SLED Opportunity · WASHINGTON · CITY OF SEATTLE
AI Summary
City of Seattle seeks proposals for the 2026 Equitable Development Initiative funding round. $14.8M is available for capacity building and existing capital projects by current EDI recipients addressing displacement and equity in marginalized communities. Applicants must meet eligibility and minimum criteria focused on nonprofit status, project readiness, and community impact.
The City’s purpose for Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) funding is to support projects that address displacement and lack of access to opportunity for historically marginalized communities in Seattle. Successful projects will be those that best demonstrate a connection between their organization and the ability to impact the Equity Drivers identified in the Equitable Development Implementation Plan.
This current funding round has $14.8M available for both capacity building and existing capital projects for existing EDI Funding Recipients. There will be another $7.4M funding round in Q2 2026 that will be open to all organizations including new EDI applicants and existing EDI Funding Recipients seeking funding for capacity building and/or new and expanded projects.
Applicant Eligibility
This current funding round will apply the following eligibility criteria and priorities:
Applicant Minimum Criteria
Priority will be given to organizations that best meet most of the following criteria:
Is the applicant incorporated as a nonprofit in the State of Washington?
If not, does the organization have a fiscal sponsor and does the fiscal sponsor limit sponsor fees to 10 percent of the funding award or less and have a clear strategy to support the organization’s long-term capacity-building work?
EDI may make exceptions where a for-profit organization can demonstrate extraordinary accountability to impacted communities and where requiring non-profit status or fiscal sponsorship would add unnecessary costs and inefficiency to the project.
The proposal must demonstrate work that primarily serves City of Seattle residents located within communities that face high risk of displacement.
The applicant must be in good standing with any other open City of Seattle contracts, grants, and/or loans.
The project addresses at least three of the Equity Drivers from the Implementation Plan. Proposals should focus on only the three drivers that best fit the project concept.
Receiving EDI funding is contingent on meeting program requirements and completing pre-contracting due diligence activities. EDI funds cannot be used for regular organization operations as awarded funds must be applied to developing the capacity for and completing the process of completing the capital project selected for funding in the recipient organization application.
Projects that do not use their funds and extend beyond the two-year period may be required to reapply for the remaining awarded funds to ensure that projects are still active.
SLED stands for State, Local, and Education. These are solicitations issued by state governments, counties, cities, school districts, utilities, and higher education institutions — as opposed to federal agencies.
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