For Applicants

Since 2004, Many Hands has granted more than $3.1 million to nonprofit organizations serving women, children, and families in socioeconomic need in the Washington, DC area. We make four grants each year, one in each of four focus areas: economic empowerment, education, health, and housing. One grantee receives the Many Hands $100,000 Impact Grant, and three receive Many Hands Partner Grants, the value of which depends on annual fundraising. In 2024, each Partner Grant was $69,000.  All grants provide unrestricted funding, which may be used for operating, program, or capital expenses.

To read about past Many Hands grant recipients, click here.

Selected FAQs

Many Hands supports organizations serving women, children, and families in socioeconomic need. Organizations that serve only men or primarily men are not eligible for funding.

No. Our budget requirements apply to the organization that is seeking funding, not any intended use of a Many Hands grant.

No. We accept applications only from organizations that have been in operation for five years or more. We look forward to receiving your application once you have reached the five-year mark.

No. Beginning with the 2025 grant cycle, Many Hands will assign a focus area to each applicant.

Many Hands will review your application to determine whether your organization meets all eligibility criteria, and will contact you if we have questions. We will notify all applicants about the outcome of the eligibility review by mid-February 2024.

Click on the link to our online portal, which will be posted on the Many Hands website grants page from December 1, 2023, at 9:00 am, through January 19, 2024, and enter the following information:

  • An email address (This will be your username and user account ID.)
  • Your contact information
  • Your organization’s information, including EIN/Tax ID number
  • Contact information for the organization’s executive director

If you applied for a Many Hands grant after 2019, you have already created an account in Foundant, which you may continue to use. If you applied for a Many Hands grant prior to 2019, you must now create an online account.

The 2024 grant cycle application is now closed.

 We will begin accepting applications for the next grant cycle in January 2025. Join our mailing list to receive updates on Many Hands’ grant process.

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With the grant of $100,000 from Many Hands, College Bound for the very first time was able to support our alumni to and through college completion.

Thanks to the amazing women at Many Hands for standing with Friends of Guest House to give our women returning from incarceration a better start.

Many Hands’ investment in our work means we have a small army of committed, connected, and caring women who are rooting for us, helping us, and sharing our work far and wide.

With your $100,000 grant, you have chosen to confront and elevate the issue of child sexual abuse in our community. This grant is bold, courageous, and impactful.

Funders like Many Hands are so respected. The stamp of approval of Many Hands is wonderful!

Because of you, women are getting jobs, learning new skills, improving their health, achieving financial stability, and ending their homelessness for good.

Support from Many Hands is truly transformative for Access Youth. Because of this grant, Access Youth is launching our peer mediation programming as part of our four-year model of student support.

Your grant allowed us to stay in [Stanton Elementary School]. It was because of your commitment to collective giving and your understanding of the value of trust-based philanthropy that I was able to make decisions that allowed us to continue to serve the community.

Thanks to this critical grant, our beneficiaries can go from working long hours in multiple low-paying jobs to make ends meet to building a family-sustaining career that leaves them time to spend with their loved ones.