Delaware grants. Found and managed.
How Delaware nonprofits find state funding, from Grant-in-Aid to agency competitions, and stay on top of reporting after the award.
How Delaware funds nonprofits.
Delaware has three counties, New Castle in the north and Kent and Sussex to the south, and one set of state agencies serving all of them. A nonprofit in Wilmington, Dover or Georgetown usually applies to the same state programs and many of the same statewide foundations. This page covers the state of Delaware, not Delaware County, Pennsylvania, which sits across the state line.
State money for nonprofits moves through two main channels. The first is Grant-in-Aid, an annual appropriation from the General Assembly: nonprofits apply online to the Office of the Controller General, teams of Joint Finance Committee legislators review the requests, and awards are written into the Grants-in-Aid Act. The second is agency funding. Health and Social Services, the Criminal Justice Council, the Division of the Arts and others run their own competitions, often with federal dollars, and many service contracts are posted on the state’s Bid Solicitation Directory.
Housing money is split by geography. The Delaware State Housing Authority handles federal CDBG and Emergency Solutions Grants for Kent and Sussex, while New Castle County and Wilmington get their own HUD allocations. Pursuit brings state, federal and foundation opportunities that fit your mission into one pipeline, and Granted keeps each award’s budget and reports on track.
Where to start
Grant-in-Aid (Delaware General Assembly)
Delaware has no single portal for state agency grants: each agency posts its own opportunities, and service contracts appear on the state’s Bid Solicitation Directory. Grant-in-Aid is the one statewide application built for nonprofits. The Office of the Controller General runs the online Grants Management System (you sign in with a My Delaware account), Joint Finance Committee legislators review requests by category, and awards are enacted each year in the Grants-in-Aid Act.
Visit website (opens in a new tab)Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA)
DANA is Delaware’s statewide membership association for nonprofits, offering workshops and on-demand courses, consulting, board and leadership programs, research, and public policy advocacy for the sector.
Visit website (opens in a new tab)State agencies that fund nonprofits
- State agency
Delaware Division of the Arts
A branch of the Department of State, the Division gives operating support to arts organizations and project grants to Delaware nonprofits, colleges and government entities whose main mission is not the arts, with separate programs for schools. Applications go through its smARTDE portal and are reviewed by peer panels of Delaware residents.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Delaware Criminal Justice Council
The Council distributes federal and state criminal justice funds, including Victims of Crime Act, VAWA STOP, Sexual Assault Services Program and Family Violence Prevention and Services Act awards that support nonprofit victim service providers. It also runs juvenile justice and prevention funding and posts solicitations through its online grants management system.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Delaware Health and Social Services
Several DHSS divisions fund community organizations: Substance Abuse and Mental Health posts awards for community-based groups on its Addiction Treatment Resource Center site, while Public Health and Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities use competitive RFPs. The Delaware Health Fund, supported by tobacco settlement payments, is one such competition and is open to private organizations.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families
The department contracts with community agencies for prevention and behavioral health services for children and families, choosing providers through RFPs posted on the state’s Bid Solicitation Directory. It also partners with the Criminal Justice Council on state-funded prevention, reading and after-school grants.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Delaware State Housing Authority (Housing Delaware)
With the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, the authority awards Home4Good grants to nonprofits statewide for homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing, re-entry and related services. It also runs Emergency Solutions Grants for nonprofits in Kent and Sussex counties and the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program for 501(c)(3)s serving low-income areas.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Delaware Department of Education
The department runs the federal Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers competition, which funds districts, charters, and community-based and faith-based organizations to operate out-of-school programs in high-poverty areas. Every center must include a partnership between its schools and at least one community-based or faith-based organization.
Visit website (opens in a new tab) - State agency
Delaware Forest Service (Department of Agriculture)
Its urban and community forestry grants are open to Delaware 501(c)(3)s, including schools and churches, as well as municipalities and homeowner associations. They fund tree planting, inventories, pruning and hazard tree removal on public land.
