Grants FAQs

Yes. HFL will not fund  

• Underwriting for an organization’s annual appeals/solicitations, special events, or general fundraising. 

• Organizations that discriminate in any way based on participation or membership in a specific religious faith, race, gender, citizenship status, sexual orientation, age, or disability. 

• Faith-based organizations will be considered so long as the grant funds are used for projects/programs that are offered to individuals regardless of their religious affiliation, race, gender, citizenship status, sexual orientation, age, or disability. 

• Endowments. 

• Requests from individuals. 

• Associations of property owners, homeowners, condominiums, etc. 

• Lobbying or the support of any political candidate, political party, or political activity. 

No. HFL currently does not have a guideline regarding the number of grant applications that an organization can submit in a year. This may change in the future.

Yes. HFL recognizes that the work partners do in the community is often long term, and our grantmaking reflects that. If your organization has an open grant for a program, we suggest you wait until your grant term is nearing completion prior to submitting an application for the next year. For example, if you plan to request a mini grant, we suggest you submit an application 4 to 8 weeks prior to your current grant term end date as decisions are made quickly (two weeks or less). If you are applying for a small grant ($5,001 – $25,000), we suggest you apply 3 months prior to your grant term end date.

All LOIs and grant applications must be submitted through HFL’s grant portal.

Attainable Housing: People in La Porte County reside in safe, stable, quality housing that meets their needs and is affordable for their household.  Healthy Eating Active Living: People in La Porte County eat healthy foods and are physically active. Mental Health & Substance Use: People in La Porte County enjoy positive mental health and are free from substance use disorder.  

HFL’s Healthy Community Fund is the fund HFL uses to respond to community needs that align with our mission — La Porte County residents are healthy and well — and that might not align with our focus areas. The Healthy Community Fund is designed to be responsive to community needs and provides three types of grants: mini grants, small grants, and medium grants. 

Mini grants are up to $5,000 and are designed to respond rapidly to community needs. These grants support health and wellness needs in the community; capacity building needs to strengthen La Porte County nonprofits and governmental agencies; and general operating expenses. The mini grant application form is simple and should take at most an hour to complete. Mini grant applications will be accepted February 1 – October 31, 2026, on a rolling basis.  

Organizations that apply for a mini grant can expect a response within two weeks. 

Mini grants are part of our Healthy Community Fund. 

Small grants are grant requests of $5,001 to $25,000 to support health and wellness needs in the community; capacity building needs to strengthen La Porte County nonprofits and governmental agencies; and general operating expenses. Small grant applications will be accepted February 1 – October 31, 2026, on a rolling basis, and decisions will be announced quarterly. 

Small grants are part of our Healthy Community Fund.  

Medium grants are grant requests of $25,001 to $100,000 to support health and wellness needs in the community and capacity building needs to strengthen La Porte County nonprofits and governmental entities. These grants require a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) as the first step.  

The grant portal opened for medium grant LOI submissions on January 9, 2026. All LOIs were due January 31, 2026. 

We anticipate that medium grants will be a highly competitive category each year.  

Medium grants are part of our Healthy Community Fund. 

Large grants are grant requests of $100,000+ per year for 3-year grant terms. We issued a Request for Application (RFA) April 1, 2026, for the 2026 Large Grants Program. View and download the RFA on hflaporte.org/post/2026-large-grants-program-grant-opportunity-overview-request-for-applications-rfa/.

These grants will address our focus areas of Attainable Housing, Healthy Eating Active Living, and Mental Health & Substance Use and will feature deep collaboration with HFL and partners as well as supported evaluation.  

Each year, HFL awards grants for AEDs, cabinets, and signage through our When Seconds Count: AED initiative. Grant requests are accepted beginning February 14, through our grant portal. To be eligible, applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or a governmental entity. We advise interested organizations to submit their application early (beginning February 14), as the number of AEDs is limited.

Click here to enter the Grant Application Portal. The link to the portal can also be accessed at the top of our Grants page at hflaporte.org/grants.

