The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law works to build an enabling legal environment for civil society, philanthropy, and public participation around the world. Occasionally, we offer grants to civil society organizations and others working to promote and protect civic freedoms, as well as fellowships and internships at ICNL. See below for our current opportunities.
Grants & Fellowships

Grants
The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) is pleased to invite proposals for new initiatives to protect the right to peaceful assembly in Tunisia. ICNL seeks to provide up to three grants to Tunisian civil society organizations to advance protections for the right to peaceful assembly at the national, governorate, or local level.
The ceiling for each subgrant is USD $20,000. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis and are due by April 1, 2023. All activities should be completed by January 31, 2024. For details and application instructions, please see here.
The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) seeks individuals or organizations to conduct research assessing examples of pandemic governance best practices with respect to civic freedoms and civil society collaboration. Studies may focus on individual countries, such as New Zealand or South Korea, or may adopt a case study approach and examine multiple countries and examples throughout Asia. The budget ceiling for the consultancy is $25,000. More than one consultancy may be awarded depending on proposed scope of work/country coverage. Priority will be given to individual or organizational consultants located in the region, and/or with significant civil society partner networks.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available funds are depleted. For more details and application instructions, click here.
The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) is pleased to invite proposals for grants as part of its ongoing project to safeguard civic freedoms and address democratic backsliding that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants of up to $45,000 USD are available for up to six-month long projects meeting the criteria discussed below.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available funds are depleted. For more details and application instructions, click here.
ICNL is part of the civil society consortium led by Freedom House implementing The Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund. This fund, which is supported by 19 governments and two foundations, provides support to civil society organizations (CSOs) under threat or attack. There are three categories of Lifeline assistance:
- Through Freedom House and Front Line Defenders, Lifeline provides small, short-term emergency assistance to CSOs threatened because of their human rights work. Emergency assistance grants can address security, medical expenses, legal representation, prison visits, trial monitoring, temporary relocation, equipment replacement, and other urgently needed expenses. ICNL does not administer emergency assistance grants on behalf of Lifeline. To apply for Lifeline emergency assistance, please contact Freedom House or Front Line Defenders as described here.
- Lifeline rapid response advocacy grants give local CSOs the resources to push back against restrictions on civic space. Advocacy grants support short-term initiatives that identify civic space challenges, such as threats to freedom of association, assembly, and expression or attacks on civil society, and target key actors associated with the resolution of these threats. Lifeline advocacy grants are highly flexible, and can support a wide variety of activities, such as community mobilization, policy and legal analysis, civil society coalition building, strategic litigation, awareness raising campaigns, and advocacy capacity building.
- Lifeline resiliency grants are meant to provide support to CSOs at high-risk to avoid or mitigate the threats they face. Resiliency grant activities may include developing, expanding, and/or bolstering protection networks and local support mechanisms; mapping and/or coordinating civil society access to pro-bono services and support; implementing joint protection strategies, contingency plans, and/or protocols; sharing protection and resiliency strategies nationally, regionally and/or internationally; supporting disrupted CSOs to safely reestablish and reorient their work; boosting at-risk CSO capacity to conduct organizational risk assessments; or providing protection training or legal technical assistance.
ICNL accepts applications for advocacy support and resiliency support on a rolling basis. A preliminary application for Lifeline support may be found here (as a form) or here (as a Word document).
For more information or to submit an application, please contact Lifeline@icnl.org. Please note that applicants will only be contacted regarding applications selected for further consideration.
Fellowships & Internships
None at this time. Please check back for future listings.