Health Equity Advocacy Grant Opportunity
Request for Proposals (RFP)
Overview
Cone Health Foundation is pleased to announce this year’s Health Equity Advocacy Grant opportunity to support advocacy and systems-change efforts that address the root causes of health inequities. Recognizing that many health disparities are rooted in social, economic, and structural inequities, the Foundation seeks to support organizations working to influence the policies, systems, and institutional practices that shape health outcomes.
As part of our strategy to address the root causes of health inequities, CHF prioritizes work that increases community participation in decision-making, elevates leadership among people with lived experience, and strengthens cross-sector collaboration.
This funding opportunity seeks to support organizations that are building community power, promoting equitable policies, and creating sustainable change that improves health outcomes for historically marginalized populations. Specifically, we are seeking to support organizations working to promote equity in one or more of our priority areas: access to healthy food, access to quality healthcare, economic mobility, education, and safe and healthy housing.
Defining Advocacy
Adapted from Alliance for Justice (For more information see the following factsheet: What is Advocacy 2.0)
The Foundation is interested in supporting advocacy efforts which focus on system-level change: policies, practices, and the flow of resources. Advocacy actions work toward impacting the lives of a broader group of people (compared to direct service or social service actions that provide specific goods or services to individuals). Advocacy actions seek to improve the context in which we live.
Advocacy includes a wide range of activities intended to influence decision makers to improve policies that impact health, including:
- Community Organizing, like community engagement and mobilization, volunteer recruitment, or leadership development
- Civic Engagement, like voter education, engagement, or registration
- Research and Analysis, like policy analysis, data collection, report development, or needs assessment
- Education, like sharing facts and stories with legislators and the public, or conducting informational campaigns
- Coalition Building, like convenings, partnership coordination, or stakeholder engagement
- Communications, like public awareness campaigns, educational materials, or digital engagement strategies
- Lobbying, like speaking to elected officials about issues or attending lobby days
For this grant opportunity, the Foundation generally will not fund projects focused on:
- Direct service delivery
- Clinical or healthcare services
- Emergency financial assistance
- Individual case management
- Scholarships or tuition assistance unrelated to advocacy
- Charitable programs or activities lacking a system-change component
- Hiring new staff positions
- Organizations without an established presence in, or a demonstrated track record of serving the Greensboro community
Direct-service elements may be included only when they support a broader advocacy or systems-change strategy.
Funding Priorities
The Foundation seeks to support proposals that:
- Address structural barriers contributing to health inequities
- Increase community participation in decision-making processes
- Elevate leadership among residents with lived experience
- Promote equitable local or state policies
- Strengthen collaboration across sectors
- Build long-term community power, civic health, and civic engagement
- Create sustainable systems or policy change
- Address historical or contemporary practices that enable the equitable distribution of resources
Projects should address upstream factors (such as laws, policies, or regulations) influencing health and prioritize long-term systems and policy solutions rather than direct service delivery alone.
Eligible and competitive proposals could:
- Increase access to nutritious food through shifting systems policies
- Improve transportation equity, especially as it relates to access to food sources or economic mobility
- Support economic mobility and workforce readiness policies
- Promote environmental justice, especially as it relates to healthy housing
- Increase civic participation and voter engagement
- Affect community safety and justice reform
- Improve education equity, especially as it relates to changing conditions (policies, rules, practices, and/or the flow of resources) that hold inequitable problems in place. Problems such as, children experiencing a lack of readiness for entering school, chronic absenteeism, patterns of disproportionate disciplinary reports, academic achievement gaps, readiness for economic mobility after high school
- Increase health care access and shift institutional accountability to community and/or people with lived experiences who are disproportionately affected by health inequities
Funding Information
This one-time funding opportunity is intended for organizations doing impactful advocacy work in our community.
Award Amount: $15,000 – $30,000
Grant Term: January 1, 2027 – December 31, 2027
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must demonstrate experience in community engagement, advocacy, organizing, policy work, or systems-change efforts.
Additionally, applicants must:
- Be a nonprofit, community-based organization, coalition, government entity, or other community group in Greensboro. Organizations without a 501(c)(3) status must have an eligible fiscal sponsor. (Learn more about fiscal sponsors on this website: Fiscal Sponsorship for Nonprofits | National Council of Nonprofits)
- Serve residents within the greater Greensboro area
- Align with at least one of the Foundation’s priority areas using advocacy strategies and tactics that influence one of the Foundation’s priority areas
To ensure organizations maintain sustainable and diversified funding streams, our grant awards will not exceed 25% of an organization’s total annual budget.
Evaluation Criteria
Preference will be given to proposals that:
- Center community voice and lived experience
- Address root causes of health inequities
- Strengthen civic participation
- Build community leadership
- Demonstrate strong partnerships
- Have the potential to create lasting systems or policy change in the greater Greensboro area
Priority will be given to organizations serving or representing the following groups in Greensboro:
- Black communities
- Former foster youth
- Hispanic/Latino communities
- Individuals experiencing homelessness
- LGBTQIA communities
- Low-income families with a child, a senior, or an adult with a disability
- Refugees, asylees, and immigrants
- Veterans
Note: Organizations serving other racial and ethnic groups are also invited to apply
Applications will be evaluated using the following criteria:
| Criteria | Weight |
|---|---|
| Systems Change Focus | 20% |
| Community Leadership & Equity | 20% |
| Strategy & Feasibility | 15% |
| Potential for Impact | 15% |
| Collaboration & Partnerships | 10% |
| Organizational Capacity | 10% |
| Budget & Use of Funds | 10% |
Timeline
RFP Release: September 1, 2026
Application Deadline: September 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Proposal Review Period: October & November 2026
Award Notifications: First week in December 2026
Grant Period Begins: January 1, 2027
Submission Instructions
You can access the grant application here. Applications must be submitted electronically through the designated application portal by September 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM. Late, incomplete, or ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
While all applications must be submitted through the link above, click here to see a PDF of the full application.
Submitting organizations will also be asked to submit:
- Project Budget
- Organizational Budget
- IRS Determination Letter or Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement (if applicable)
Information sessions
We are hosting several information sessions where you can ask questions and learn more:
September 1 at 2pm (Virtual): https://conehealth.zoom.us/meeting/register/fiJ3IwK8TomA4HG0XKFKzA
September 3 at 2pm (In-person): The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, 1451 S Elm Eugene St, Greensboro, NC 27406. Register here.
September 9 at 5:30pm (Virtual): https://conehealth.zoom.us/meeting/register/SFDefFpYT_2RTB9_RNPkmA
Questions?
If you have any questions, please reach out to Luke Wallace, Finance and Grants Manger, foundation@conehealth.com.