Please contact HFL at 219.326.2471 or contact@hflaporte.org if you need assistance in creating an account in the grant portal or have any issues or questions during the grant application or reporting process.

HFL released a Request for Application (RFA) on April 1, 2026, and began accepting letters of intent (LOIs) on this date through HFL’s online grant portal. LOIs must be submitted by April 30, 2026.

Please note: The Large Grants Program will use a two-step application process. Applicants must first submit a LOI, and selected organizations will then be invited to submit a full application.

The 2026 Large Grants Program invites organizations doing impactful work in the areas of Attainable Housing (AH), Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL), and Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) in La Porte County to submit applications that demonstrate how they will contribute to achieving one or more objectives in a HFL focus area.  

Nonprofit organizations that are exempt under Section 501c(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and governmental entities, including schools, that provide services and/or programs benefiting residents of La Porte County are eligible to apply. Faith-based organizations are also eligible so long as grant funds are used for projects or programs that are offered to individuals regardless of their religion affiliation, including community members that are not members of the faith-based organization. Applications involving more than one organization are welcome, although one organization will need to serve as the grant recipient. 

HFL anticipates awarding up to five grants per focus area (Attainable Housing, Healthy Eating Active Living, and Mental Health and Substance Use), for a total of up to 15 grant awards. We anticipate that most grant awards will range between $300,000 to $900,000 over a three-year grant term.   

At this time, we anticipate awarding large grants for a three-year period through the 2026 Large Grants Program as described in the Program Overview and Request for Application (RFA) published April 1, 2026. We do not anticipate issuing a RFA for Large Grants next year. 

If you are interested in applying to the 2026 Large Grants Program, you must follow the timeline laid out in the RFA and submit your LOI by April 30, 2026. 

No. Applicants must select one focus area as their primary focus and align their application with one or both of that focus area’s objectives. Refer to the Request for Application (RFA) published on April 1, 2026, for details. 

No. Applicants must select one focus area (Attainable Housing, Healthy Eating Active Living, or Mental Health and Substance Use), and explain in their application how they will address one or both focus area objectives. Applicants are encouraged to include one or more cross-cutting strategies in their proposed work, but applicants may not apply for support only to implement programs addressing cross-cutting strategies. 

While it is unlikely that HFL will award more than one large grant per organization, the maximum number of LOIs/applications per organization is two, and they must be in separate focus areas.  

Yes. Organizations may apply for a large grant even if they have applied for or received a grant from the Healthy Community Fund.  

HFL is here to be a resource throughout the application process. Applicants may contact us by email at contact@hflaporte.org or phone at 219.326.2471. Applicants can also visit us at our Grants Office Hours. 

HFL hosts Grants Office Hours on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 3-4 pm CT. Organizations are welcome to visit us in person at our offices at 140 E Shore Parkway in La Porte, or to attend virtually, which requires registration on HFL’s website at hflaporte.org/grants-office-hours. 

Letters of Intent (LOIs) and supporting documents will be reviewed by HFL staff for completeness, clarity, and to ensure organizations meet eligibility requirements. LOIs and supporting documents will then be reviewed by focus area subcommittees and will be evaluated based on the following criteria:  

• Alignment with focus area objectives and strategies 

• Project design and feasibility 

• Organizational capacity 

• Return on investment and long-term impact 

• Cross-cutting strategies 

Please refer to the Request for Application (RFA) for a detailed guide to how LOIs will be evaluated. The RFA includes the scoring tool that will be used to evaluate all LOIs.  

Organizations whose letters of intent (LOIs) demonstrate strong alignment with evaluation criteria (see previous FAQ regarding evaluation of LOIs) will be invited to submit a full application. The full application process is designed to support applicants in strengthening their project design; monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) capacity; and alignment with focus area objectives and strategies.  

The full application includes four key components:  

• Planning Workshop: All invited applicants must attend a one-day planning workshop on June 3, 2026, focused on MEL and strengthening project design.  

