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2026 GRANT OPPORTUNITY OPEN

NO KID HUNGRY GRANTS

No Kid Hungry North Carolina has provided grants to school districts and local community organizations since 2014.

 

Last year, over $243,000 in funding was awarded to 13 organizations. Our grant funding goes to pay for everything from refrigerators to delivery trucks – whatever schools and communities need to feed kids. Learn more about our grant-making process and how we make decisions.

Using our Grant Impact Map, you can look up communities across the country and see exactly where our support has gone. Click on any icon on the interactive map below to see the name of the school or community group and how our funding went to help their local work. Click here to see the impact map.

For any questions, please reach out to Marissa Spady at mspady@strength.org and Thompson Bertschy at bertschy@unc.edu.

REVIEW THE GRANT

Interested in applying for a Summer 2026 Grant?

REVIEW NOW

SUBMIT AN INQUIRY

Submit the inquiry form by March 2, 2026 to express interest.

SUBMIT NOW

GRANT WEBINAR

Learn more at our webinar on Wednesday, February 18th at 2 PM.

REGISTER NOW

GENERAL PRIORITIES

No Kid Hungry is dedicated to ending child hunger by focusing efforts in communities where the need is greatest and the
opportunity for impact is highest – working to break the cycle of poverty and address the barriers that contribute to child
food insecurity. No Kid Hungry will prioritize funding to organizations in the following communities:

  • Communities where at least 60% of students are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals
  • Communities experiencing high levels of child hunger and poverty
  • Communities where students face unique challenges in addressing hunger
  • Communities experiencing extreme economic hardship, determined through multiple data points

Please visit the No Kid Hungry website to learn more about No Kid Hungry’s grantmaking beliefs and values, as well as how No Kid Hungry prioritizes grant funds.

Share Our Strength’s goal is to support community-based organizations and school districts in expanding non-congregate options in rural communities. Funds will be prioritized to support applications with a strong and sustainable plan for maximizing participation in summer meal programs. Please visit No Kid Hungry’s Center for Best Practices to learn more about non-congregate meal options.

SUMMER 2026 GRANTING PRIORITIES

This year, grant funding will support the expansion of non-congregate summer feeding models by providing funding to sponsors operating the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) or Seamless Summer Option (SSO) in rural communities. Grant funds will be prioritized for sponsors seeking to expand reach of non-congregate meal programs.

Summer grant strategies may include:

  • New sponsors who have previously not served non congregate meals launching  programs to operate in new areas with gaps in service.
  • Existing sponsors adding new non-congregate meal sites and/or increasing accessibility of existing sites by keeping sites open additional hours, increasing the number of meals being served, shifting hours to better meet community needs, or improving site locations.
  • Leveraging non-congregate models which have been demonstrated to be more effective at reaching kids, including home delivery and mobile route distribution.
  • Maximizing program operations to serve the maximum allowable number of meals each week and for the duration of the summer.

USE OF FUNDS

Funds are intended to support school districts in implementing non-congregate meal programs this
summer. Strategies may include:

  • Ensuring maximum student participation and improving meal quality in the Summer Food Service
    Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO)
  • Promoting awareness of non-congregate meal availability to students and families, especially for
    free and reduced-price eligible students

Budget requests may include:

  • Meal service supplies and equipment.
  • Costs of hiring additional staff positions, increasing hours for existing staff, and providing
    incentives for staff retention, recruitment, and training.
  • Technology requests, including point-of-service machines.
  • Cleaning supplies/equipment, including hand washing stations and PPE.
  • Program outreach, benefit enrollment assistance (SNAP, WIC, etc.), and marketing costs.
  • Transportation costs associated with meal delivery such as refrigerated trucks or fuel.
  • Additional expenses as needed.