Starting July 2025, grantees who have been awarded funding will have to wait 24 months before they can apply for another grant. For example, if your organization is awarded a grant in March of 2026 (that is, the grant award letter is issued in March 2026), then your organization will not be eligible to apply for another grant until April 2028. The month of the grant award letter will be the starting month of the cool-off period. It does not matter whether a grant award letter is issued March 1st, 2026 or March 30th, 2026; March 2026 is the starting month. A full 24 months after the starting month must pass before applying for another grant. Grant applications within the 24-month period will automatically be denied.

​

Note, this restriction only applies to grantees who have been awarded funding after July 1st, 2025, including matching grants, challenge grants, and pledges. This restriction does not apply to organizations awarded funding before July 1st, 2025, and it does not apply to grant applicants who have not been awarded funding. If your grant application has been denied, you are welcome to apply again without being restricted to the 24 month cool-off period. It is customary for grantees to wait at least a year before applying for another grant.

 

We are introducing this policy for several reasons:

1) To prevent organizations from becoming overly dependent on our funding.

2) To lower HMF administrative burden.

3) To provide funding opportunities for more grantees.

​

HMF realizes this policy could have negative impacts on grantees who have a crisis; so we will consider emergency grant applications during the 24-month cool-off period. An emergency is defined as “an immediate need for something unanticipated and not recurring”. For instance, a request to replace a piece of equipment that accidentally caught fire.