Toolkit

Funding Kinship Services: A Primer on Federal Funding Sources

Purpose

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network produced this primer to offer service providers in public, private, nonprofit, and community-based organizations basic information about federal programs that can be used to finance kinship services and programs. Information for each source includes which federal agency administers the funding source, services the funding source can finance, and basic eligibility information. This funding primer is not intended to be an in-depth explanation of each source but, rather, a high-level overview that can be used to aid further research.

Federal programs were included in this primer because they can be used to pay for programs and services for kinship families. While some sources contained in the primer can be utilized to provide limited direct financial assistance to caregivers, this is not meant to be a list of funding sources that provide direct support to families.

While this primer is meant to provide a comprehensive overview of federal funding sources, it is not exhaustive. It is beyond the scope of this primer, for instance, to include one-time discretionary or project grants offered by various government agencies. Additionally, there will likely be sources of federal funding that have been or could be used by kinship service providers that are not included in this primer. If you know of a federal funding source not included in this primer that has been or could be used to fund services for kinship families, please let us know at info@gksnetwork.org so that it might be included in future editions of this primer.

Finally, this primer represents the details of federal funding sources at the point of its publishing. The particulars of each funding source may change based on legislative or administrative actions, and programs included in this primer could be amended or discontinued following the publishing of this resource.

If you find a broken link, please let us know by emailing info@gksnetwork.org.

Using this Primer

The sources included in this primer are listed alphabetically and are not organized by system or eligible services. We encourage kinship service providers to peruse the options to determine if they warrant further research and consideration.

In reading this primer, we encourage agencies and community-based organizations seeking federal funding to think expansively about what funding sources can serve kin. Many funding programs included in the primer are more traditionally seen as sources of kinship funding, like the National Family Caregiver Support Program. Others may be less readily apparent as kinship programs but can be used to support kinship families. The first resource in the primer, the 1890 Institution Teaching, Research, and Extension Capacity Building Grants program, for instance, was used to establish a statewide Healthy Grandfamilies Project that provided a series of facilitated workshops to help address the high risk for chronic health conditions experienced by grandparents caring for their grandchildren. While the grant program’s stated focus is on agricultural issues, applicants were able to convincingly make the case that grandfamilies and kinship families face unique hardships related to agricultural issues and should be explicitly targeted with services tailored to their unique circumstances. When considering funding sources that do not focus explicitly on kin, readers should consider the unique ways that grandfamilies and kinship families are impacted by the problems these federal programs seek to address.

Where possible, we have included either examples of programs that have used the funding sources to serve kin or advice for programs seeking to do so. Some funding sources in this guide offer opportunities for agencies and community-based organizations to receive funding directly. Other sources flow through intermediary entities like Area Agencies on Aging and Community Action Agencies, which help to ensure that federal funding meets the specific needs of the local community. Still others offer opportunities for community-based organizations to collaborate with other entities to provide kin-focused services as one part of a larger federally funded initiative.

Alongside this primer, we encourage you to utilize these other funding resources from the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network, which will aid you in securing program funding:

Types of Federal Funding

Federal funding is distributed to states, territories, tribes, local governments, and nonprofit and community-based entities through various mechanisms, each with its own rules and regulations. The funding sources included in this primer mainly fall into a few different categories, which are listed below. Each of these funding mechanisms serves different purposes and comes with distinct requirements and opportunities.