Oral Health Event Grants (Mission of Mercy) is sponsored by The Patterson Foundation. Supports single-day or multi-day dental events, such as Mission of Mercy (MOM) events, that provide free dental care to individuals in need.

Oral health - Patterson Foundation Patterson Foundation Funding Priorities Patterson Foundation oral health grants support nonprofits expanding access to dental care The Patterson Foundation is proud to support oral health nonprofits that expand access to consistent oral hygiene, restorative and emergency dental care for individuals in need.

Priority is given to organizations that are staffed primarily by volunteer dental professionals and/or students. In this focus area, the Patterson Foundation will consider applications focusing on one of the following requests: Capital Projects that expand an organization’s capacity to serve individuals in need. For example, funding may be used for hard construction or renovation costs to expand clinic capacity.

Per our funding guidelines, grants cannot be used to purchase dental supplies or equipment or for the costs of patient care. In general, individual grant amounts vary up to $35,000, depending on the project goals and scope. Personnel funding Awards are intended to be budget relieving, and not budget enhancing.

Our grants aim to help relieve budgets for positions that are already on the payroll for organizations, and not new positions. We do not fund dentists or any leadership or administrative roles with organizations and focus personnel funding on registered dental hygienists, registered dental assistants, dental therapists and translators. In general, programs can receive up to $10,000 in support, depending on goals and impact.

Program support This funding can help support programs that improve on the patient experience, expand awareness or access to underserved populations or help with general operations of your organization. Please see our exclusions list. In general, individual grant amounts vary up to $10,000, depending on scale and impact.

Funding exclusions In general, the Foundation will not consider requests for the types of products or services sold by Patterson Companies, including dental or veterinary supplies, software and equipment (a local branch of a Patterson company may consider donating products), individuals and more. For a full list, please review the Patterson Foundation exclusion documentation .

Invitation-Only Grant Opportunity Along with our quarterly grant cycles, the Patterson Foundation proudly offers an invitation-only grant opportunity once a year for two non-profits.

This strategic grant, of up to $60,000 for each awarded organization, will allow our foundation to strengthen partnerships with our grant recipients, further our mission of supporting access to oral healthcare and life-changing assistance dogs and enable us to make a deeper investment in the communities where our employees work and live.

This is a project-specific and/or capacity building grant opportunity that is offered by invitation only. Grant applications are submitted during our Q1 grant cycle, for consideration during our Q1 board meeting in April. Organizations who are invited are carefully vetted by our foundation staff and must be a prior grant recipient of the Patterson Foundation.

Oral health application process The Patterson Foundation offers an open, two-part application process. All new partners must submit a letter of intent (LOI) before submitting a full application. Previous grant recipients Contact our team to be given access to our renewal application form.

2026 application deadlines Completed applications, not just LOIs, must be received by: Friday, January 16 for consideration in April 2026 Friday, April 17 for consideration in June 2026 Friday, July 17 for consideration in October 2026 Friday, October 16 for consideration in December 2026 The Patterson Foundation makes it easy to apply for funding. See how to begin the application process through our online grants management system.

Oral health application instructions Step 1: Review our mission and guidelines Programs that relate directly to the Patterson Foundation’s primary interests are most likely to receive funding. At this time, funding for start-up costs or new projects will be considered only if the grant will reduce operating expenses or will expand capacity without increasing costs. Contact us if you have questions regarding our mission and guidelines.

We will gladly assist you in determining if your program qualifies for consideration. Step 2: Create an account Select one email address and password to be used for all applications on our grants management system . We recommend that you use the email address of the person responsible for administration of the grant.

The Patterson Foundation will send all communications to this email address. Step 3: Letter of inquiry for new applicants The first step in our application process is to complete the letter of inquiry form. Our staff will review your letter of inquiry.

If your program appears to further the goals of Patterson Foundation as stated in our guidelines, you will be asked to complete our online application. Step 4: Grant application Your organization will be invited to complete the grant application once your LOI is approved. If you are a returning grant recipient, please complete our Renewal Application in the grants management system.

Your application must be submitted by 11:59 p. m. (CT) on the day of the deadline.

You may be contacted by our staff for additional information about your request. Step 5: Final decisions are made Most applications require 60 to 90 days for consideration, depending upon when the Patterson Foundation board meets to consider requests. Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.

m. (CT) on the deadlines noted. Decision letters, including award checks to grant recipients, are mailed or delivered within 90 days following the board meeting.