Grant Opportunities

The Governor’s Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget includes funding of the Rural Maryland Council and their grant programs, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund (MAERDAF), and the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund (RMPIF) in the amount of $9,000,000. The Council sincerely thanks Governor Wes Moore for the inclusion of these important funds. 

Fiscal Year 2024 RMC Grant Programs Closed

FY2024 Grant Information Session Learning Materials 

RMC Fiscal Year 2024 Grant Information Session Recording

FY2024 Grant Information Session Presentation Slides

FY2024 Grant Guidelines and Criteria 

FY2024 MAERDAF – Grant Guidelines and Criteria

FY2024 RMC RMPIF Rural Entrepreneurship – Agricultural – Workforce – Cooperative Development Guidelines and Criteria

FY2024 RMPIF – Rural Regional Infrastructure Grant Guidelines and Criteria

FY2024 RMPIF- Rural Health Care Guidelines

FY2024 RMPIF – Rural Regional Councils Guidelines and Criteria

Grant Opportunities

The Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund (MAERDAF) grant funding provides capacity-building funds to rural nonprofit service providers. The cap for this grant program is $45,000 and while a match is not required, it is highly recommended. The Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund (RMPIF) supports the Rural Maryland Council’s operations and activities, and it also supports the state’s five Regional Councils, rural entrepreneurship development rural health care organizations, and regional infrastructure projects. A match is required for RMPIF Funding and is set at 25% match for entrepreneurship, 50% match for health care, and 75% match for infrastructure.

New This Year – RMPIF Rural Entrepreneurship has been expanded to include Cooperative Development, Workforce Development, and Agricultural Development to further support programs that improve economic conditions in rural areas through business development, workforce training, and enhancing agricultural production.

RMPIF Rural Health Care has a special addition: $300,000 to support the Rural Nonemergency Medical Transportation Pilot Program. These proposals are to address nonemergency health and human services transportation projects that must include at a minimum interregional transportation.

Both MAERDAF and RMPIF have a two-phase online application process. Phase 1 consists of a Letter of Intent (LOI) format. A Grant Review Board will review these LOIs and determine whether an applicant may move forward into Phase 2. Phase 2 is invitation only. Grant awardees will be announced in August. It is important to review the Guidelines and Criteria posted on our website for the grant program you are applying for before you start your Phase 1- LOI application.

To start the Phase 1-Letter of Intent of the grant process, you will need to ensure you have an
account in the RMC Grantee Portal. An applicant can access the portal by clicking above on the
RMC logo, which states “Click Here To Access Grant Portal”. Please have the following information
on hand to create your organization’s account.

An email address that will act as your username

•  Your contact information
•  Your organization’s or fiscal sponsor’s information, including the EIN/Tax ID number
•  Your organization’s website URL
•  Your organization’s Executive Officer’s contact information

Please retain a record of your login information as you will need it in the future to access your
in‐progress applications and your online application history. If at any time you forget your password,
simply click ‘Forgot Password’ and you can easily generate a new one.

New Grant Portal Features:

1. One Application New Name – FY2024 Grant Opportunities

• Under Grant Opportunity Selection you will select MAERDAF or RMPIF.
• Please read the instructions associated with certain areas of the application carefully as
  there are certain parameters associated with the different types of grants. E.g., Amount
  Requesting – You can only ask for up to $45,000 in the MAERDAF grant program.

2. ‘Collaborator’ Feature: The Collaborator feature allows applicants to work together on a single
request. Once an applicant has started the grant process, they will see the Collaborate button at the
top of the page. This can be used to invite other people to work on this request. Please see the
tutorial in the online platform once the user creates an account.

If you are unable to access or set up your account or have any technical problems, please contact
Megan D’Arcy by email at megan.darcy@maryland.gov or by phone at 667-458-9101.