Three programs. One mission. Every dollar in motion.
We fund the three things small departments most need and most lack — essential gear, certified training, and community engagement that rebuilds trust.
Equipment Grants
Direct financial assistance to small police departments for essential, non-lethal equipment. These are the purchases that make every shift safer — and that small municipal budgets routinely cannot cover.
The tools of de-escalation. Tasers and pepper-ball launchers are the single biggest reason a tense encounter ends in a ride home instead of a funeral — for the officer, and for the person they're responding to. Yet in small departments, these tools are often rationed, outdated, or unavailable. One Badge grants put them where they belong: in every officer's hands.
Our equipment grants also fund body-worn cameras, working radios, flashlights, protective gear, and the basic line-item purchases that keep a shift safe.
How it works: departments apply (or are nominated by peers). We verify need and leadership. Funded purchases are documented with receipts and reported back to donors in the annual impact report.
Training Programs
Funding for certified, evidence-based training courses delivered by accredited instructors — the kind of training larger cities run quarterly and smaller departments struggle to afford once a decade.
- De-escalation. Practical techniques for slowing a situation down.
- Crisis intervention (CIT). Responding to mental-health calls with the right tools.
- Cultural competency. Serving every resident with equal skill and equal respect.
- Community policing. The methods that build trust before the 911 call.
Training seats can be funded one at a time, or in cohort scholarships for an entire department.
Community Engagement
Funding for the programs that rebuild trust between officers and the people they serve — long before any interaction goes wrong. Block parties. Youth mentorship. Coffee-with-a-cop mornings. School reading programs. Collaborative service days.
These look simple. They are not. In most small departments, they are unfunded extras that fall off the calendar the minute a budget tightens. We make them permanent line items.
The premise: the badge works best when the community on the other side of it knows the officer behind it.
Transparent process. Accountable outcomes.
01. Apply or nominate
Departments apply directly, or are nominated by peer chiefs and sergeants in our network.
02. Vet the need
We verify department size, financial need, and leadership. We fund partners, not just purchases.
03. Fund & deliver
Equipment is procured. Training seats are paid. Community programs are launched.
04. Report back
Every grant appears in the annual impact report — department, purpose, amount, outcomes.
Choose where your gift goes.
Restrict your gift to Equipment, Training, or Community Engagement — or give to the general fund where we direct it to the greatest need.