Regional Resilience Grants

Regional Resilience Grants is sponsored by The Understory (formerly Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley). This pilot program awards grants to nonprofits for projects involving culture, ecology, food and farming, and shelter to foster social and ecological resilience in the Hudson Valley. The Understory supports locally led efforts to care for the region's communities and ecosystems.

Regional Resilience Grants — The Understory Regional Resilience Grants 2026 REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS The Understory has launched a new $4,000,000 grant program as part of our H. E. R.

E. (The Hudson Estuary Resilience Effort) initiative. These Regional Resilience Grants aim to foster social and ecological resilience in the Hudson Valley by supporting local non-profit projects and organizations working in the areas of culture, ecology, food/farming, and shelter.

True resilience comes with connection to and affection for the people and places around us. If we are to withstand the many social and ecological challenges we face here in the Hudson Valley, we need to do it together. Our hope is that these grants will prove to be catalytic in helping us all care for each other and our shared home.

These grants were shaped by Hudson Valley practitioners whom The Understory convened into guilds — groups of local subject-matter experts working in each area. Guild members, along with The Understory staff and other regional experts, will review applications and make funding recommendations. The fund was created with the support of a diverse group of place-focused funders in the Hudson Valley.

Truly, these grants are for this place, and of this place. We are seeking energetic organizations with great ideas and detailed, realistic, and well-formed plans to foster social and ecological restoration, resilience, and regeneration in the Hudson Valley. For this program, the Hudson Valley means these ten counties: Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Ulster, and Westchester.

Grants range from $10,000 to $200,000. We expect to award approximately 60-70 grants totaling at least $4,000,000. Most awards are likely to fall between $25,000 and $100,000.

That said, all projects will be seriously considered at the lower and upper limits. We encourage you to size your request to the scope of your work rather than to the floor or the ceiling.

Applications open: Wednesday, July 15, 2026 Informational Webinar 1: Thursday, July 23, 2026, Watch the Recording Informational Webinar 2: Thursday, October 1, 2026, Register Applications due: Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 11:59 PM Eastern Awards announced: Late January 2027 Download the application as a PDF Download this RFP as a PDF Download the Press release as a PDF Questions should be directed to grants@theunderstory. org .

Regional Resilience Grants connect people and projects across the Hudson Valley and catalyze their efforts to care for their places. Proposals should address at least one of the following four areas. Your application will name one primary focus area.

This helps us assign reviewers and manage conflicts of interest among them. You may name additional focus areas, and doing so is welcome.

Funding priorities include, but are not limited to: Strengthening social fabric through community celebrations, community art, and music that foster and make connections Mutual aid infrastructure Emergency resiliency planning and efforts Funding priorities include, but are not limited to: Ecological restoration, conservation, and stewardship that support local biodiversity and/or contribute to the long-term health and resilience of our landscapes and waterways Ecological education and programs that foster connection to local nature Funding priorities include, but are not limited to: Food access and security work benefiting our most vulnerable populations Farmer support programs that improve farmer well-being, connect farmers to one another in mutually beneficial ways, increase income or reduce costs, and/or create greater efficiencies Funding priorities include, but are not limited to: Community work related to affordable housing Education and policy improvements for municipalities and planning/zoning board members Workforce development in green and affordable housing Research and design projects addressing systemic housing needs in the Hudson Valley Purpose-built emergency shelter Every proposal names one primary project type , and may name up to two additional types that genuinely apply.

Innovation — new projects and initiatives that address regional needs and opportunities Continuity, Expansion, Replication — projects that scale up or replicate existing models and best practices, or provide continuity for important established programs Education — projects that raise public awareness of and engagement with the Hudson Valley’s food, shelter, ecology, and/or culture, or that provide training and learning opportunities for people and practitioners building a more resilient Hudson Valley Research — original research that uncovers actionable data related to the Hudson Valley’s food system, shelter, culture, and/or ecology Regional Weaving — projects that draw together groups and practices across the Hudson Valley (associations, collaboratives, coalitions, and the like) Regional Readiness, Response, and Recovery — projects that help Hudson Valley communities prepare for, respond to, or recover from social and ecological emergencies, disasters, and other crises, in both the immediate and long term Beyond fit with a focus area and project type, our rubric gives additional weight to proposals that: Meaningfully address more than one focus area Meaningfully address more than one project type Bring public visibility to issues facing the Hudson Valley Serve vulnerable and disadvantaged groups Engage community members during implementation and share results back generously Feature meaningful collaboration between organizations Include robust documentation and evaluation A note on these preferences: they are not a checklist.

A proposal that does two of these things excellently will score better than one that gestures at all seven. Tell us what your project actually is. Project activities must take place in or across the ten counties listed above.

