SHOT Fund deploys $5M in 2025 in emergency response funding
Read the Partner Release here.
Since inauguration day, the Trump Administration has frozen or terminated billions of dollars in federal grants and payments for farmers and farmer-serving nonprofits, triggering a fiscal crisis for many and widespread instability. Programs serving small-scale, low-wealth, and underserved farmers, as well as those related to conservation, climate-smart practices, and climate adaptation, are among the hardest hit.
According to the data collected by the SHOT Fund:
- Over 60% of applicants have terminated staff since January 2025
- Nearly 50% of applicants will need to terminate staff by the end of Q3 2025, and
- Almost 60% of applicant organizations are currently in a cashflow crisis.
In response, the SHOT Fund—a joint initiative of the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation (RAF) and the Rural Climate Partnership (RCP)—moved quickly to activate philanthropic capital as unrestricted grants to nonprofits serving farmers at the forefront of regenerative and equitable agriculture. These grants include a recoverability clause so that resources may be redeployed in the field should federal funding begin flowing again and the financial situation of nonprofit partners improves. Stabilizing these organizations – and the farmers that they support – is not only a practical necessity to preserve decades of relationship-building and trust, but also a moral imperative for philanthropy to respond and a deeply needed investment in the continued flourishing of the regenerative agriculture system.
“These funds came at a truly critical time for us. We have not had any new invoices paid since April, yet we continue to carry out the work for our farmers with unwavering commitment,” said one grantee partner.
The SHOT Fund’s first round of emergency response grants in February 2025 deployed $1.7 million to 25 nonprofits across the United States and affiliated territories. The impact of those early grants is clear: the funding allowed organizations to retain staff, pay subcontractors and farmers for completed work, maintain direct program operations, and restructure or pivot programming to preserve mission-critical services.
Another grantee partner shared how “The support allowed us to pay farmers, partners, and wind down projects in a way that offboarded farmers that we’re in-contract with – our farmer relationships come first. We were in a position where we had to pick up the pieces and make sure farmers didn’t feel burned by the agencies after decades of effort building trust with USDA.”
Since that first round of funding distribution, the situation has grown more dire for many organizations. In response, the SHOT Fund launched a second round of emergency grants and awarded an additional $2.2 million. The Regenerative Agriculture Foundation deployed a further $1 million in complementary emergency support for local and regional food systems organizations. Additionally, funding was also provided to support mutual aid, financial fluency, and legal support, bringing our collective emergency response effort in 2025 to $5 million for 51 organizations across the United States and affiliated territories.
Together with movement advisors, the committee reviewed nearly 260 applications for this second round of funding. The SHOT Fund’s selection process assessed an organization’s financial need, accountability to their communities, demonstrated impact in regenerative agriculture and local food systems, and their potential to weather current uncertainties and remain movement leaders in the years to come.
Grantee partners from both rounds of the SHOT Fund’s emergency response include:
- A Greener World
- Africulture
- Agrarian Land Trust
- Agricultura Cooperative/La Cosecha
- Agroecology Commons
- ALBA
- Alliance for Agriculture
- American Indian Movement Interpretive Center
- Black Farmers United-New York State Inc.
- Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
- Center for Land-Based Learning
- Chico State Center for Regenerative
- Agriculture and Resilient Systems
- Community Alliance with Family Farmers
- Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim: Reinforcing our Roots, Living our Maya Heritage
- Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund
- Fibershed
- Grassworks, Inc.
- Guahan Sustainable Culture
- Intertribal Agriculture Council
- Kansas Black Farmers Association
- Kansas Rural Center
- Latino Economic Development Center
- Marbleseed
- Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
- Michigan Food and Farming Systems
- National Center for Appropriate Technology
- National Young Farmers Coalition
- Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont
- Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
- Organic Association of Kentucky
- Organic Seed Alliance
- Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
- Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust
- Practical Farmers of Iowa
- Pueblo of Tesuque Farms
- Rock Steady Farm
- Rosebud Economic Development Corporation
- Rural Coalition
- Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, Inc.
- Sprout
- Tanka Fund
- Virginia Association for Biological Farming
- Virgin Islands Good Food
- Western Landowners Alliance
- Wild Farm Alliance
We are grateful to our movement advisors and funding partners for helping us move funding to the field at this critical time. And we know that it is a drop in the bucket: the 260 applicants from the second emergency response round reported a collective federal funding gap of over $190M. This response has met only the smallest fraction of our movement’s current needs, and significant opportunity remains to address the on-the-ground priorities that shape our agricultural systems and communities.
As USDA’s new direction continues to unfold, the SHOT Fund is exploring how to support this crucial work beyond emergency response grants. While philanthropy cannot fill every gap left by federal funding pauses and terminations, we have a moral and fiscal duty in philanthropy to do what we can responsively, in deep relationship, now. Across the nonprofit sector, we must continue to align ourselves with the work that lays the foundation for an equitable, just and regenerative future.
The SHOT Fund is committed to evolving our work to meet the realities faced by nonprofits, farmers and agricultural communities. We remain focused on advancing and sustaining regenerative agriculture to better serve farmers, communities, and the working landscapes we all rely on.
