Sustainable Communities Grants is a grant from the Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation that funds organizations addressing pressing social issues through equitable infrastructure and community-driven solutions.

The program intersects with the foundation's Climate and Health Equity funding areas, supporting social justice and civil rights advocacy, economic justice, climate adaptation, and environmental justice initiatives that improve health outcomes for historically marginalized communities.

Eligible projects include triple-bottom-line initiatives that build sustainable economic capacity, anti-hate work that strengthens community sovereignty, and environmental justice efforts that help communities adapt to climate impacts. The foundation excludes chambers of commerce, alternative living communities, and disaster relief organizations.

Sustainable Communities – Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation Funding Area / Sustainable Communities In Sustainable Communities, we seek to fund organizations that address pressing social issues and support equitable models of infrastructure so that communities can thrive socially, environmentally, and economically.

Sustainable Communities grants often intersect with our Climate and/or Health Equity funding areas, incorporating social justice/civil rights advocacy, economic justice, climate adaptation, and other human rights and environmental justice initiatives that impact health outcomes, lead to healing, and increase communities’ capacity to thrive.

This includes (but isn’t limited to): Social justice, civil rights, and anti-hate initiatives that build sovereignty, community, and resources for people whose wellness and success are threatened by systemic prejudice or injustice. Triple-bottom-line initiatives that help historically marginalized communities gain access to sustainable economic capacity and lasting health benefits.

Environmental justice work that impacts the health and success of historically marginalized communities, and that help communities adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. All of these are united by healing — of prejudice, of inequities, and of the many social, economic, and environmental factors that adversely impact people’s health and well-being.

Updated: Chambers of commerce or local development authorities or neighborhood associations, or business- or chamber-driven economic development initiatives. New: Alternative living communities. Small business incubator/angel-investor organizations.

Economic initiatives that involve biomass fuels, the harvesting of timber, or other reliance on extractive economies. Environmental justice initiatives that affect only one watershed or community. 501(c)4 organizations or any type of organization that private foundations cannot fund without additional due diligence .

New: Overseas sustainable development organizations/initiatives that do not have a long-term presence in or leadership from the communities they seek to resource. Initiatives that promote community-by-community infrastructure improvements without retaining ongoing presence in those communities are unlikely to be competitive.

Please see our recent grant history for examples of funded organizations and initiatives in our Sustainable Communities funding area. Please also visit our Climate and Health Equity pages: there are intentional areas of overlap between these funding areas, and something that may not seem like a good fit here may be a good fit elsewhere. Finally, be sure to review our general eligibility information before applying.

Thank you for your consideration.