“What’s Next, America?” Community Grant Fund

• Convening local partners
• Recruiting hosts, facilitators, and participants
• Outreach and communications
• Food, childcare, transportation, language translation or interpretation, accessibility, or other participation supports
• Hosting What’s Next, America? conversations
• Documenting early stories, reflections, or lessons learned

• Local civic action projects identified through “What’s Next, America?” discussions
• Youth-led, intergenerational, neighborhood, campus-community, or cross-sector civic action efforts
• Nonpartisan civic teams, working groups, coalitions, or community action networks
• Local tools, resources, communications, or storytelling connected to “What’s Next, America?”-generated projects
• Materials, coordination, outreach, accessibility, or logistics needed to carry out a local civic action project

• Community-based organizations
• Local civic groups or coalitions
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Libraries
• Museums or historic sites
• Community foundations
• Local governments or public agencies working in a nonpartisan civic capacity
• Faith-based or neighborhood organizations, provided funds are used for nonpartisan, nonreligious civic purposes
• Informal community teams, neighborhood groups, or local coalitions working with an eligible fiscal sponsor

• Basic applicant or organization information
• Community or geographic focus
• Brief description of the proposed “What’s Next, America?” activity
• Local partners involved
• Intended use of funds
• Proposed timeline
• Commitment to nonpartisanship
• Agreement to share basic learning, stories, and outcomes with NIFI

• Supporting or opposing candidates, political parties, campaigns, PACs, or partisan organizations
• Campaign contributions or electioneering
• Lobbying or grassroots lobbying
• Ballot measure advocacy
• Policy advocacy campaigns designed to influence legislation, regulation, administrative action, budget decisions, or official government action
• Candidate forums, campaign events, partisan voter activity, or voter persuasion
• Litigation or legal advocacy
• Direct support for protests, demonstrations, rallies, or marches
• Religious worship, religious instruction, or proselytizing
• General operating support unrelated to the approved WNA project
• Activities that primarily benefit a private individual, business, candidate, party, or organization rather than the broader community

No. Communities may adapt or localize the name to fit their place, such as “What’s Next, [Community Name]?” Applicants should still connect the work to the broader “What’s Next, America?” initiative.

For Spark Grants, no. Spark Grants are designed to help communities prepare and begin. For Civic Action Grants, communities should have completed the community discussion portion of “What’s Next, America?” and have hosted, or be preparing to host, an action summit.

A civic action is something people do together to address a shared concern or opportunity in their community. It might be a new project, a working group, a youth-led effort, a community event series, a shared resource, or another locally designed response that grows out of “What’s Next, America?” conversations.

Past “What’s Next” efforts have included projects such as a junior city council to strengthen youth participation, a Narcotics Anonymous chapter in a community facing addiction, and an arts festival that helped bring out a community’s cultural assets and entrepreneurial strengths.

Applicants must either be an eligible nonprofit organization or apply through an eligible fiscal sponsor or partner organization that can receive and manage grant funds. Informal community teams, neighborhood groups, local coalitions, and other groups without 501(c)(3) status may still apply, but they will need a fiscal sponsor. If you are having trouble identifying an appropriate fiscal sponsor, please contact us at dharfmann@nifi.org.

A fiscal sponsor is an eligible organization, often a nonprofit, that agrees to receive grant funds on behalf of a community group or project. The fiscal sponsor is responsible for managing the funds and ensuring they are used for the approved charitable and nonpartisan purpose.

Yes. These are eligible uses when they help make participation more inclusive and accessible.

Yes. Youth-led and intergenerational projects are encouraged, provided they are nonpartisan and connected to a “What’s Next, America?” process. Youth-led groups that are not part of a nonprofit, school, college, or other eligible organization will need a fiscal sponsor.

Yes. Schools, colleges, universities, and campus-community partnerships may apply.

Grant funds may support nonpartisan civic action projects that emerge from “What’s Next, America?” discussions, but they may not be used for lobbying, electioneering, ballot measure advocacy, candidate activity, or policy campaigns designed to influence official government action.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis while funds remain available. NIFI will prioritize projects that are clearly connected to “What’s Next, America?,” grounded in local collaboration, inclusive of different perspectives, and aligned with NIFI’s nonpartisan civic mission.