The General Operating Support grant program provides unrestricted funding to nonprofit poetry organizations, presses, publications, and select literary arts service 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. 

The Sustainable Futures Grants provide multi-year operating grants to an invited cohort of past Equity in Verse 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 serving historically underserved poets, the fund deepens the Poetry Foundation’s investment in fostering equity and long-term impact within the literary arts.

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 by invitation only from January through September.

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 Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). The efforts started with Equity in Verse are being continued through the Sustainable Futures Grants, which provide multi-year operating support to a cohort of poetry-based Equity in Verse grantees.

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.

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.