Giving 2025…

Grant Applications Now Open. Empower Your Purpose… 

Thank you for your interest in an Open Hearts Foundation grant. We are excited to learn more about your work and commitment to making a difference.  For the remainder of 2025, we have two grant funding cycles.  For this cycle, we aim to award between $100,000 to $150,000 in funding.  Any remaining funds not distributed during this cycle will be allocated in the final cycle.  Our total grant goal for 2025 is $300,000.  Please find details for each cycle below:

grant application guide

Utilizing leading practices in trust-based philanthropy, below are the guidelines for the Open Hearts Foundation grantmaking program: 

  • In alignment with the Open Hearts Philosophy, the Foundation seeks to fund nonprofits founded by an individual or small group of volunteers who have faced adversity and are turning that adversity into possibility, by helping others through their work 

  • Grant funds will range between $15,000 and $25,000 per nonprofit on an annual basis 

  • The Open Hearts Foundation only funds 501c3 nonprofit organizations directly serving communities in the United States of America 

  • Nonprofits which have demonstrated responsible use of funds and effective program outcomes with a minimum of two years of fiscally healthy operating programs and successful outcomes since its founding 

  • Nonprofits with an annual budget of $1 million or lower are our priority. The Foundation will consider nonprofits with a larger budget who are beginning a new initiative that meets a new need within their communities 

    The Foundation will NOT fund:  

  • Direct aid to individuals 

  • Governmental Agencies or Organizations Influencing legislation or elections 

  • Faith based programming, sectarian religious organizations, or churches 

  • Organizations that discriminate based on age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion 

  • Building plans, improvements or capital campaigns 

  • You can learn more about our previous grantmaking efforts and partners here: Grants Provided — Open Hearts Foundation 
     
    How to Apply:   
    Step 1: Complete Your Eligibility Questions and Letter of Intent (LOI) on our grant application platform at the link below.   
    (link goes here)  
    To access the full application, you must first: 

  • Answer the eligibility questions 

  • Submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) 

    Your LOI should include: 

    • Your organization’s mission statement and strategic goal 

    • A summary of your program, project or initiative, the community it serves, and the impact you expect 

    • How your nonprofit’s origin and purpose align with the Open Hearts Philosophy: who founded it and why 

Once submitted, our team will review both the LOI and eligibility responses to confirm you're eligible to proceed. 

Step 2: Submit Your Grant Application 

If approved, the next phase includes: 

    1. Answering questions about your funding request  

    2. Uploading all required documents through the portal, including: 

    3. IRS Form 990 

    4. Annual budgets for the past two fiscal years 

    5. An itemized budget for your proposed program/service showing revenue (received and pending), expenses, and how requested funds will be used 

A complete application must include all required information and documentation to be considered.   
For this cycle, you will be notified by September 20th at the latest regarding the outcome of your grant application.  Please note that we will not be accepting phone calls to discuss the details of individual grant decisions.  However, if you have any questions about the application process, feel free to contact us at info@openheartsfoundation.org and we’d be happy to answer them. 
 
In the meantime, be sure to follow us on social media – exciting updates and inspiration await you!  


Past and Current Grants

This grant will allow CPF to support their Cystic Fibrosis patients and families.  The air quality challenges from the recent wildfires are especially tough on people with cystic fibrosis and continue to cause chronic lung exacerbation. The fund will allow the organization to provide air purifiers, housing support, and aid to those most vulnerable during this time. 

Claire’s Place Foundation:

Children’s Lifesaving Foundation

CLF’s $15,000 grant will help provide groceries and VISA gift cards, as well as distribute toiletries, backpacks, and school supplies to affected families. 

With a $1,500 grant (received $808.25 in restricted donations for our Hurricane Helene and Milton Relief Fund), Suncoast Voices for Children was able to assist a mother and her four children with bedding and a crib, after losing everything to Hurricane Milton.  The mother and her children were eventually relocated and received assistance in securing permanent housing.

