Innovation Matters, Funding Opportunities, 09/18/2025

Funding

Funding Opportunities for Infrastructure

Community Facilities Direct Loan Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. Projects include fire and rescue stations, town halls, health care clinics and hospitals. Application deadline: Open

Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development provides loan guarantees to eligible lenders to develop essential community facilities (CF) in rural areas. Examples of community facilities include health care facilities, buildings like town halls, and public safety facilities such as fire departments. Application deadline: Open

Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans & Loan Guarantees
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development offers financial assistance to eligible service providers that will construct, improve, or expand telecommunication and broadband networks in rural areas. Application deadline: Open

Water and Waste Disposal Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage and solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in eligible rural areas. Application deadline: Open

Water and Waste Disposal Pre-development Planning Grants
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development offers grants to help eligible low-income, rural communities plan and develop applications for the Water and Waste Disposal loan/grant and loan guarantee programs. Application deadline: Open

Funding Opportunities Supporting
Community and Economic Development

Distributed Generation Energy Project Financing
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development provides loans and loan guarantees to energy developers for distributed energy projects that provide wholesale or retail electricity to electric utilities serving rural communities. Application deadline: Open

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development provides loans to utilities that provide retail electric service to help consumers save money, reduce the need to purchase or generate energy, reduce electricity emissions, and help strengthen rural economies through energy efficiency and conservation projects. Application deadline: Open

Brownfields Job training programBrownfields Job Training Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
EPA provides funding to eligible entities, including nonprofits, to help unemployed and underemployed residents prepare for careers in environmental cleanup and sustainable redevelopment. Application deadline: 9/26/2025

Coastal Program
U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)
The U.S. DOI Fish and Wildlife Service offers this community-based program which provides technical and financial support to address conservation challenges of priority coastal ecosystems through cooperative agreements. The goal is to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitats on both public and private lands. Application deadline: 9/30/2025

Rural Hospital Stabilization Program 
National Rural Health Resource Center
A federally funded program that offers assistance to rural hospitals, at no cost to them, to help improve their financial stability by enhancing or expanding health care services that meet community needs. Application deadline: Open, rolling basis

Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program
A federally funded initiative that offers comprehensive technical assistance to rural hospitals to address financial and operational challenges and maintain essential health services for their communities. Application deadline: 9/30/2025