Grants
Launched in 2022, the grants program provides general operating support to nonprofit poetry organizations, presses, publications, and select literary arts service and membership organizations based in the U.S. and U.S. territories, reflecting the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to strengthening the field of poetry and fostering sustainability within the literary arts sector.
Please note that the Poetry Foundation has a new grantmaking strategy beginning in 2025. Read our reflection on our first three years of grantmaking and our future plans.
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Poetry Foundation grants
- Grants
The General Operating Support grant program provides unrestricted funding to nonprofit poetry organizations, presses, publications, and select literary arts service and membership organizations to support and strengthen core operations, including staff salaries; rent and utilities; technology; general administrative expenses; marketing, fundraising, and technical support; and hiring new paid staff.
- Grants
The Sustainable Futures Grants provide multi-year operating grants to an invited cohort of past grantee-partners. This initiative is designed to strengthen organizational capacity, expand audiences for poetry, and enhance the sustainability of the field. By focusing on poetry organizations led by and committed to serving historically underrepresented poets, the fund deepens the Poetry Foundation’s investment in equity and long-term impact within the literary arts.
- Grants
Throughout the year, the Poetry Foundation may support special events, unique partnerships, and other opportunities that align with its mission. Inquiries for special opportunities grants are accepted from January through September, and applications are by invitation only.
About Grants
Grantee-Partner Profiles
Grantee-Partner Profile
Words Without Borders cultivates global awareness by expanding access to international writing and creating a bridge between readers, writers, and translators.
Grantee-Partner Profile
MacDowell provides artists at all stages of their careers with an inspiring residential environment in which to produce enduring works of the creative imagination without interruption.
Read All Profiles
Past Grants
- Grants
The Equity in Verse grant program was established in response to the June 6, 2020, community letter asking the Poetry Foundation to address its historic cultural debt to poets of color. This program provided vital support to nonprofit poetry and literary organizations, including presses and publications, that were led and staffed by or serving Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).
- Grants
The Poetry Programs, Partnerships, and Innovation grant program supported nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing the field of poetry through key priorities, including broadening audiences for poetry, increasing access, fostering new collaborations and partnerships, and driving innovations, such as investments in new technologies.
- Grants
Building on the COVID-19 pandemic relief funding awarded in 2020 and 2021, the 2022 Renewal and Recovery grant program provided a final round of funding to past recipients to support continued recovery efforts.
Other Ways We Fund Poetry
The Poetry Foundation offers annual awards that honor and celebrate the accomplishments of poets throughout various stages of their writing careers.
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships are awarded annually to support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age.
Poetry does not charge fees to submit and it compensates all contributors for work it publishes.
Poetry awards prizes annually for work published in the magazine during the preceding year.