624981 - Rural Innovation Housing 2.0
Funding Opportunity Details

Rural Revitalization

Final Application Deadline: Aug 26, 2026 4:00 PM

Description

• The Rural Innovation program seeks to support creative ideas that address current issues and challenges faced by rural communities. This grant opportunity aims to increase available housing stock in rural Iowa by leveraging funding programs, driving private investment, and rewarding creative solutions. The goal is to provide funds to communities that have demonstrated significant progress on housing initiatives and that propose to bring innovation into implementation with a definitive outcome.

  This program is administered by the Center for Rural Revitalization, a division of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), in consultation with the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative task force.

   

  Eligible Uses of Funding

  The Rural Innovation Grant supports innovative solutions to housing stock challenges in rural areas and seeks models that can be replicated elsewhere in Iowa. Eligible uses of funds include, but are not limited to:

  • Construction and land acquisition
  • Major renovations and repairs of buildings or appurtenant structures
  • Site development, including demolition or property preparation
  • Professional services such as engineering, planning, technical assistance, architectural design, consulting and grant writing
  • Personnel time dedicated to the project (Personnel benefits are not eligible. Applicants must demonstrate how time is specifically dedicated to the project.)

   

  Ineligible Uses of Funding

  Existing projects or programs without significant expansion component are ineligible. The program does not support ongoing expenses for existing programs or projects.

  Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

  • International or domestic travel outside of Iowa
  • Insurance
  • Employee benefits
  • Conference or training expenses for grant recipients
  • Routine or reoccurring maintenance
  • Ongoing utility costs
  • Budget shortfalls
  • Fundraising or benefit event activities
  • Lobbying activities

   

  Eligible Applicants
  The following entities are eligible to apply:

  • City and county governments or federally recognized tribal governments physically located in Iowa.
  • Federally designated nonprofit agencies and foundations.

   

  Projects must exist in and benefit a community in Iowa with a population of 20,000 or fewer and not contiguous to a city with a population of 40,000 or greater. If it is a county-wide project, it must be one of the 88 least populous counties in Iowa.

   

  Grant Amount

  An applicant may request up to $50,000 to support eligible one-time project expenses. All funds must be incurred and expended within the designated funding period.

   

  Match Requirement

  An applicant must demonstrate a commitment to their project by providing a minimum of 1:1/2 cash match. For example, a $50,000 grant request requires at least $25,000 in cash match. The cash match must be secured, dedicated to eligible expenses, a legitimate part of the proposed project and must be expended within the eligible funding period. The match requirement may be raised through a combination of public and private sources but may not include in-kind donations of goods or services, unsecured funding, or loans.

   

  Competitive proposals will demonstrate broad-based financial support for the project and public funding sources adequately leveraged to seek and obtain private dollars.

  • Cash match constitutes actual cash contributed to direct project expenses by the applicant or other funding sources.
  • Funding from state government already being used as match for another program, including other funds from the IEDA, cannot be used to meet the match requirement.

   

  Contact Empower Rural Iowa Director Sacha Wise at [email protected] with questions.

• Description

  Enter a URL and a description and click Save in the upper left hand corner of the screen.

  Linkhttps://opportunityiowa.gov/community/revitalization/center-rural-revitalization/rural-innovation-grant-program