Visit website (opens in a new tab)
After the award
Delaware has no single reporting system for state grants, so the terms come from each award: Health and Social Services and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families write reporting and monitoring requirements into their contracts, and the Department of Education monitors every 21st Century Community Learning Centers subgrantee against federal and state rules. Grant-in-Aid awards are paid in quarterly installments under state law (small awards in a single payment), must be spent as described in the application, and cannot cover capital equipment, building work, lobbying or services for people outside Delaware. When an agency passes federal money through to you, as with Criminal Justice Council victim services awards, the federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) applies on top of the state’s terms.
Apply for Delaware grants. Or award them.
Pursuit is for organizations that apply for grants. Granted is for the authorities, agencies and foundations that award them. Our team sets up either one around your programs.
Pursuit
Find it. Win it.
Pursuit matches your mission and eligibility against federal, Delaware and foundation opportunities, including programs from agencies like Delaware Division of the Arts and Delaware Criminal Justice Council, and keeps every application and deadline in one pipeline.
- Matched opportunities
- Application pipeline & deadlines
- Team tasks & reviews
Granted
Manage every award.
Award grants in Delaware? Granted runs each round from a public application page through board review and voting, recorded decisions, payments and grantee reports, with every step on the record.
- Public application portal
- Board review & voting
- Awards, payments & reports
Local funding guides for Delaware.
Community foundations, county programs and United Way chapters that fund nonprofits in each county.
Delaware grant questions.
Does Delaware have one portal for state grants?
No. Each state agency posts its own funding opportunities, and many service contracts with nonprofits are advertised as RFPs on the state’s Bid Solicitation Directory at bids.delaware.gov. Grant-in-Aid, filed through the Controller General’s Grants Management System, is the main statewide application written for nonprofits.
What does a nonprofit need to qualify for Grant-in-Aid?
It must be an incorporated nonprofit (or sit under one) that has operated for two years, with bylaws, an active volunteer board that keeps minutes, personnel and accounting policies, and a program not fully funded by other sources. Requests cannot go through a fiscal agent, and the money cannot pay for child daycare, capital equipment, buildings, lobbying or services for people who do not live in Delaware.
Are the Grant-in-Aid rules changing?
Yes. House Bill 190, signed in August 2026, adds new requirements starting with the Fiscal Year 2029 application cycle, effective July 1, 2028. Applicants will need to fund at least half of their operations from other sources, boards must adopt conflict-of-interest and whistleblower policies, and current recipients must submit testimonials from Delaware residents they served. The Office of the Controller General publishes a full summary of the changes.
Our organization cannot afford an audit. Can we still apply for Grant-in-Aid?
Yes. The application accepts an audit, or a review or compilation of financial statements, completed by a CPA or public accountant within the past three years. If you have none of these, you must explain why and attach other records such as profit and loss statements, budgets, Form 990s or bank statements, and the Joint Finance Committee may weigh the gap when it decides.
Who handles federal housing and homelessness grants in Delaware?
It depends on where you work. The Delaware State Housing Authority runs CDBG and Emergency Solutions Grants for Kent and Sussex counties, while New Castle County and the City of Wilmington run their own HUD programs. The authority’s Home4Good grants, offered with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, are open to nonprofits statewide.
Can a nonprofit without an arts mission get a Delaware Division of the Arts grant?
Yes. Project Support is designed for Delaware nonprofits, colleges and government entities whose primary mission is not the arts, and schools have their own categories such as artist residencies. Grantees must be in good standing with the state and registered in the Delaware eSupplier portal.
Can Pursuit and Granted handle both Delaware state grants and foundation grants?
Yes. Pursuit finds federal, state and foundation opportunities that match your mission, eligibility and region and runs each application from first draft to submission, and Granted tracks budgets, drawdowns, reporting dates and compliance after the award. Our team personalizes both to your programs, workflows and reports and trains your staff.
Grant software for Delaware nonprofits.
See how Pursuit and Granted would work for your programs in a short demo built around the grants you go after.
Funder details last reviewed October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.