Grant Resources
Funding Opportunities | Grant Announcements | Grant Writing Resources
Funding Opportunities
Please note that this list is not comprehensive and new opportunities are announced frequently. We encourage you to keep updated via grant announcement sites and the FLLS Bi-Weekly Bulletin.
Grants Specifically for Member Libraries:
FLLS Family Literacy Grant
The Finger Lakes Library System offers Family Literacy mini-grants to member libraries through NYS-funded outreach services. The mini-grants must be used to purchase supplies and materials or to fund performers/presenters that support your library’s literacy work for at-risk youth ages birth-21 years. Please visit the Early Literacy page for more information. This grant typically opens in April.
Note: On November 3, 2021 the Adult and Family Literacy project funding was merged into the Coordinated Outreach funding.
New York State Construction Grants
Public libraries in our service area may apply through FLLS for a construction grant to fund up to 75 percent of a three-year project.
Outreach Mini-Grants
FLLS member libraries may receive between $500-$2,500 each year to help under-served groups and people with special needs to use their library. Applications will be due annually in March. Please visit the Outreach Services page for more information and the application form.
Community Foundation Library Grant Cycle
This grant cycle was inspired by the Bernard Carl and Shirley Rosen Library Fund which seeks to promote genuine intellectual curiosity and a lifelong love of reading and learning, by promoting greater and easier access by youth to local libraries. Eligible applicants are the 33 public libraries in Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, Tioga and Tompkins counties, the 5 counties of the Finger Lakes Library System.
Local Grant Opportunities:
Allyn Foundation Opportunity Fund
Organizations in Cayuga County that meet their stated mission of building a vibrant, equitable and prosperous community may submit a brief one-to-two-page summary of a proposed project or funding request. Funding request summaries may be submitted at any time and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Central New York Community Foundation
Offers a number of grant programs that seek to bring about positive change and impact while honoring diversity and building inclusion within and across Central New York communities. Grant programs support projects that enhance the lives of residents within Cayuga & Cortland Counties.
Community Foundation for South Central New York
For Tioga County agencies. The foundation has awarded $7.25 million in grants since 1997. Applications are now fully digital.
Cortland Community Foundation
Grants awarded to local agencies within the Cortland community. Deadlines are quarterly.
Fred L. Emerson Foundation
The Fred L. Emerson Foundation’s grantmaking is focused on Upstate New York with a concentration on the founder’s community of Auburn, Cayuga County and the surrounding region.
Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library
Click on “Library” for more information. The Friends provide funding through small grants to help other public libraries and reading rooms in the Finger Lakes region that serve Tompkins County residents. Funding is limited. If grant requests exceed available funds, preference will be given to public libraries in the Finger Lakes Library System within 30 miles of Ithaca.
Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County
The Legacy Foundation supports programs, projects, and capital expenditures in the areas of: Health, Education, Recreation, Human and Social Services, Aging, and the Arts. Grant applications deadlines are April 15th for the Spring cycle, and September 15th for the Fall cycle.
Mildred Faulkner Truman Foundation
Upon her death in 1983, Mildred Faulkner Truman’s will provided that the residuary of her estate be used to establish a Foundation to fund grants to qualified tax-exempt organizations whose worthwhile projects benefit the residents of Owego, the Owego area and Tioga County.
Tioga County Senior Citizens Foundation
A charitable foundation which provides grants to agencies that support quality of life of senior citizens within Tioga County.
Annual State/National Grant Opportunities:
Better World Books Literacy Grants
Better World Books grants fund literacy and educational nonprofits and libraries for specific projects — the front lines of the fight to reduce global poverty through education.
Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grants
Dollar General provides Summer Reading Grants, Adult Literacy Grants, Family Literacy Grants, and Youth Literacy Grants.
Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grants
Awards of $500 are given to public schools and public libraries for projects that foster creative expression, working together and interaction with a diverse community. Postponed until further notice.
Foundation for Rural Service Community Grant Program
Applications for these grants are accepted each spring ranging from $250 to $5,000. The grants awarded each November support a variety of projects concentrated in four major categories: Business and Economic Development, Community Development, Education, and Telecommunications Applications.
National Endowment for the Arts Big Read
Winners receive a grant ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, educational and promotional materials, and access to online training resources and opportunities to develop and produce community-wide reading programs which encourage reading and participation by diverse audiences.
National Endowment for the Humanities: Digital Humanities Advancement Grants
The Digital Humanities Advancement Grants program (DHAG) supports innovative, experimental, and/or computationally challenging digital projects, leading to work that can scale to enhance scholarly research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities.
