As a first round of additional funding from the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week announced that $160 million would go to faith-based institutions and nonprofit organizations to better protect them from targeted attacks.
This funding, pulled from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), represented a portion of the $390 million provided by the FY 2024 National Security Supplemental. In total, the administration announced $664 million will go to the NSGP—more than double the previous year’s amounts. All of this will be used for a single purpose: protecting against the increasing rise in hate crimes and other forms of targeted violence in the United States.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in hate crimes and other forms of violence targeted against faith-based institutions and nonprofit organizations,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said. “The additional Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding that we are announcing today will provide these institutions and organizations with much-needed resources to strengthen their security and protect their communities from harm.”
In 2023, more than 2,200 faith-based and other nonprofit organizations used more than $305 million in NSGP funding to purchase everything from security cameras to lighting and training programs for their staff.
This latest funding was released alongside DHS’s amended Notice of Funding Opportunity, which allows qualifying institutions and organizations to apply for it.