NEWS
Nurses Can Now Apply for $15,000 Grants to Fund Well-Being at Rural Hospitals
Written by
Nurse.org Staff
on July 16, 2026
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Key Takeaways
- The American Nurses Foundation has opened applications for eight $15,000 microgrants to fund nurse peer and leadership support at rural healthcare sites, backed by the Covista Foundation.
- Rural nurses often work with fewer resources and less support than their urban peers, and organizers say the grants will reach more than 2,000 nurses with practical, nurse-led well-being strategies.
- Applications are due August 4, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET through the ANF online grant portal.
Rural nurse teams have a fresh shot at $15,000 to put toward their own well-being, and the window to apply is short. The American Nurses Foundation announced on July 15, 2026 that it is opening applications for eight $15,000 microgrants aimed at strengthening nurse peer and leadership support at rural healthcare sites across the country
The microgrants are aimed to support the Foundation’s Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support program, and they are designed to help rural organizations turn well-being ideas into action quickly rather than leaving them on a to-do list. The grants are funded by the Covista Foundation, the charitable arm behind Chamberlain University and Walden University’s partent company
There is a firm deadline. Rural healthcare sites must submit their proposals by August 4, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET through the ANF online submission portal
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The microgrants are built to be practical. Rather than funding abstract research, they help rural sites put peer and leadership support structures into place, the kind of everyday backing that can help nurses stay in their jobs and feel supported on the floor. The Foundation says the grants will reach more than 2,000 nurses across the eight selected sites
“Rural nurses are essential to healthcare access in their communities, and they deserve holistic and strategically designed support systems that help them thrive,” said Graig Eastin, Executive Director of the American Nurses Foundation. “These microgrants will help rural healthcare sites put peer and leadership support into action quickly. The impact will be immediate and direct.”
The program is not brand new. In November 2025, the Foundation named recipients of an earlier round of $10,000 mini-grants that helped nurse-led teams in rural and long-term care settings roll out the program’s online modules and ree
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The financial backing comes from the Covista Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Covista, which describes itself as America’s largest healthcare educator, training tens of thousands of healthcare graduates each year. The company, formerly known as Adtalem Global Education and now trading under the ticker CVSA, recently committed $10 million and 50,000 volunteer hours toward building and sustaining the healthcare workforce
“The Covista Foundation is proud to support this work to advance nurse well-being and strengthen the healthcare workforce,” said Megan Noel, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Covista and Board Chair of the Covista Foundation. “By investing in peer and leadership support at critical rural healthcare access points, we will see nurses thrive in their workplace, so communities can continue to receive the care they need.”
Rural nurses often carry the same clinical load as their urban counterparts with far fewer re leadership support that helps buffer burnout. Programs like this one put real dollars behind the well-being conversation, and they do it at the site level, where nurses actually feel the difference
If you work at or lead a rural healthcare site, this is a concrete, time-limited opportunity. Eligible organizations can review the requirements and submit a proposal through the ANF grant portal before the August 4, 2026 deadline. Even for nurses outside rural settings, the round is worth watching, because it signals where major workforce funders are choosing to invest as staffing and retention pressures continue
🤔 If your unit could put $15,000 toward nurse well-being tomorrow, what would you spend it on first? Tell us in the comments
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- Published on
July 16, 2026
Written by
Nurse.org Staff
