The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) invites grassroots organizations to apply for funding to support, expand, and/or maintain local Community Violence Intervention (CVI) or Firearm Suicide Prevention (FSP) efforts.
Donor Name: Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH)
State: Missouri
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/02/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The purpose of this funding is to provide general operating support to small grassroots organizations currently doing CVI or FSP-related work in order to meet local needs and to support organizational capacity and infrastructure.
Firearm-related deaths and injuries, including homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings, have generally increased over the past few decades and are a predominant cause of injury and death in the United States. In 2017, MFH made a commitment to address this issue. Through the FID prevention efforts, MFH takes a holistic approach to addressing all types of firearm injury and death (e.g., community violence, suicide, unintentional, interpersonal). The Foundation’s strategy is focused on strengthening a diverse network of stakeholders to engage and drive community-based FID prevention efforts. MFH’s strategy also includes a focus on strengthening capacity, elevating resiliency, and bolstering networks of organizations engaging in firearm injury and death prevention (i.e., FID prevention organizations) as well as those working in areas or topics adjacent to the topic (e.g., behavioral health, intimate partner violence).
This funding opportunity will support organizations with a demonstrated history of addressing firearm injury and death and associated root causes (e.g., poverty, disinvestment in communities, structural inequities). Applicants should demonstrate strong ties with impacted communities and people with lived experience and describe how they have worked in partnership with these groups to develop and implement solutions. Efforts that work to craft and execute strategies that are responsive and accountable to impacted communities will be prioritized. Funds may be used to support efforts such as, but not limited to:
- Events, activities, and/or spaces that promote community connections and/or healing for communities and individuals most impacted by FID
- Funds and resources to address basic or immediate needs of victims of violence, firearm suicide survivors, and/or families
- Grassroots advocacy or organizing efforts to engage people with lived experience to support FID prevention
- Direct services to address trauma and/or collective healing of communities most impacted by FID
- Resources and support to address mental health and well-being needs of front-line workers addressing firearm suicide or community violence
- Funds and resources to support needs voiced by community members
- Infrastructure and/or technical support needs of the applicant organization.
MFH Firearm Injury and Death Prevention Values and Principles
MFH’s mission is to eliminate underlying causes of health inequities, transform systems, and enable individuals and communities to thrive. A key driver of MFH’s work as an organization is to contribute toward an enabling environment for achieving health equity and target the resources to this end. In addition, specific to MFH’s FID prevention efforts are several core principles that guide the work. These principles shape MFH’s work in FID prevention, including how they partner with communities.
- Systems change: Systems change involves addressing the root causes that hold social problems in place. This intentional process focuses on transforming and disrupting the deeply embedded systems and structures that enable the status quo. They work to have a shared understanding of the ways in which policies, practices, relationships, resource flows, power dynamics, and mental models prevent and/or contributes to firearm injury and death and prioritize partnerships and investments that seek to disrupt these patterns.
- Health and racial equity: Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. In a racially equitable society, all people would have this opportunity regardless of their racial identity. They intentionally reflect on, uplift, and challenge the historic and current practices, policies, systems, and narratives within systems that create inequitable opportunities, foster environments and circumstances that drive FID, and undermine the ability of marginalized/ disenfranchised communities to determine solutions.
- Centering communities: From ideation to implementation, they prioritize the essential insights, lived experience, and expertise that local organizations and community members possess, and work collaboratively to craft and execute strategies that are responsive and accountable to impacted communities and the organizations representing them.
- Addressing stigma: They understand the impact of stigma in addressing firearm injury and death prevention and support partners in creating brave space to hold uncomfortable conversations and implement strategies to challenge stigma.
- Humility, learning, and experimentation: They recognize that the insights and understanding of the issue may be limited. They apply mechanisms to ensure they are constantly listening, learning, and adapting in partnership with organizations with deep ties to communities and promoting flexibility and experimentation for understanding and implementing solutions to complex problems.
Funding Information
The funding available through this RFA will total $25,000 a year for two years.
Eligibility Criteria
MFH uses three funding mechanisms to implement the strategy and accomplish the mission:
- Grants, which primarily benefit the grantee by furthering their own exempt purposes and programs. The project must primarily benefit the MFH service area and the organization must be in good standing with the State of Missouri and abide by MFH’s Non-Discrimination Policy. The following types of organizations are eligible to seek grant funding from MFH:
- Organizations granted tax-exempt status under provisions of Sections 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Service Code
- State or local government agencies, including educational institutions, and branches of the federal government serving Missouri
- Coalitions, collaboratives, or groups using a fiscal sponsor
- Contracted services, which primarily benefit MFH’s grantees or strategy directly. Common examples of contracts for services involve hiring consultants to provide technical assistance to grantees or evaluation of a MFH programmatic strategy. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and corporations are eligible to respond to a Request for Contracted Service Proposals.
- Program Related Investments, which consist primarily of low-interest rate loans to seed formation or growth of an organization or program which demonstrates mission and values alignment with MFH. Nonprofit organizations and for-profit organizations are eligible.
For more information, visit MFH.
