Grants

Investing in our collective strength

Through our grants program, we empower our community to illuminate and confront shared challenges, such as climate change, natural disasters, and geopolitical disruptions. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on projects that support this mission and strengthen U.S.-Japan relations.

Applying for a grant

We are committed to making the grant application process as clear and accessible as possible. If you have any questions about applying, or about our grants in general, please contact us at programs@us-jf.org.

For 2025, we are moving to a quarterly grants cycle to provide applicants greater flexibility.

The 2025 timetable can be found at the bottom of this page.

We are also willing to consider time-sensitive proposals on an expedited basis. If you believe that your proposal requires an urgent decision, please provide a desired decision deadline and a detailed rationale for requesting accelerated consideration.

Step 1: Write a Letter of Inquiry (LOI)

Write a 3-4 page LOI that clearly expresses your project’s goals and outlines how the project will enhance US-Japan relations and understanding, or address a challenge facing both nations.

Letters may be written in Japanese or English.

Step 2: Submit your LOI and cover sheet to programs@us-jf.org

Download this cover sheet and fill in all required fields. Save both your LOI and your completed cover sheet as PDFs and send them to programs@us-jf.org. You will receive an automated response once we’ve received your initial application. Please allow 30 days for our grant-making committee to review and respond to your application. We will notify all candidates of their application status within 30 days of the application deadline. If your application is selected to move to the next phase, you will receive an invitation to submit a full proposal.

Step 3: Submit a full proposal

Those invited to submit a full proposal will have 30 days to do so. Uninvited proposals will not be considered.

Proposal Guidelines:

Proposals must adhere to the format outlined here.

The narrative portion of the proposal—from Abstract to About the Applying Institution(s)—should be approximately 4,000 words or less.
Proposals can be single-spaced or double-spaced.
Proposals must be written in English.
Proposals should be sent electronically to programs@us-jf.org. You do not need to send a hard copy of the proposal.

2025 Grants Cycle Timetable

First quarter Letter of Inquiry (LOI) deadline: Friday, March 28
Second quarter LOI deadline: Friday, June 27
Third quarter LOI deadline: Friday, September 26
Fourth quarter LOI deadline: Friday, December 26

We will review LOIs during the month following each quarterly deadline and will invite selected applicants to submit a full grant proposal.

For example, for applicants who submit an LOI during the first-quarter cycle, we will aim to provide notification by April 30 as to whether or not we would like them to submit a full proposal.

Full grant proposals will be considered for funding and notified of our decision following a Foundation review.