grant Cycle is explicitly annual and normally occurs from August through November. As of August 10, 2026, the upcoming cycle is therefore in an early engagement period because applications do not open until August 17, 2026. Organizations considering an application should use the published geographic, organizational, funding-priority, and budget guidance to assess preliminary fit and should review the forthcoming RFP when it is released for the complete submission requirements and final deadline.

Demonstrate clear benefit to residents of the Foundation's defined Seacoast region and strong alignment with the Foundation's health and well-being priorities. Clearly connect the request to organizational resilience, capacity building, or an urgent or unanticipated need. Consider the Foundation's guidance that grants typically will not exceed 20 percent of the organization's annual operating budget.