Most benevolence funds run dry the same way: a member's car breaks down, a family's power gets shut off, someone's a week from eviction, and the deacon fund covers what it can until it can't anymore. There's a federal funding stream built specifically for this — FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) — and it's one of the least understood grant programs a congregation can access, because it doesn't work like a typical federal grant. There's no single national application, no portal to search, and no competitive scoring rubric. It runs through local boards, most of them chaired by a United Way chapter, and most churches have never heard of it.
EFSP is a federal program administered by FEMA and distributed to Local Boards, typically chaired by United Way, which sub-grant the funds to nonprofit, faith-based, and government agencies. Eligible uses are food, lodging, and rent, mortgage, and utility assistance to prevent eviction or a service cutoff. A church must be a 501(c)(3) in good standing to apply, and applies through its local board rather than a national portal.
The Emergency Food and Shelter Program is a federal program administered nationally through FEMA, distributed to jurisdictions across the country based on need, and re-granted locally by a Local Board. That board typically includes a United Way chapter as chair, alongside local government representatives and other community organizations, and is responsible for advertising available funds, reviewing applications, and deciding which local agencies receive a sub-award. Prior participation in EFSP is not required — an organization applying for the first time is eligible on the same footing as a returning agency.
This is a meaningfully different structure than most federal grants covered elsewhere on this site. There's no single national deadline or scoring process to research. The practical first step is identifying whether your county or jurisdiction currently has an active, funded Local Board, and whether that board's current round is open to new applicant agencies.
FEMA-administered, locally distributed funding for feeding, sheltering, and rent, mortgage, and utility assistance. Eligible applicants include nonprofit, faith-based, and government entities that are 501(c)(3) organizations in good standing with the IRS. See FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program page for current national program status and jurisdiction information.
When a jurisdiction receives EFSP funding, its Local Board is required to advertise the availability of funds locally. Nonprofit, faith-based, and government agencies in that jurisdiction can then apply directly to the board. The board reviews all applications and decides which organizations receive an award and how much. For a church, this means the real first move isn't filling out a federal form — it's calling the local United Way office (or checking with your county emergency management or human services department) to ask two questions: is there a currently funded EFSP round in this jurisdiction, and is it open to new applicant agencies.
Because the application happens locally, requirements can vary somewhat by jurisdiction — some boards ask for a short program description and recent financials, others use a more detailed application. What stays consistent nationally is the eligibility bar (501(c)(3) status, good standing with the IRS) and the categories of eligible spending.
Our free eligibility review looks at your benevolence and outreach programs against federal, state, and private funding paths, including emergency assistance funding like EFSP.
Check Your Eligibility →| Category | Typically Eligible | Typically Not Eligible |
|---|---|---|
| Food | Served meals and distributed groceries | Food for events unrelated to hunger relief |
| Shelter | Lodging in a mass shelter or hotel | Permanent housing construction |
| Housing Stability | Rental or mortgage assistance to prevent eviction | General debt payoff unrelated to imminent eviction — see our church debt and mortgage payoff grants guide for that separate question |
| Utilities | Payments to prevent a service cutoff | Ongoing utility subsidy unrelated to an active shutoff notice |
| Transportation | Costs directly tied to providing food or shelter | General congregation transportation — see our church van and transportation grants guide instead |
The pattern across all five categories is the same: EFSP pays for a specific, documented crisis-response transaction — a grocery order, a rent payment to a landlord, a utility payment to prevent a shutoff — rather than functioning as a general operating grant for a benevolence ministry's overhead or staff time. Congregations that already run a food distribution program should also see our church food pantry grants guide, since EFSP food dollars and USDA food assistance programs are frequently combined by the same ministry.
A church doesn't have to secularize its identity to receive EFSP funds, but the funded assistance itself has to be delivered on a nondiscriminatory basis. Agencies with religious affiliations that use federal EFSP dollars must not discriminate or refuse service to someone based on religion, and can't require religious participation, worship attendance, or a religious conversation as a condition of receiving the assistance. A congregation can still offer optional prayer, a chaplaincy conversation, or an invitation to Sunday service — the requirement is that declining any of it doesn't affect access to the rent, food, or utility help being funded.
This is a lighter compliance lift than some federal funding streams. There's no ongoing data system requirement comparable to HUD's HMIS for shelter programs (covered in our emergency shelter grants for churches guide), but Local Boards do require documentation of who was served and what the funds covered, since that reporting rolls up to the national EFSP board.
It's easy to confuse EFSP with adjacent programs that sound similar but work differently. HUD's Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) fund ongoing shelter operations and rapid rehousing, flow through a local Continuum of Care rather than a United Way-chaired board, and come with heavier data-reporting obligations — see our emergency shelter grants guide for that comparison. USDA's TEFAP and CSFP programs fund food specifically through a commodity-distribution structure rather than direct grocery or rent payments — our TEFAP application guide covers that separately. If your congregation's benevolence need is domestic-violence-related crisis assistance specifically, FVPSA funding (covered in our domestic violence ministry grants guide) is a better-targeted, purpose-built funding stream than general EFSP dollars.
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