GO Grants

GO grant recipients are required to provide AMRF with immediate written notification of any changes in their organization’s tax-exempt status. Other than that, our expectations are minimal. We already know you’re doing great work. You don’t have to prove it with grant reports, financial statements, or site visits. Instead, we’ll invite you to meet us for coffee to celebrate your successes and learn how the GO Grant is helping you do your work. We will also serve as a connector and introduce you to other community partners in your region. At the end of the GO Grant cycle, sometime next year, we’ll have a celebratory community gathering with all GO Grant recipients.

GO Grant is a quick turnaround award of $10,000 in general operating funds. That’s the “GO” in GO Grants. The entire premise of GO Grant is built on trust — there is no need for extensive applications, reports, or site visits.

• Apply online in 10 minutes or less
• Applications are first-come, first-serve
• Instantly know if you meet the eligibility criteria
• Receive formal approval within 2-3 weeks
• Funds are rapidly distributed

AMRF uses your EIN number to confirm that you are eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. You can use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization search tool to check your status.

Organizations whose federal tax exempt status was automatically revoked for not filing a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years are not eligible for a GO Grant due to IRS requirements. If this list indicates that your tax exempt status has been revoked, but you have since applied for reinstatement, we may request the new determination letter, provided to you by the IRS. Although organizations who have had their tax exemption revoked cannot apply under their own EIN, they can still apply under the EIN of a fiscal sponsor.

How you choose to spend the funds is up to you. We trust you know (better than we do) how to best help your community. Since we grant unrestricted funds, the award can be for anything from savings for operational reserves, capacity-building, to supporting programs, projects or teams. That said, we do have the following restrictions:

• Funds must be used within one year
• Funds are intended to be used in the GO Grant program’s defined region

In addition, in accordance with our bylaws and federal law, these funds cannot be used for any of the following:

• Individuals
• Endowments
• Basic biomedical research, drug therapies, or devices
• Public, private, or parochial educational institutions, including their foundations, except when support is essential to programs or projects that align with our strategic framework
• Organizations or projects that unlawfully discriminate with regard to employees, volunteers, delivery of programs or services, or clients served based on age, sex, religion/creed, race, color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, marital status, military or veterans status, pregnancy or genetic information or project that is inconsistent with the mission, vision, values and strategic framework of AMRF.
• Lobbying as defined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC), section 4945(d)(1)
• Activities supporting political candidates or voter registration drives, as defined in IRC section 4945(d)(2).
• We do not generally fund hospital foundations or community foundations, except in cases where they serve as a fiscal sponsor for an aligned organization or in locations where they are the only organization providing mission-aligned services.
• Federal pass-through grants
• Capital investments
• Fundraising events
• Religious organizations focused on proselytization as a prerequisite for service.

This grant is available on a first-come, first-serve basis for the first 25 organizations. This application is designed to be completed in one sitting. You will not be able to save your progress. If, for any reason, you cannot complete your application in one sitting, you will have to start at the beginning.

Make sure to review our EIN requirements to ensure that you have all of the necessary information according to the type of application you will be submitting:

• Applying with your organization’s EIN
• Applying with a fiscal sponsorship
• Applying on behalf of a Tribal Nation

If you are applying under the umbrella of a fiscal sponsor, or on behalf of a federally recognized Tribal Nation, you will need their prior approval and the contact information for the person authorized to sign the contract to receive and disburse the GO Grant funds.

You have within one year of the date the contract was signed. This gives everyone the same amount of time, regardless of when in the fiscal or calendar year they received their award.

Yes, however, funds must be earmarked for use in San Diego specifically.

This fund is about building resilience in San Diego County by broadening the definition of mental health and substance use disorder treatment and housing services beyond the euro-centric “Western” interpretation. We believe a healthy community is one that supports, celebrates and resources a diverse bounty of traditions and culturally specific ways of healing.

• Mental Health
  We are looking at a more holistic definition of mental health, one that acknowledges the impact of colonization, oppression, stigma, and the lack of structural support for healing as mental healthcare. Mental health includes efforts to address systemic racism, generational trauma, and centers cultural stewardship and restoration as healing modalities.
• Community Engagement & Wellness
  Involvement of community members in initiatives and activities aimed at promoting the overall health & well being of the community. These activities can include a wide range of offerings such as restorative justice, artivism, civic participation, and somatic practices. Fosters inclusion, connection, collaboration, and power sharing.

No, this step is optional. But we will need it so we can get you the funds. After you receive your formal approval, you can provide this information through our secure online portal. Please do this promptly to avoid delays in receiving your grant award letter.

We are looking for organizations whose executive team, or at least 51% of the Board, include representation from one or more of the communities listed:

• BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
• LGBTQIA+
• Persons with experience with homelessness, incarceration, or living with mental health and/or substance use challenges either directly or through loved ones

We recognize the unique perspectives, expertise and insights that are possible when organizations are led by or include people who have “lived experience” navigating the issues they are working to address, such as personal or familial experience living unsheltered, with mental health and/or substance use challenges, or have been impacted by incarceration or the broader consequence of the carceral system.

To establish if your organization meets this requirement, look at the demographics of the people in your organization’s leadership, including: board members, program leadership, and executive team members.