• Individual Check‑In Meeting: Each applicant will participate in a one‑on‑one meeting with HFL staff to answer questions, clarify expectations, and refine key components of their project design. Applicants must complete the Organizational Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT) prior to the check-in meeting (see Appendix C in the RFA). Check-in meetings will occur in June and early July.  

• Submission of Full Application: Applicants will submit their full application and all required supporting documentation in the grant portal by July 31, 2026. 

• Presentation to HFL: Applicants will be invited to deliver a 15‑minute presentation to HFL followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers. 
  • • Attainable Housing: Wednesday, August 19, 2026; 1 – 4 pm  
    • Healthy Eating Active Living: Wednesday, August 12, 2026; 10 am – 1 pm  
    • MHSU: Monday, August 31, 2026; 9:30 am – 12:30 pm  

Large grant partners can anticipate deep collaboration with HFL and other large grant partners in the focus area throughout the three-year grant period. This includes the development and implementation of a detailed monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plan with HFL support as needed; participation in the focus area learning circle; engaging with HFL as needed to support learning and continuous improvement; meeting regular monitoring requirements; and submission of yearly reports.  

Please note: All large grants will include evaluation and learning. 

• Planning grants to support full application development and planning activities 

• Multi-year funding 

• Learning Circles 

• Technical Assistance 

Organizations do not need to complete a separate grant application to receive the planning grant, but they will sign a grant agreement outlining the terms and conditions prior to HFL disbursing planning grant funds. 

Organizations that are invited to submit a full application will receive a $5,000 planning grant.  

Organizations will receive email notifications about the planning grant and grant agreement.   

HFL will award three-year grants to partners, which will be paid in installments aligned with implementation plans and grant agreement terms and conditions. Multi-year funding recognizes that complex issues are not solvable in one-year periods, provides stability for partners, and provides for deeper collaboration and evaluation. 

Learning Circles are small, supportive groups of partners who meet regularly to learn from each other, reflect on their work, and talk openly about what they are seeing in the community. Each Circle will focus on one of HFL’s three focus areas (Attainable Housing, Healthy Eating Active Living, and Mental Health and Substance Use). 

Learning Circles will provide a space where partners can think together, share experiences, and explore what is helping people thrive in La Porte County. The emphasis is not on evaluation or compliance but on learning and connection. Learning Circles make room for honest conversations, practical insights, and the wisdom that comes from lived experience and daily practice. 

Large Grant partners are expected to participate.  

HFL will provide technical assistance to applicants and partners to support planning; monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL); and other areas as needed. Examples include the planning workshop focused on MEL in June; individual check-in meetings during the application process; and technical assistance to support the development and implementation of partners’ MEL plans for projects.   

Refer to the RFA more additional details and dates.

Cross-cutting strategies are strategies that contribute to the success of all focus area goals and objectives. These strategies came out of common themes that were identified in the landscape scan process across focus areas. HFL is interested in projects that meaningfully include one or more of the following cross-cutting strategies in their design: 

1. Launch awareness and education campaigns to increase knowledge of local services, opportunities and programs in the focus areas across the county.
2. Improve transportation access through vouchers, ride-share partnerships or volunteer driver programs that connect residents to focus-area services, facilities, and events. 
3. Strengthen referral pathways and navigation supports across all focus areas. 

Yes, HFL offers capacity building support to La Porte County nonprofits and governmental agencies through our Healthy Community Fund’s mini, small, and medium grants. 

Yes, HFL offers capacity building support through different ways, including workshops and educational opportunities. 

The Collaborate feature can help when:

• more than one person from an organization needs to work on a request.
• an applicant or grantee needs someone else to upload a document, fill out certain questions, or sign off on their request (e.g., a fiscal sponsor, or executive director).
• an applicant or grantee needs an efficient way for someone else to view, edit, and/or submit their application or follow-up form (e.g., a grant agreement, or final report).

Click here to learn more about how the Collaborate works.

No.