Our mission is to serve people with physical disabilities through sport and fitness with meaningful grants. Over the last 29 years, we have given over 40,000 grants to individuals with permanent physical disabilities worldwide. Continue reading to learn about our different grant programs and the eligibility requirements, grant request options, and FAQs for each program.
A challenged athlete is an individual with a permanent physical disability pursuing an active lifestyle through physical fitness or competitive athletics. The individual’s permanent disability must impair mobility, affect the neuromuscular system, impair balance or motor control.
CAF uses the International Paralympic Committee’s classification structure as a guideline and all qualifying individuals must provide supporting documentation from a medical professional to explain how their physical disability affects their activities of daily living. Hearing impairments, Intellectual and developmental disabilities do not qualify for support through CAF.
All challenged athletes are eligible to apply for a CAF Grant. A challenged athlete is an individual with a permanent physical disability pursuing an active lifestyle through physical fitness or competitive athletics. The individual’s permanent disability must impair mobility, affect the neuromuscular system, impair balance or motor control.
CAF uses the International Paralympic Committee’s classification structure as a guideline and all qualifying individuals must provide supporting documentation from a medical professional to explain how their physical disability affects their activities of daily living. Hearing impairments, Intellectual and developmental disabilities do not qualify for support through CAF.
CAF offers four (4) grant categories for grant requests that eligible individuals may apply for. Applicants may only apply for one grant request category:
Sports Expenses Grant
The Sports Expense Grant allows you to request funds toward minor equipment purchases, coaching, training, travel or competition expenses.
Equipment Grant (Available for applicants from U.S. and Canada only)
CAF distributes most adaptive sports equipment through our selected distributors who offer offer exclusive discounted pricing.
Check out our CAF’s preferred partners HERE
Funding Toward Equipment (Available for international applicants)
If the equipment you are requesting is not listed on CAF’s equipment list, applicants will have the opportunity to apply for funding towards the equipment of their choice.
Össur Athletic Prosthetic
Individuals with lower limb amputations are eligible to apply for the CAF Össur grant.
Account & Profile
– First-time applicants will need to create an account and fill out profile details
– Returning applicants will use the same login as previous grant applications. Each application has a unique application link.
Medical Verification of Disability
– All applicants are required to submit a document or letter from a medical professional that verifies their physical impairment in the profile. Profiles must be completed before filling out an application.
– Medical Verification of Disability only needs to be included in the profile once for lifetime challenged athlete eligibility
Two high-quality photos of the applicant
Financial Documents to provide proof of income
Letter of Recommendation (from coach, trainer, prosthetist, teammate, or teacher and must be dated in current year)
Your Grant Request
Please email [email protected] for other questions.
CAF’s flagship grant program aims to remove the barriers that exist between adaptive athletes and their pursuit of sport and fitness.
Eligibility
Individuals worldwide with permanent physical disabilities are eligible to apply for the CAF grant. Teams, organizations, etc. are not eligible to apply. Medical Verification of Disability is required.
Grant Request Options
Applicants may request one of the following grant types:
– Sports Expenses Grant
– Equipment Grant
– Funding Toward Equipment Grant
Application Window: The 2023 CAF Annual Grant application will open in Fall 2022. Exact date will be announced over the summer.
If you are a 2022 CAF grant recipient, click here for information about grant receipts and FAQs.
Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) collaborates with local Idaho partners to fund grants for adaptive sports equipment, training, and competition expenses.
Eligibility
Residents of Idaho with permanent physical disabilities are eligible to apply for the CAF Idaho grant. Medical documentation of disability and proof of residence is required.
Grant Request Options
Applicants may request one of the following grant types:
– Sports Expenses Grant
– Equipment Grant
– Ossur Prosthetic Grant
Application Window: The CAF Idaho Grant application is open year-round.
CAF’s Operation Rebound® program strengthens the mental and physical well-being of honorably discharged members of the U.S. armed forces, active U.S. military personnel, and U.S. law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics with permanent physical injuries by providing them opportunities to use sports and fitness to re-integrate into our communities and by empowering them through sports.
Eligibility
Honorably discharged members of the U.S. armed forces, active U.S. military personnel, and U.S. law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics with permanent physical disabilities are eligible to apply for the Operation Rebound grant. Proof of service and medical verification of disability is required.
Grant Request Options
Applicants may request one of the following grant types:
– Sports Expenses Grant
– Equipment Grant
– Funding Toward Equipment Grant
Application Window: The Operation Rebound Grant Application is open year-round.
Össur is our Global prosthetics partner – only Össur athletic prosthetics will be offered for lower extremity running prosthetics.
Eligibility
Individuals with lower limb amputations are eligible to apply for the CAF Össur grant. Medical Verification of Disability is required.
Grant Request Options
CAF will work with an applicant’s prosthetist to determine which Össur running prosthesis(es) offered on the CAF Össur grant application is most suitable for the applicant.
Click here to view the CAF Össur prosthetics list.
Application Window: The CAF Össur Grant application is year-round
Challenged Athletes Foundation is proud to partner with EōS Fitness to offer a free membership to individuals with a physical disability in select locations.
EligibilityChallenged athletes residing near an EōS Fitness Location (must use membership a minimum of 4x per year). Medical Verification of Disability is required.
Grant Request Options
The grant recipient will work with CAF and EōS Fitness to start their membership.Application Window: The CAF EōS Fitness Grant application is open year-round.
This year we awarded 3,256 grants (valued at over $6.2 million) to individuals with physical challenges in 83 sports in 49 states + Puerto Rico and 52 different countries. Check out the full report.