Rural Grants

There are numerous rural health grant opportunities aimed at improving the quality of health care in rural areas—made available to hospitals in the form of public grants, federally-funded demonstration projects, and private grants.

Grant Clearing Houses or Intermediaries

The single best resource for federal funding of rural health grant programs is Grants.gov. Use the “Search Grants” drop down menu to identify rural health grant opportunities by agency (e.g. HRSA or CMS). Grants.gov is an E-Government initiative operating under the governance of the Office of Management and Budget. Today, the Grants.gov system houses information on over 1,000 grant programs and vets grant applications for federal grant-making agencies.

HHS Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website currently displays detailed descriptions on grants. The Grants by Location – US by Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan report provides grant data sorted by the Fiscal Year, Organization, State, and County Classification. Grant award distribution can be further refined by selection of Metropolitan, Non-Metropolitan, or Unknown grouping parameters, using the definitions provided by OMB's county-wide designations.

HRSA, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy provides technical assistance and support to states to help address the unique needs of rural hospitals. Find out HRSA’s current rural funding opportunities and more on their website.

The Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) lists rural funding and grant opportunities by type, sponsor, topic and state. The RHIhub website provides summaries of the latest and ongoing funding and opportunities for rural communities, including federal, state, and foundation opportunities.

The Rural Business Cooperative Service is another excellent resource on grants to improve the economic condition of rural areas through cooperative development.

The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) offers the COVID-19 Funding Sources Impacting Rural Providers guide. This funding resource supports rural health care providers, along with their state and local partners, navigate the availability of federal funds for COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery efforts. Each funding source is described in its own section with an executive summary followed by further detail on the use of funds, reporting requirements, hyperlinks to the legislation and detailed information.

Another general resource is the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. A search for rural health, hospital or development will lead you to current funding opportunities.

The Rural Philanthropy Toolkit provides a wealth of information about philanthropy and how foundations and rural communities are working together to build capacity, support economic development, increase access to healthcare, and provide much needed wrap-around services. This toolkit compiles emerging practices and resources to support rural communities seeking to build relationships with philanthropies across the United States.

Opportunities to apply for grants, guaranteed mortgages or loans may be found at:

The journal Health Affairs published a reference “Foundation Funding to Improve Rural Health Care,” in its November 2017 issue. What’s unique is the sampling of foundation funding in rural health that references Helmsley, RWJF, Commonwealth Fund, and more.

Rural issues