Suncoast Voices for Children

Solidarity Sandy Springs

Volunteer hub leader, Linda Yanchuck and friends spent over 24 volunteer hours setting up a food pantry. Their work helped provide groceries for 300 families in Sterling Place Senior Home in Sandy Springs, GA

For those in the Conejo Valley and nearby areas facing financial hardships due to job loss, underemployment, disability, or fixed incomes, MCVFB offers dignified support through a well-stocked free grocery store 

Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank

Chinle Planting Hope

Ffor community-led initiatives bringing hope and empowerment to the Navajo Nation, including youth education, community gardens and food security for seniors.  Some of their current programs are READ Book Mobile, Bike Repair Shop and Elder Support Program. 

For programs and services, including food and housing, that promote stability, personal growth, and long-term success for San Francisco youth (especially those in Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems) 

City Youth Now

Past Grantmaking

The Open Hearts Foundation announced its latest grantmaking cycle in alignment with its Open Hearts Philosophy, which is inspired by Jane Seymour’s mother, Mieke Frankenberg. This philosophy drives the Foundation’s mission forward and this latest grant cycle will fund $250,000 to charities across the United States.

Assistance League, Coachella Valley

A $12,000.00 grant to support the Operation School Bell Program, which will provide school clothing and hygiene kits including 3 shirts, a pair of shoes, 6 pairs of socks, 6 pairs of underwear, and hygiene supplies for 5,000 Coachella Valley socio economically disadvantaged public Pre-K, elementary and middle school students.

Children of Inmates

A $15,000.00 grant to support care coordination which will help address the financial, housing, basic needs, and other hardships of children of inmates, as well as the costs of food, clothing, diapers, basic supplies, educational supplies and other critical needs so families and unaccompanied youth can stabilize and begin to heal.

Conejo Community Outreach

A $15,000.00 grant to support the diaper bank, relieving the stress of the cost of diapers, the hard decisions that low income, foster or young families face when it comes to “stretching” the use/length of time their child is in a diaper or using brands that may give their babies rashes/allergies. Funds will also be used to support more families on the waitlist.

Foster Angels of South Texas

A $15,000.00 grant to support the Life Set Program providing basic needs and life-enhancing opportunities to foster youth, ages 18 to 22, to identify and address their specific needs including short-term housing, life coach matching, job, and internship opportunities, and tutoring or academic support, and to provide them with general support to give them the hope and care they have been lacking in the absence of a family.

Kids Community Dental Clinic

A $15,000.00 grant to add a new school site to impact 900 children with free dental screenings, in clinic care, preventative treatment, oral health education, and free oral hygiene kits, helping children with infections, rampant decay, and any cavities to gain access to treatment to prevent other serious oral health diseases.

Scholars Latino Initiative

A $14,000.00 matching grant to support Latino/a/x high school students with early college seminars, leadership development, school equipment supplies, and supportive mentorships.

As part of SLI's year-end campaign, this matching grant helped raise nearly $100,000 to support college access for remarkable young people who are more motivated than ever to make our world a better place as leaders, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and scientists.

“My goal is to receive a superior education compared to what my parents were able to obtain in Mexico,” said SLI scholar Jimena. “They have given me a better life, and I aspire to make the most of this opportunity so that one day I can repay them with the life they truly deserve.”

Solidarity Sandy Springs

A $12,000.00 matching grant to raise the level of nutrition through the food pantry that serves food insecure neighbors and assures a continued supply of fresh produce, protein, and dairy, feeding 700-750 families a week and filling the systemic gap in nutrition for children and families under the poverty level.

This matching grant inspired other donors to provide matching donations and, with the generosity of 184 donors, they raised over $88,000 to benefit their programs.

