Deadline: 8:00 PM EDT on the first business day of the month
Frequency: No more than one application every 6 months
Submission and Queries: asha bandele abandele@drugpolicy.org (cc: Teresa Bonomo tbonomo@drugpolicy.org)

Through the Rapid Response/Special Opportunities grant program we will provide $200,000 in strategically timed, project specific grants to organizations whose projects aim to achieve maximum impact in a short time.  Joint letters will be accepted. Proposals for the Rapid Response/Special Opportunities program are accepted on a rolling basis until funds are expended.  Grant decisions for proposals submitted by the first day of each month will be made within 4 to 6 weeks.  The maximum request is $25,000, though generally grant awards range from $10,000 to $15,000. Organizations may only submit one proposal within a six month timeframe. Only in exceptional circumstances will organizations receive two Rapid Response grants in a single year.

Modest funds are available through the Rapid Response grants program to support drug policy reform efforts that seek to influence local, state and/or national legislation.  Requests for such funding are likely to be highly competitive given the limited amount of funds available.

The Rapid Response/Special Opportunities program makes grants to organizations and projects focusing on one or more of the following activities:

• Public education to raise awareness about the negative consequences of local, state and national drug policies. 
• Public education and advocacy around pressing issues. 
• Polling leading to a larger community education and organizing strategy.

Application Process

• To apply, please email a 1-2 page narrative about your project and a budget to asha bandele, New York Office, at abandele@drugpolicy.org (please copy Teresa Bonomo tbonomo@drugpolicy.org on all proposals). Proposals are due by 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on the first business day of the month.
• Decisions will be made within 4 to 6 weeks. Grants should be received within 15 days from the notification date and completion of paper work.
• Please contact asha bandele at abandele@drugpolicy.org for further information about applying for Rapid Response/Special Opportunities funding.
• The maximum request is $25,000, though generally grant awards will range from $10,000 to $15,000.
• Organizations may only submit one proposal within a six month timeframe. The Drug Policy Alliance will accept letters of intent on a monthly basis until funds are expended. Only in exceptional circumstances will organizations receive two Rapid Response grants in a single year.

Proposal Guidelines

A 1-2 page narrative that:

1. Describes the specific opportunity to which your project is responding, why it is time sensitive, and why it could not have been planned through the regular grant cycle.
2. Describes the specific objectives of the project, your proposed activities to meet those objectives and a realistic timeline for meeting for meeting the stated objectives.
3. Identifies any groups you're collaborating or otherwise working with on this project. 
4. The specific deliverables and/or benchmarks by which the success of your project may be measured during and following the grant period.

Please also include the following attachments:

1. Organizational Cover Sheet.  
2. Copies of your current project budget (income and expense), and overall organizational budgets (income and expense) for the current year and last completed year if applicable.

Upon approval of a grant, the organization must submit the following in order for the funds to be released:

1. Evidence of the organization's or fiscal sponsor's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit status; if your organization does not have an exempt status, please include a letter from the fiscal sponsor (on letterhead) signed by the executive director verifying fiscal sponsorship.

Restrictions on Grantmaking

1. The Program does not support the production of videos or films.
2. The Program does not support the writing and publication of books and other publications but may consider strategic distribution of publications.
3. The Program does not support capital expenditures.
4. The Program does not support dissertations, postgraduate work or research.
5. The Program does not provide support to individuals. In particular, journalistic and academic projects are not supported.
6. The Program does not support direct service organizations.
7. The Program does not support traditional abstinence-only treatment programs.
8. The program does not support organizations outside of the U.S., although in very rare circumstances proposals from Canada will be considered.

About the Drug Policy Alliance

The mission and vision of the Drug Policy Alliance Advocacy Grants Program is the same as that of the Drug Policy Alliance.

We envision a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.

Our mission is to advance those policies and attitudes that best reduce the harms of both drug misuse and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies.