2025 Community Spark Grant Accepting Applications

For the 4th year in a row, the League of American Bicyclists is thrilled to announce that we are accepting proposals for Community Spark Grants! Launched in 2022, this mini-grant program awards organizations for projects and initiatives that catalyze a community’s ability to create places where bicycling is safer, easier, and more accessible. 

The League’s Community Spark Grants support the growing number of local grassroots changemakers and organizations nationwide working to improve their communities through better bicycling. This year, the awards have been increased to $2,000 each. Any nonprofit organization or public agency can apply to receive this funding. The goal is for organizations to propose projects that spark change by expanding the capacity for local leaders and creating inclusive coalitions that help build more Bicycle Friendly Communities. Learn more about project eligibility here.

In 2025, 10 Community Spark Grants will be awarded. Generous support for these grants comes from General Motors (GM). Of the 10 organizations to receive awards, five must be in GM Facility communities. The other five can be based anywhere in the United States but must align with our Equity and Accessibility criteria, which can be found below.

Equity and Accessibility Criteria

The League is proud to offer equity and accessibility criteria as a determining factor for at least five of the 10 Community Spark Grants this year. The questions within the application’s equity section are meant to help applying organizations demonstrate need, establish project scope, and describe community characteristics as applicable. We encourage potential applicants to take the League’s definition of equity and accessibility into consideration and use it as the framework for guidance in this section. 

The League firmly believes that Equity & Accessibility are essential lenses through which all other Bicycle Friendly America work must be viewed in order to achieve a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. The League defines “Equity” as the just and fair inclusion into a society in which everyone can participate and prosper. The goals of equity must be to create conditions that allow all to reach their full potential by erasing disparities in race, income, ability, geography, age, gender, and sexual orientation. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist equality in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.

“Accessibility” refers to improving and increasing access to mobility options for everyone, particularly for people with disabilities. The League recognizes that not every disability is visible to others and that not every person with a mobility or accessibility need identifies as ‘disabled.’ Whether from a cognitive, sensory, or physical disability, age, temporary illness, or injury, there are people in every community who face a range of mobility challenges for whom a bike or cycle may open a world of possibilities to increase accessibility.

We will review the applications holistically and use the specific equity and accessibility questions to help us narrow down the candidates. Selection will be based on those who demonstrate the highest impact of their project for the community with the most demonstrated need.

2025 Community Spark Grant Timeline

• Application Opens: November 12, 2024
• Application Closes: January 17, 2025 at 5pm ET
• Applications Reviewed: January/February 2025
• Applicants Selected and Notified: March 2025
• Project Execution: March-December 2025
• Final Reports Due: End of December 2025

Apply Here

We hope this seed funding can be the spark that puts your next idea into action! Learn more about the Community Spark Grant, how to apply, project eligibility, and deadlines, and read about past winners on the Community Spark Grant webpage: https://bikeleague.org/bfa/about-spark-grants/