The Community Care Fund (CCF) provides financial assistance of up to $1,250 to Leeway grant and award recipients experiencing immediate and essential emergency needs.

Review guidelines here (PDF).

In April 2020, Leeway established a COVID-19 Relief Fund with the goal of distributing unrestricted grants to Leeway grant and award recipients experiencing financial hardship as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis. Since then, the fund has evolved to focus on immediate and essential emergency need funding. 

As of January 2026, $732,050 has been re-distributed in 495 grants.

Over the last six years, we’ve learned a lot about the importance of emergency funding, particularly for many artists who have been historically marginalized, many of whom Leeway serves (e.g. – people of color; immigrants; queer people; trans* and/or gender nonconforming folks; poor and working-class people; people with disabilities; etc.). If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that many individual artists don’t have safety-nets of resources to fall back on in hard times.

2026 APPLICATION CHANGES

Leeway has implemented several changes to CCF effective June 1, 2026. This includes longer grant cycles, and a streamlined application that moves away from a first-come, first-served process, which can favor applicants with more time and resources to monitor application openings. Applications will be selected by panel review and a weighted lottery system that prioritizes first-time applicants, those with the greatest need, and those with historically less access to resources. The need in our community vastly exceeds the available funds through CCF and the changes we are implementing aim to better distribute limited funding amidst great need. While these changes reflect a different approach to administering CCF, Leeway remains committed to supporting our grantee communities as much as possible.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

You are eligible to apply if you are: 

• A Leeway Foundation grantee;
• A current resident of Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County; and
• An artist who is experiencing financial hardship and has immediate needs around housing, utilities, medical, food, caregiving, and/or other essential needs.

You are not eligible to apply if you:

• Have received a Transformation Award in 2025
• Have received Community Care Fund grants totaling $1,250 in the current calendar year (2026)

HOW DOES LEEWAY DEFINE “EMERGENCY AND ESSENTIAL NEED”?

We define “emergency and essential need” as the imminent endangerment of essentials such as housing, utilities, medicine, food, caregiving, and/or other essential needs. Applicants will need to demonstrate a pressing and critical need for emergency support in order to receive funding. Due to an unprecedented amount of need in the communities Leeway serves and limited funds, Leeway unfortunately will not be able to fund every request.

HOW MUCH CAN I REQUEST?

Our hope is that the fund will support as many previous Leeway grantees as possible; to that end, we have set a sliding scale request range up to $1,250.

The Community Care Fund is operating from trust and assuming good intent, knowing very few people apply for emergency funding unless they need it. CCF funds may not be able to cover the entirety of your need – but instead, can be a way to meet urgent expenses. We know these are challenging times for many people and appreciate your willingness to think about other members of the community. 

HOW DO I APPLY?

• Applications must be submitted through an online application (this form), which we have kept as simple as possible. We do not accept applications that are dropped off or sent by mail, email, or fax. 
• If you do not receive an immediate email confirmation of your online application, it has not been submitted.
• Applications will be accepted in a rolling basis through October 15, 2026.
• Leeway staff are also available to help you complete the application by phone in 15 minutes or less. 

If you would like to do a phone application, cannot use a computer to complete the application, or have access needs that make this process inaccessible to you, please contact Gabe Loredo at gloredo@leeway.org or call 267.831.4886.

CAN I APPLY IF I RECEIVED COMMUNITY CARE FUNDING IN A PAST YEAR?

Yes, definitely! If you received CCF funding in a past year, you are eligible to re-apply in 2026. However, since funds are limited, please deeply consider how your request falls under emergency and essential need.

CAN I RE-APPLY IF I ALREADY RECEIVED COMMUNITY CARE FUNDING THIS YEAR?

If you have already received CCF funding in 2026, you are welcome to re-apply – as long as those requests do not total more than $1,250 in the current calendar year (2026). 

HOW WILL APPLICATIONS BE REVIEWED?

Applications to CCF will be accepted on a rolling basis throughout the remaining grant season, starting June 1 through October 15. Applications will be reviewed in three cycles:

• June 1-June 15: Applications received between this period will be notified by July 6. This cycle is intentionally short to prioritize those who were not able to apply in the previous cycles. Applicants who are not funded in this cycle will be automatically entered into the next cycle.
• June 16-August 15: Applications received between this period will be notified by August 27. Unfunded applicants will be automatically entered into the final cycle.
• August 16-October 15: Final cycle of the year; applications must be received by October 15. All applicants, funded and unfunded, will be notified by November 6.

Notification periods are longer than previously necessary to account for this new grant process. Unfunded applicants will be given the opportunity to edit their applications to reflect their current situation between cycles.

This purpose of this application is to verify that the request meets the Community Care Fund guidelines and that we have the information needed to process the request. In this way, this fund is unlike Leeway’s other grant programs where artists have to “make the best case” for funding. The simpler, the clearer, the better!

If you don't fill out the application fully, your application will be rejected. We will email you to let you know (if you provided an email address), so you can send in a complete application.

Applicants will be selected by panel review and a weighted lottery system that prioritizes first-time applicants, those with the greatest need, and those with historically less access to resources, including members of the Global Majority*, disabled artists, formerly incarcerated people, and/or more compounding factors.

HOW WILL FUNDS BE DISPERSED?

Grant notifications are emailed within 3 weeks of submission, or less. We anticipate it will take a maximum of 5-7 business days after we receive your necessary financial information (W-9 and payment type) for funds to be dispersed to grantees, depending on the payment method chosen – direct deposit or check.

IS THIS INCOME TAXABLE? 

Yes. All grantees will be asked to complete a W-9 tax form and will receive a 1099 form for tax purposes, if they receive over $600. Contact Leeway staff if this presents any difficulties for you. 

Please note: If you’ve received $600 or less from Leeway this year, you will not receive a 1099 form. However, the IRS will still consider this taxable income and you must report the amount as self-employment income. 

WILL MY INFORMATION BE CONFIDENTIAL?

Yes. All individual requests and personal information will be kept confidential. The cumulative data may be shared anonymously to help us advocate for more resources for the fund, or as data to help fight for stronger support of artists and gig economy workers.

ARE THERE ANY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS?

No. Community Care Funds are unrestricted, no-strings attached grants with no reporting requirements.

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions or have access needs that make this application process inaccessible to you, please contact Gabe Loredo at gloredo@leeway.org or call 267.831.4886.

We would like to credit local + national initiatives and organizations in the field for providing relief and other fund models we used as resources that helped Leeway create and launch the Community Care Fund, including Alternate ROOTS Solidarity Fund, The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), IndieSpace Emergency Fund, The National Coalition of Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER), and The Rauschenberg Foundation Emergency Medical Grants. In past years, Leeway has been able to support this stream of funding thanks to generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Independence Public Media Foundation, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, Sundance Institute, Surdna Foundation, and William Penn Foundation.

* Global majority is a collective term for people of African, Asian, Indigenous, Latin American, or mixed-heritage backgrounds, who constitute approximately 85 percent of the global population. Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self- determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.