Stepping Stones

A $14,000.00 grant to support the Step Up program serving 88 homeless, unaccompanied youth with a place to live and learning the skills they need to not just get by, but prosper, including living accommodations, life-skills classes including finance, safety, career soft skills, and cooking, community volunteer activities, and their graduation, when the youth will be ready to take on the world of “adulting” all on their own

The Right Path

A $7,000.00 grant to provide therapeutic horsemanship services to impoverished children and youth with disabilities and challenges from within the rural communities surrounding its location south of Drumright, OK. This grant will specifically support services for children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Volunteer Center South Bay, Harbor, Long Beach

A $12,000.00 grant to provide over 4,000 school bags filled with more than 70,000 education and wellness materials including books, science kits, toothbrushes, teddy bears, crayons, coloring books, and math tools to the most underserved first graders in the South Bay, Harbor and Long Beach schools. When the gifts are delivered to a classroom, volunteers also take the time to visit and read stories to the children, sharing a lesson on volunteering and empathy.

Bluebird Cultural Initiative

A $15,000.00 grant to support at risk youth from difficult home situations or foster care and elder community members who are often homebound or have other needs, with home-delivered meals, toiletries, and other basic needs care. The charity enriches the understanding of the history and cultural traditions of Native American peoples of the Great Plains.

Chinle Planting Hope

A $7,000.00 grant to continue to support the R.E.A.D. in Beauty (Reading Empowers Adventures and Dreams) Bookmobile and literacy program which encourages children to read, strengthen their literacy skills, and broaden their horizons.

Amber Drinen shared, "I just want you all to know, from the bottom of our hearts, how grateful we are. We would not be where we are today without the support of organizations like yours. We do not take for granted this support and we are so thankful. "

Claire’s Place Foundation

A $12,000.00 matching grant to support the Work Proudly program, which supports families in the Cystic Fibrosis community by helping participants identify and gain remote, flexible careers that they can maintain while caring for themselves or others and receiving career counseling, case management, tuition assistance, equipment for working from home, and social support from others.

Our grant was successfully matched with the generosity of their donor community!

Home Again Los Angeles

A $15,000.00 matching grant to support the Home Again LA Mobile Resource Center and bridge and/or eliminate the digital divide to make human services, such as access to rent and utility assistance, community partner referrals, nonperishable food items, and personal care kits, available to communities with limited transportation and accessibility to agencies focused on the service of women and families with children enrolled in free lunch programs in targeted low-income neighborhoods.

Home Again LA was able to more than match our grant, doubling their funds thanks to the generosity of donors in their community.

Lending Hearts

A $10,000.00 matching grant to continue support of the virtual and in-person Lending Hearts Integrative Oncology Wellness Program for children and young adults living with cancer and their families, supporting the mental, social and physical impact of cancer on the body both during treatment and beyond; the need to not only live with cancer but maintain life with cancer.

Sharia’s Closet

A $15,000.00 matching grant to provide free emergency clothing, hygiene kits, and other supplies to vulnerable neighbors in San Diego with ten to twelve outfits and basic hygiene products giving them stability and a sense of dignity, respect, and self-confidence all at no cost.

Sharia’s Closet is hosting a matching campaign for the end of the year and they are more than half way to their goal.

Sonoma Family Meal

A $15,000.00 grant to open a food insecurity meal distribution site in Guerneville, Sonoma County and distribute approximately 160 meals weekly to low-income, food insecure families, greatly enhancing their mental and physical wellbeing.

The Children’s Lifesaving Foundation

A $15,000.00 matching grant to support programs dedicated to enriching and transforming the lives of homeless and underserved children and families in Los Angeles through camps and experiences that provide academic, social, and domestic support.

CLF just started their matching campaign and they are a third of the way to their goal.

Voices for Children, Tampa Bay

A $15,000.00 matching grant to provide support and advocacy for the abused, neglected and abandoned children in the foster care system to ensure they have the resources and enrichment opportunities they need to feel safe, loved and cared for including clothing, basic human needs, supplies for school, emotional support for traumatized children during stressful and difficult situations with Courthouse Facility Dogs, and the Holiday Toy Shop.

This year, Voices for Children not only doubled our matching grant, but they almost tripled it, surpassing the $15,000 match to raise an additional $25,230. 

 

Impact Reports

Nonprofits which receive grants from the Foundation have certain obligations, including grant reporting and grant recognition. The impact of their grants and the stories of their service are life changing.

Click here to read their impact stories.