Applicants must be one of the following: Nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization Municipal or county-level government (may apply on behalf of a municipal Conservation Advisory Council or Climate Smart Task Force, for example) Project supported by a fiscal sponsor, provided the fiscal sponsorship agreement is in effect at the time of application Public or independent school, college, or university Public or association library Your organization need not be headquartered in the Hudson Valley, but the project must be in and for the Hudson Valley.

Faith-based applicants: grant funds may support community-serving programs but may not be used for religious instruction, worship, or proselytizing. Grant funds may not be used for lobbying by any applicant. Capital costs are eligible.

Construction, renovation, and permanent equipment may be funded where they are integral to the project — including purpose-built emergency shelter, equipment shares, and farmer housing. Tell us clearly what will be built, where, under whose control, and how it will be maintained after the grant period. Site control is not required at the time of application, but it is required before funds are disbursed.

If you do not control the site by then, we will hold the disbursement or withdraw the award. Plan accordingly. Land: we fund the work, not the purchase.

Grant funds may support the costs associated with land access and protection — legal fees, appraisals, surveys, easement transaction costs, organizing, and programs that connect farmers to land. Grant funds may not be used for the purchase price of land or development rights. General operating support is not the default.

We fund projects. That said, if your organization’s situation is one where restricted project funding would be the wrong instrument, make the case in your application, and we will consider it. We would rather you ask than shape your work around our form.

Endowments or debt retirement The purchase price of land or development rights (see above) Lobbying, political campaigns, or electioneering Retroactive costs — expenses incurred before the grant award date Disbursement. This is not a reimbursement grant. Funds are disbursed up front.

Co-funding. If your project requires funding beyond this grant, your application must include a credible plan for the balance — identifying committed funds, pending requests, and earned or in-kind sources. Other funding need not be secured at the time of application, but we will look for a realistic path to a fully funded project.

Eligible costs. Grant funds may support direct project costs, including hard costs and the staff and contractor hours devoted to implementing the project. Staff and contractor time spent on the project is a direct cost, not overhead.

Indirect costs (general administration, fiscal sponsorship fees, rent, utilities, insurance, and similar) may not exceed 15% of the total request. Match. There is no match requirement.

Project term. Projects must be completed within two years of the grant award. If you are proposing capital work, build permitting and seasonal constraints into that timeline before you apply.

Collaboration. Working with other organizations is encouraged but not required. Where organizations collaborate, one must serve as the primary applicant.

Number of applications. An organization may serve as the primary applicant on only one application. There is no limit on the number of applications in which an organization may participate as a named collaborator or partner.

Fiscal sponsors may submit on behalf of multiple sponsored projects. Independent entities or departments within a larger organization may each apply. Questions about your specific situation should be directed to grants@theunderstory.

org . Storytelling. Grantees are expected to participate in reasonable documentation and storytelling of their work, for The Understory’s communications and their own.

We will not ask you to share anything that compromises the people you serve. Reporting. Grantees will be required to submit a brief project report and final financial accounting upon project completion.

The Understory developed a scoring rubric in collaboration with regional experts and practitioners. Each application is assigned to reviewers in its primary focus area and read by multiple evaluators, who score it independently against that rubric. Scores inform a review discussion.

The Understory staff will make the final funding recommendations, including all decisions about how funds are allocated across the four focus areas, to our fiscal sponsor, The New World Foundation, which will award the grants. Our evaluators are Hudson Valley practitioners. That is the point — they know this region and the work being proposed in it.

It also means some of them work at, sit on the boards of, or are close to organizations that will apply. We would rather name that plainly than pretend it away. Guild members’ organizations are eligible to apply.

Excluding them would mean either a weaker applicant pool or a weaker review panel, and we are not willing to accept either. Instead, we manage the conflict under our recusal and conflict-of-interest policies, which fairly govern everyone who touches the review — guild members, ad hoc reviewers, outside experts, and staff.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO APPLY Project narrative — written into the form; nothing to upload Project milestones — written into the form; nothing to upload Project budget (upload; optional template provided ) Current organizational budget (upload) Proof of eligibility (upload) — your IRS determination letter and tax exemption number, or your fiscal sponsorship agreement, your sponsor’s tax exemption certificate, and a letter from the sponsor confirming the relationship.

Fiscally sponsored applications will need to tell their fiscal sponsors to create an account on Fluxx, the grant software we use. Required where applicable Most recent Form 990 or audited financials — required of any applicant that files a Form 990.

If your organization does not file one — municipalities and county governments, public schools and libraries, houses of worship, and other bodies exempt from filing — upload your most recent financial statements or annual budget instead. Board list with affiliations — required of any applicant governed by a board. Public bodies without one are exempt.

(We use this in conflict-of-interest screening as well as in review.) A letter from each named collaborating organization, confirming they will take part if the grant is awarded. Required if you name any partner.

Site plans, drawings, photographs Evidence of site control or permitting status for capital projects Anything else that helps us understand the work These grants are being directed and awarded via our fiscal sponsor, The New World Foundation , and your application will be made directly to them.