The Harm Reduction Futures Fund (formerly the Syringe Access Fund) is a collaborative grantmaking initiative that seeks to reduce the health, psychosocial, and socioeconomic disparities experienced by people who use drugs (PWUD).
Donor Name: AIDS United
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/21/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Harm Reduction Futures Fund invests in evidence-based and community-driven approaches to prevent the transmission of both HIV and viral hepatitis, reduce injection-related injuries, increase overdose prevention and reversal efforts, and connect people who use drugs to comprehensive prevention, treatment, and support services.
The Harm Reduction Futures Fund seeks to identify and support organizations across intersecting movements to enhance and coordinate services for people who use drugs. It supports and funds organizations that are led by and/or meaningfully involve and serve networks of people who use drugs, including in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services.
The Harm Reduction Futures Fund will award grants this Round to two kinds of organizations:
- Syringe services programs providing direct services and
- Harm reduction organizations supporting multiple syringe service programs providing direct services.
The primary goal of the Harm Reduction Futures Fund is to provide core support for programs that demonstrate an ability to provide high quality syringe and other drug user health services to one or more identified communities.
Funding Information
- Direct Service organizations are invited to submit proposals for $10,000 to $25,000 for one year.
- Multi-Program Support organizations are invited to submit proposals for $25,000 to $40,000 for one year.
Grant Period
Applicants must be able to utilize the funds within a 12-month period beginning February 1, 2026 and ending January 31, 2027.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must meet one or both of the following criteria. For Multi-Program Support, the ultimate beneficiaries of the grant must meet the criteria below.
- Racial Equity – Applicant organizations led by and serving a majority of people of color.
- AIDS United is defining “BIPOC-led organizations” as those with 1) a self-identified BIPOC executive director/highest paid staff or equivalent (or 50%+ if a Co-Director/flat leadership model), 2) 51%+ self-identified BIPOC in senior leadership, and 3) 51%+ selfidentified BIPOC among staff
- AIDS United is defining “BIPOC-serving organizations” as those serving 51%+ of participants who self-identify as BIPOC
- Note: We recognize that these definitions are imperfect. We are committed to continued learning, updating our language, and being cognizant of the ways in which race and power operate.
- Areas of High Need/Low Resource – Programs in this category and/or the jurisdictions in which they serve can be defined as (but not limited to):
- SSPs are not sanctioned in the area you serve
- SSPs are highly restricted in the area you serve
- Zoning Laws
- Challenging to get sanctioned
- Mandated one-for-one services
- Newly established
- Primarily LGBTQIA2S+-serving
- No or very little state or local financial support for supplies
- Demand far outweighs supply
- Harm Reduction and/or drug use supplies highly criminalized
- Limited or no access to needs-based SSPs outside of the applicant organization
- Serving a large geographic area
- Small program with high volume distribution
- Limited access to supplies
- Serving communities not reached by other service providers or SSPs
Applicants must also meet all the following criteria:
- Budget – Applicants must have a total organizational budget of less than $1,500,000. Note: Applicants with fiscal sponsors should use their own budget amount, not their fiscal sponsor’s, to determine eligibility.
- Geographic Location – Applicants must be located and perform work within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Native American Reservations/Tribal Lands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Non-Profit Status – Applicants must be non-profit, tax-exempt organizations, per the guidelines set forth by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with proper 501(c)(3) status. Verification of this federal status will be undertaken by AIDS United before final grant decisions are made. Organizations or coalitions that do not hold 501(c)(3) status must have a fiscal sponsor that does. Note that 501(c)4 designation is not the same. While it is possible for an organization to have both IRS (c)3 and (c)4 status, AIDS United will verify that each applicant organization has a (c)3 designation.
- Financial Stability – Organizations should be fiscally stable and viable prior to submission of the funding application, meaning organizations should have the financial ability to operate for the duration of the grant period.
- Good Standing – Current or previous grantees of any AIDS United funding portfolio must be in good standing with regards to reporting and all other grant requirements.
- Relationship to AIDS United – Current AIDS United grantees are eligible to apply. Organizations who have not been funded by AIDS United before are also eligible to apply. Current grantee status does not affect decisions.
For more information, visit AIDS United.
