Browse By Category

The American Association of Schools Libraries (AASL)

The AASL supports an array of grant programs that recognize, support and advance public school libraries and media centers. Check website for listing and descriptions of all grants.

Contact:  Email: aasl@ala.org

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The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation

The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation currently offers grant for programs/projects of grassroots organizations working in the areas of music, the arts and education. The Foundation also funds social work, environmental protection and spiritual & compassionate projects in our community. We seek to assist those whose needs are not served by larger philanthropic organizations. Its geographic scope is primarily but not absolutely limited to the Bay Area and Northern California.

Funding Range: $2,000 – $3,000; maximum $5,000

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D’Addario Foundation

The D’Addario Foundation believes music education builds self-confidence, creativity, discipline and the ability to reconcile conflicting ideas. Letters of Inquiry (LOI) are due September 30th and March 31. Learn more and apply here: daddariofoundation.org/grants

Application Deadline: LOIs due September 30th and March 31st 
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Mockingbird Foundation

The Mockingbird Foundation provides funding for music education for children, through competitive grants, emergency-related grants, and tour-related grants. Proposals are by invitation only. Submit an initial inquiry first.

Funding Range: up to $10,000 one-time

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Dollar General Literacy Foundation

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation provides funding in the areas below.

Adult Literacy Grants award funding to organizations that provide direct services to adults in need of literacy assistance in one of the following areas: Adult Basic Education; GED or High School Equivalency Preparation; or English Language Acquisition.

Family Literacy Grants provide funding to family literacy service providers. Organizations applying for funding must have the following three components: 1) Adult Education Instruction; 2) Children’s Education; and 3) Parent and Child Together Time (PACT).

Summer Reading Grants provide funding to local nonprofit organizations and libraries to help with the implementation or expansion of summer reading programs. Programs must target Pre-K through 12th grade students who are new readers, below grade level readers or readers with learning disabilities.

Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations to help students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading. Grant funding is provided to assist in the following areas: Implementing new or expanding existing literacy programs; Purchasing new technology or equipment to support literacy initiatives; Purchasing books, materials or software for literacy programs.

Funding Amounts: up to $15,000 for Adult, Family & Summer Literacy Grant Programs
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Donegan Burns Foundation

The mission of the Donegan Burns Foundation is to provide grants to elementary schools to meet the needs of students with learning differences. Current priorities include:

• Technology grants to be used for student assessment
• Student testing and intervention training grants for teachers
• After-school programs that support literacy efforts

Education Resource Grants for In-School and After-School Programs

This grant provides up to $25,000 for the cost of technology, materials, and training in support of education programs for children and youth. To be considered to be invited to submit a grant application, first submit a letter of inquiry.

Testing and Intervention Grants for In-School and After-school Programs

This grant provides up to $25,000 for the implementation of testing and intervention for children in first through third grades (in schools) and for children ages 5 -15 (in after-school programs). The cost of technology, materials, and training is covered. The grant supports organizations which place at risk children in a specialized learning program as early as possible. To be considered to be invited to submit a grant application, first submit a letter of inquiry.

Funding Range: $5,000 – $25,000
Contact: Phone: 760.333.8766; E-mail: info@doneganburns.org.

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Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant Program

Awards of $500 are given to public schools and public libraries for projects that foster creative expression, cooperative learning, and interaction with a diverse community. They also represent an opportunity for educators, whose efforts are often inadequately funded or recognized, to create special activities outside the standard curriculum and make time to encourage their students.

Funds:  Varies
Contact: 450 14th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215-5702, Email: foundation@ezra-jack-keats.org

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Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grants

Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants are administered in California by the State Librarian. The funds are used to promote, through a competitive grant process, improvements in services to all types of libraries; to facilitate access to, and sharing of, resources and services through the California State Library; and to achieve economical and effective delivery of service for the purpose of cultivating an educated and informed citizenry. 

