2026 mini grants
We are now taking applications for funding to support impacted community engagement in the legislative process!
The Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness (MCSH) brings together shelter & service providers, people with lived experience, and housing insecurity advocates to promote statewide policies that ensure dignity and shelter for all Montanans.
We are excited to announce the availability of mini-grants that are designed to help organizations and individuals prepare to engage in the upcoming legislative session through training, coordination, and support to engage with legislators and provide testimony about housing insecurity and solutions in Montana.
This funding is intended to strengthen community participation in the legislative process by supporting training, education, and organizational capacity for legislative advocacy. We recognize that effective testimony requires preparation, coordination, and support. These mini-grants are designed to help equip testifiers with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to meaningfully engage during the legislative session. Funds may be used to support both pre-session preparation and active session engagement.
Mini Grants
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Advocacy
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Share Your Story
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Take Action
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Mini Grants ✳︎ Advocacy ✳︎ Share Your Story ✳︎ Take Action ✳︎
Application Requirements
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, with a priority deadline of June 15.
We anticipate distributing mini-grants that range from $50 - $5,000 depending on the proposed activities. If your request does not fall within this range, please ask for what you need, and we will review accordingly.
Organizations are encouraged to apply for a $500 to $5,000 mini-grant
Individuals or unaffiliated/informal organizations are encouraged to apply for up to $450 in stipends per person.
Required information includes:
An overview of your organization or personal story;
A description of the activities you or your organization would engage in; and
The amount of funds requested to execute activities.
The application is meant to be simple, as we know how many barriers to participation already exist.
Applicable Activities
If you have not engaged in this type of work previously, here is a list of applicable activities for your consideration:
Conduct street outreach to gather personal stories from Montanans experiencing housing insecurity
Compensate yourself for the time and expenses associated with traveling to Helena to share your personal story with lawmakers, including but not limited to mileage, lodging, meals, and lost income from time off work
Host an accessible training/workshop for people to learn about advocating for solutions at the legislature by sharing their experiences
Create, print, and distribute educational materials, including but not limited to advocacy toolkits
Host an event or conduct a petition drive in support of legislative solutions
Host an educational table at community events with information about legislative solutions (provided by MCSH) and commend cards
Collect comment cards from your clients, patrons, members, etc. and submit them to MCSH on a regular basis
Host phone banks calling voters about contacting their legislators
Advocacy limits and reporting requirements
All nonprofit organizations (C-3 and C-4) may legally support nonpartisan issue-based advocacy. There are some limits and reporting requirements.
If you have questions or need guidance about this, please reach out to us!
Grantees are solely responsible for complying with Montana statutes and administrative rules.
If you have any questions or concerns about the requirements or reporting, please contact ella@centralhousestrategies.com.
Post-Approval Requirements
Once your application has been approved, you will submit:
A simple budget or outline of what you plan to spend the money on
W-9 (for nonprofit organizations)
*At the end of your project, share with us your successes and challenges.
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis with a priority deadline of June 15.
Please submit questions to ella@centralhousestrategies.com.
or fill out application in the embedded form below!