Brown-Forman Foundation is accepting grant applications from qualifying nonprofit organizations through its quarterly community-investment process. The next published submission deadline is November 1, 2026. Funding decisions are typically made 90-120 days after the applicable quarterly deadline.
Funding: The current official Grant Guidelines and Criteria page does not publish a universal minimum, maximum, or typical award amount for the November 2026 cycle. Brown-Forman states that requests must be for monetary donations; neither the corporation nor the Foundation accepts in-kind requests. Capital campaign requests are not accepted.
Focus areas: Brown-Forman identifies three strategic giving areas: Celebrate Arts & Culture, Champion Lifelong Learning, and Cultivate Community. The Cultivate Community focus includes initiatives that strengthen community well-being, steward shared natural spaces, and promote alcohol responsibility.
Eligibility: The applicant or fiscal sponsor must be an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity described in Section 509(a)(1) or 509(a)(2), operated for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes. Priority is given to organizations located in Louisville, Kentucky. The organization and project outcomes must align with at least one strategic focus area, meet the submission deadline, and provide a sound basis for measuring project goals and outcomes.
Key exclusions: Individuals, public K-12 schools, athletic teams or leagues, foreign organizations, religious organizations such as churches and synagogues, organizations outside the eligible public-charity classifications, political or lobbying-related requests, third parties seeking donations on behalf of nonprofits, organizations lacking qualifying nondiscrimination policies, capital campaigns, and in-kind requests are not eligible under the current published criteria.
Application materials: Brown-Forman states that applicants may be asked for an officer and board list, adopted nondiscrimination policy, IRS determination letter, current W-9, most recent Form 990, current-year organizational budget, and detailed project or event budget.
Atlas analysis: Atlas Opportunity Score 72/100. N9+ Fit 0/100 because the current program does not identify clinical equipment, remote examination technology, vitals, or telehealth as a funding priority. QC Healthcare Fit 12/100 conditional because community well-being may encompass a qualifying nonprofit health or human-services initiative, but no dedicated healthcare funding category or device allowability is established. Do not introduce N9+ in ordinary initial outreach.
Verification hold: The official page publishes the November 1, 2026 deadline but does not publish an exact cutoff clock time or time zone, and it does not publish a universal award amount or range. Applicant-specific ORIGINAL outreach must remain fail-closed until those material terms and the live application requirements are verified, and the specific applicant passes Contact, Email_Opt_Out, hard-bounce, CRM/Deal, Atlas_Email_Queue, authoritative send-history, and cross-lane deduplication checks.
Official source: Brown-Forman Grant Guidelines and Criteria.