How To Apply
What We Fund Funding Criteria

What We Fund

Help For Children grants are made to charitable organizations that address child abuse through prevention or treatment.

Our grants provide support to ongoing program services, to programs looking to expand, and to new projects. Time-limited projects are also funded, such as the writing of a sexual abuse prevention workbook.

Funding Criteria

Practice Areas

Direct Services: Counseling, group work, home visits, mentoring, coaching and case management.

Education: Education programs for children, parents and communities as well as professional development/training for practitioners.

Advocacy: Public Services announcements, digital/print projects, legal advocacy or social policy development.

Research: Qualitative and quantitative research on child abuse issues.

What We Do Not Fund

Help For Children does not fund lobbying activities, annual fundraising drives and projects undertaken by individuals. HFC also does not make multi-year grants.

If you have any questions about your organization's eligibility, please contact Kartika Kelly, Grants Manager and Board Liaison, at kkelly@hfc.org.

Where We Fund

HFC makes grants in the following communities.

Region Geographic Catchment Types of Organizations Funded
Asia Hong Kong Registered Charities
Cayman Islands Grand Cayman & Cayman Brac NGOs and Government Ministries
Canada Metropolitan Toronto Area (not accepting LOIs for 2025) Registered Charities
Denver Greater Denver Area 501 (c)(3)
Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles Region (not accepting LOIs for 2025) 501 (c)(3)
New York Tri-state Area (NY, NJ, CT) 501 (c)(3)
United Kingdom London and Southeast Registered Charities
Atlanta Greater Atlanta Area 501 (c)(3)
San Francisco Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Napa and Solano Counties 501 (c)(3)
Chicago 100 miles from Chicago and within Twin Cities (not accepting LOIs for 2025) 501 (c)(3)

Application Procedure And Deadlines

Help For Children uses a two-stage process for the grant application:


STEP 1: Letter of Intent

Organizations that meet the geographical criteria in the What We Fund section above complete and submit the Letter of Intent (LOI). Deadlines for the Letter of Intent vary by geographic area.

After internal review, selected organizations are invited to submit a full proposal. Declined Letters of Intent are acknowledged.

Note that current grantees skip the Letter of Intent stage if they are reapplying for the same program. While current grantees are encouraged to reapply, they are not guaranteed continued funding.

The 2025 grant application is now closed. The 2026 grant application will open on March 1, 2025.

STEP 2 (by invitation only): Request for Proposal

Complete the Request for Proposals and submit as directed, along with the supporting documentation.

All proposals are reviewed by a Grants Committee, made up of Help For Children staff, Board members, and the Academic Consultant.

Site visits are scheduled with potential grantees. Grantees might be requested to do a presentation to the Grants Committee.

The Grants Committee, with the guidance of the Academic Consultant, makes the final funding decisions and grants are awarded.

Applicants are notified of their grant status the month before the grant year begins.

Contact

Our grants team at grants@hfc.org