The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened applications on Monday for 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding, months after the applications traditionally open and amid pressure from lawmakers and community stakeholders.

Applications for the funding round are due Aug. 11. This application round pertains to the $274.5 million in funding that Congress appropriated for the 2025 grant cycle.

An additional $126 million in funding for the NSGP remains outstanding from the national security supplemental bill Congress passed last year. Organizations have already applied for that funding tranche. FEMA did not respond to a request for comment on when that funding will be allocated.

Delays in opening the application had been a source of frustration among both Jewish groups and the program’s advocates on Capitol Hill. One Senate lawmaker told Jewish Insider last week that they had been pushing the administration to release the remaining security grant funding, calling the delays “dumb.”

A coalition of Jewish groups and other nonprofits also said earlier this month in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that the funding would become unavailable on Sept. 30, at the end of the fiscal year, even if applications have not yet been released or evaluated by FEMA.

“The Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a vital resource for faith-based and community institutions facing growing security threats,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who has been pressing the administration to release the funding, told Jewish Insider on Monday. “As Jewish communities have endured a surge in antisemitic threats and violence and now prepare for the High Holidays, this funding could not come at a more critical time.” 

“I’ve long been a strong advocate of this program and have worked closely with [the Department of Homeland Security] and [the Office of Management and Budget] to help ensure that this funding moves forward,” he said. “I’m glad to see the application window now open. These grants don’t just strengthen security, they protect lives and ensure that Americans can worship without fear.”

Lankford said last month that the funding had “already been held up too long.”

Lauren Wolman, the senior director of government relations and policy for the Anti-Defamation League, highlighted the need for the outstanding funds from the supplemental bill to be released.

“We appreciate the Administration’s release of $274.5 million in urgently needed Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds, which will help protect at-risk communities facing real threats. But the job isn’t done,” Wolman said in a statement. “FEMA must urgently release the NSGP supplemental funds Congress appropriated to meet overwhelming demand. Every day of delay puts lives at risk.”

Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, thanked the administration and congressional advocates for their advocacy.

“We [at Orthodox Union Advocacy] are very grateful to our allies in the Trump Administration — especially Amb.-Designate [Yehuda] Kaploun and the White House Faith Office — for working to get this critical funding released,” Diament said. “We also thank our allies in Congress — especially Senators [James] Lankford, [Katie] Britt and [Susan] Collins. At this time of heightened antisemitism the NSGP grants are essential to protect the American Jewish community.”

Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, linked the announcement to JFNA’s advocacy on the issue last month.

“This is an important step for our community’s safety, and it is the direct result of the collective advocacy work that we carried out in June during the United for Security mission and our presentation of the Six-Point Policy on Security Plan,” Fingerhut said. “We should all be proud to see that our work moved the Administration to act.”

Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, who said she had raised the issue at a meeting with House Homeland Security Committee members last week, said that the delays have “cost Jewish and other communities precious time at a dire moment for our security.”

“The funding allocated by Congress through the NGSP has a critical role to play in that process, and we’re glad that after an intensive advocacy push, our communities will finally have the opportunity to apply for these funds,” Spitalnick continued. “We also cannot simply barricade or prosecute our way out of this crisis of violent hate — and measures like this must go hand-in-hand with the broader policies aimed at building resiliency to hate and extremism in the first place.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Friday that it had awarded $94.4 million in security grant funding to a total of 512 Jewish organizations nationwide, around half of a long-delayed supplemental funding round.

Applications for this funding, provided as part of last year’s national security supplemental bill, opened in the fall of 2024, and grant awards were initially expected to be announced early this year. But they were delayed in a government-wide review of federal grant funding implemented by the Trump administration.

“DHS is working to put a stop to the deeply disturbing rise in antisemitic attacks across the United States,” Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, said in a statement. “That this money is necessary at all is tragic. Antisemitic violence has no place in this country. However, under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that Jewish people in the United States can live free of the threat of violence and terrorism.”

The grant funding was open to all nonprofits, with a focus on organizations facing higher threats due to the war in Gaza.

But the funding round was expected to include the full $220 million in remaining NSGP funding from the national security supplemental legislation. It’s unclear at this point how and under what procedures FEMA plans to disburse that remaining $126 million.

The agency has yet to open applications for the 2025 full-year grant process.

Asked for comment on these issues, FEMA referred JI back to a press release on the funding grants and did not respond to a subsequent follow-up question.

“We welcome the Administration awarding $94 million in Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) funding to help protect over 500 Jewish institutions amid the historic levels of antisemitic threats that ADL is tracking,” Lauren Wolman, director of federal policy and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League, said. “But the job isn’t done. DHS must urgently release the additional NSGP supplemental funds Congress appropriated to meet overwhelming demand and save lives. ADL will continue working with lawmakers and senior officials to underscore both the urgency of increasing funding and moving previously appropriated funding.”