Alabama Grants for Nonprofits

Growth in funding for nonprofits in Alabama derives from new community foundations, as well as several corporate, family and even a public foundation, the Alabama Association of Justice, a funder that focuses on giving through member attorneys. According to Sue McInnish, the Former Executive Director of the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation (now AAJ), who also played a role in Alabama Giving, the statewide philanthropic network, Alabama has seen an increase in early education funding that has supported major growth in that sector for pre-K in the state. AG founded the Alabama School Readiness Alliance (ASRA), which invited three other state organizations and hundreds of advocates to build a “movement around full funding for pre-K” (Philanthropy Southeast). Of other note, the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers (ANFRC), according to McInnish, represents one of the nation’s “most successful social service models available to families and communities.”

While per capita dollars from philanthropy in Alabama remain low when compared to national averages, Alabamans themselves are among the most philanthropic citizens across the U.S. Individual giving most frequently derives from faith-based organizations, which work to fill the major gaps in human services and other support left behind by contracting government and state funding.

Education and human services dominate giving in Alabama, followed by health and religious giving. Top grantmakers include Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Alabama Power Foundation, Inc., and Lucille S. Beeson Charitable Remainder, alongside a handful of others. While Alabama is one of the states most affected by climate change, grants for climate change lag far behind other states’ funding.

Foundations in Alabama