National Endowment for the Humanities: Public Humanities Projects
The program supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history. Awards support projects that are intended to reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings.
NY State Council of the Arts Decentralization Sites
The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is dedicated to preserving and expanding the rich and diverse cultural resources that are and will become the heritage of New York’s citizens. NYSCA accepts grant proposals each year from nonprofit organizations incorporated in New York State. NYSCA is organized into discipline-based funding areas. Contact your local site for more information.
NYLA Section and NYLA Round Table Funding Opportunities
Many of the NYLA sections and round tables offer scholarships to attend NYLA and awards for conference programming. Visit each section or round table to view specific opportunities. Applications are usually due in August and September.
Ongoing State/National Grant Opportunities:
A.rt R.esources T.ransfer Library Program
The A.R.T. Library Program distributes books on art and culture to public institutions nationwide, free of charge. Public libraries, schools, prisons, and reading centers are welcome to place annual orders.
FirstBook
First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need.
Humanities New York Grants
The mission of Humanities New York is to strengthen civil society and the bonds of community, using the humanities to foster engaged inquiry and dialogue around social and cultural concerns. . Quick Grants, Vision Grants, and Actions Grants are available.
The Pilcrow Foundation Rural Public Library Grants
The Pilcrow Foundation, a national non-profit public charity, provides a 2-to-1 match to rural public libraries that receive a grant through its Children’s Book Project and contribute $200-$400 through a local sponsors for the purchase of up to $1200 worth of new, quality, hardcover children’s books.
Poets & Writers Readings/Workshops Program
Poets & Writers provides up to $1,500 to cover fees for author readings and writing workshops.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports new ideas about how to engage children and youth in learning and new ways to bring together community-based systems that promote learning.
Wish You Well Foundation
This foundation funds projects which support family literacy by fostering and promoting the development and expansion of new and existing literacy and educational programs.
Grant Announcements & Foundation Information
Candid – Formerly The Foundation Center. The largest and most comprehensive resource for researching foundations.
Finger Lakes Grants Information Center – Their mission is to create a resource for our local communities to provide the information and tools necessary to attract funding to Auburn and the Finger Lakes region from foundations, federal, state and local governments and other grant makers. Also offers access to the Foundation Directory Online Professional on location in Auburn, NY.
Grants.gov – The access point for over 900 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies.
Library Grants Blog – Grant announcements provided by the author of Winning Grants: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians.
NYS Library Grants Resource Collection – Grant seeking resources for New York State Libraries.
Institute of Museum and Library Services – A National Database of Foundations and Charitable organizations that fund libraries.
NYS Grants Gateway Site – Link to NYS Gateway Portal. Offers a listing of funding opportunities from NYS.
Grant Writing Resources
Tutorials and Tips:
FLLS Grant Writing Webinar Follow-Up – This 2019 session covered tips for success, persuasive writing, top reasons for denied proposals, and available resources. Recording available.
Candid Training – Learning opportunities designed to develop skills, practices, and behaviors which best prepare people working in the social sector for success (some are free).
Candid Proposal Writing – Build the essential knowledge and skills to craft effective grant proposals.
Outcome-Based Evaluation Basics – Learn the basics of OBE, brought to you by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Purdue OWL: Grant Writing – This resource provides general guidelines for grant writing in general and in the scientific disciplines.
Links for Calculating Local Statistics/Data:
Census Data – The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy.
Census Quick Facts – Basic statistical data for counties and selected cities.
City-Data – Stats about all US cities.
Diversity Data Kids – Explore hundreds of measures of child well-being and policy analysis from a unique information source that documents diversity, opportunity, and equity among US children.
FLLS Advocacy – Statistics about public libraries.
Kids Count Data Center – KIDS COUNT is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the well-being of children in the United States.
National Center for Education Statistics – The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
NYS Free and Reduced Lunch Statistics – Select the County, change the Claim Period to Dec, change School Year to 2022-2023, check the School box under Public, and click Find to see stats as of December 2022. Change the dates as appropriate.
NYS Dept of Labor Statistics – Unemployment and job rates.
NYSED Data Site – This site provides a first step in publicly reporting educational data so all interested parties can be better informed as they work to advance student achievement.
Policy Map – Easy-to-use online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs, and more in communities across the US.
FLLS Professional Development Collection:
FLLS offers grant writing resources in our professional development collection, available via the catalog.
Use the search terms “library grant writing” or “grant writing.”
