Eligibility
- Organizations must be able to provide evidence of tax-exempt status as defined by IRS code 501(c)(3) and public charity status under IRS Section 509.
- For medical care, Trust policy is to support organizations serving residents of Washington, D.C.
- The Trust does not fund endowments, building programs, or capital campaigns.
- The Trust does not make awards for scholarships to individuals or to institutions on behalf of individuals.
Learn more about what the Trust supports.
Application Process
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Complete a Letter of Inquiry (LOI):
- First-time applicants must go through a two-step process and first create a new account and complete an LOI through the online grant application system.
- The trustees will then inform the potential new applicant as to whether formal submission of a proposal would be appropriate.
- If you have received a grant from the Stewart Trust within the last three years, you automatically pre-qualify and do not need to submit an LOI.
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Logon to the application system:
- All prospective grantees, LOI approved or if you received a grant within the last three years must submit an application through the online grant application system.
- Returning applicants can logon to the system with their existing credentials.
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Complete your application:
- Provide general information about your organization—name, address, annual budget, mission, a description of the project you wish to have funded, etc.
- Attach the requested electronic files to your application, such as accounting statements, annual reports, and proof of IRS tax-exempt status.
- If these files are not available electronically, you can mail them to the Trust at 888 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Suite 610, Washington, DC 20006-3321. Please send an email to lrucker@stewart-trust.org to inform us that these files are in the mail. Our filing deadline is automatically extended for such mailings.
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Next steps:
- Trustees will review and assess all applications. Follow-up questions or a site visit may be requested. For applications received by the normal annual deadline (September 19, 2025), applicants are notified of a decision no later than December of that calendar year.
Timeframes and Deadlines
- Grant applications may be submitted through September 19, 2025, unless a waiver is granted.
- Grant applications submitted by the standard application deadlines of September 19, 2025 will receive a response no later than December of that year.
- Annual reports from current grantees are due February 21, 2025 for the immediately preceding grant year.
