Is your neighborhood/community football field in a National Football League market in need of repair? The NFL Foundation Grassroots Program is here to help.
The NFL Foundation Grassroots Program is a partnership of the National Football League Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to provide non-profit, neighborhood-based organizations with financial and technical assistance to improve the quality, safety, and accessibility of local football fields. The NFL Foundation Grassroots Program provides grants of up to $250,000 for capital improvement projects.
The NFL Foundation Grassroots Program is currently accepting applications for the grants.
Click here for details on how to apply
The NFL and LISC have issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), or an open invitation to all qualified non-profit organizations in NFL markets to submit proposals for funding. LISC reviews the proposals, requests additional information where necessary, and makes site visits to the finalist organizations. Then LISC recommends to the NFL which organizations have the capacity, plans, and partners to renovate their local football fields and to attract increased youth football programming to the site. The NFL Foundation makes the final funding decisions.
Once the NFL chooses the award recipients, LISC works with local NFL teams and the award recipients to make press announcements and handle media events. LISC then manages the flow of funding, making sure that projects move forward on a timely schedule. The proposal and review processes are designed to make sure that the capital improvements to renovate older fields and establish new football fields will have a stream of maintenance funds and the community support needed to sustain the use of the fields over the long term.
In order to be eligible for a grant under the Program, projects must be sponsored by non-profit community-based organizations registered as exempt from Federal Income Tax under Internal Revenue Service Code Section 501(c)(3) or middle or high schools. In addition, all organizations applying for funds must be located specifically and exclusively within NFL Target Markets, listed in Attachment A and serve low to moderate-income areas within those markets.
Strong preference will be given to those proposals that (1) seek to upgrade existing facilities that are in poor condition or otherwise underutilized; (2) demonstrate active use of the fields; (3) attract matching funding that exceeds the minimum required match of 1:1; (4) involve local partnerships with non-profit community partners (e.g., USA Football, Parks and Recreation Departments, YMCA branches, etc.) to promote youth sports safety and community programming on the fields; (5) provide for continuing maintenance and field safety; and (6) involve youth football programs that are currently registered and in line with USA Football Heads Up Football safety initiatives. As noted above, grants are given only for capital expenditures. Applicants may request a maximum of $250,000 from the NFL Foundation Grassroots Program to be used for capital improvements. Please see “Availability of Funding” for stipulations involved with a $250,000 maximum grant request.
Proposals are due on May 31, 2021. Click here to download PDF – Please read the complete RFP before submitting a proposal.
Since 1998, the NFL Foundation Grassroots program has awarded more than $46 million in grants for more than 336 projects nationwide.