Funding Range:  Up to $100,000
Contact:  lsta@library.ca.gov

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The Lisa Libraries

The Lisa Libraries donates new and like-new children’s books and small libraries to organizations that work with children in poor and under served areas, ages Kindergarden through young adult. Donations through this program have been made to support after school programs and daycare centers.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted year-round
Contact: The Lisa Libraries, 77 Cornell Street, Room 109, Kingston, NY 12401; (845) 334-5559, Email: lisalibraries@gmail.com

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The Safeway and Vons Foundations

Grant Application Process for Northern California
Grant Funding Guidelines for Northern California
FAQs for Northern California

The Safeway and Vons Foundations fund organizations that strengthen the neighborhoods they serve. They support nonprofit organizations whose mission is aligned with our priority areas:

• Health and Human Services
• Hunger
• Youth and Education
• Veterans
• Supporting Diversity and Inclusion of All Abilities

Employee sponsors are required. On the online application, you will be asked if you have a sponsor and then offered the opportunity to provide their name. We will contact that employee to learn more about your work before the application is considered.  Typically, an employee sponsor is a volunteer, board member or someone who has been helped by your organization. If you cannot identify an employee in your ranks, we recommend you speak to your local Store Manager to see if they would be willing to sponsor.

Requests to support events and requests for food donations are also considered.  Visit the website for details and timelines.

Funding Range: Between $2,500 and $10,000
Contact: Visit your local store or visit  http://safewayfoundation.org/contact/

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The Snapdragon Book Foundation

The Snapdragon Book Foundation was started in December, 2008 to provide funds to improve school libraries for disadvantaged children. Grants will be awarded to public, private, and experimental schools. Founded by a former school librarian, this foundation exists to put books in the hands of kids. In a time when many schools are reallocating their funds to technology and audiovisual equipment, we hope to make sure that school libraries are still offering children good books to read.

Contact: http://snapdragonbookfoundation.org/contact/, 2133 Bering Drive, Houston, TX 77057

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Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation / Community Giving

The Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation is dedicated to improving outcomes for children, pre-K – 12th
grade, by advancing youth educational attainment initiatives. We’re passionate about breaking the cycle
of poverty through education and making real change happen for kids. We also recognize the strong
connection between educational attainment and economic opportunity and know the future health of our
communities depends on investments made today.

For small, locally-based gifts for individual schools, contact the nearest Umpqua branch for details. 

Individual schools are not eligible for the Umpqua Community Grants program. 

 

Pathway to Financial Success

Pathway to Financial Success, created by Discover®, awards grants to bring financial education into high school classrooms, so kids can learn to make smart financial decisions and achieve their goals. They also offer resources to teach personal finance to grades K-12.

Discover is investing up to $10 million in financial education and schools can apply for a grant toward a financial education curriculum, making an investment in the future of students.

Any public high school in the United States applying for the Pathway to Financial Success Grant must meet the following criteria:

1. The school has implemented or is looking to implement a financial education curriculum;
2. A measurement tool is or will be in place to assess participation in and comprehension of the financial education curriculum; and
3. The school agrees to share overall results of the measurement tool’s pre and post-curriculum testing with Discover upon the program’s completion, to assess what worked and what didn’t.

Applications not meeting the criteria above will not be accepted.

Funds: Varies
Contact: pathway@discover.com

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California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom

Look at Agriculture… Organically!  This grant is designed to creatively enhance the understanding of organic agriculture for kindergarten through eighth grade students and support educators nationwide to integrate organic agriculture into regular classroom instruction.

Funds:  Up to $1,000
Application Deadline:  Typically offered in the Spring of each year.

Literacy for Life!  This grant is designed to initiate new projects or expand existing projects that promote agricultural literacy and provide support to California educators to integrate agriculture into regular classroom instruction.

Funds: Up to $500
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Environmental Education Grants (EPA)

Under the Environmental Education Grants Program, EPA seeks grant proposals from eligible applicants to support environmental education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. This grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques.

Funds: National appropriation is between $2 – $3 million; awards range between $15,000 to $100,000
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Teichert Foundation

The Teichert Foundation will consider grant requests in the following categories: civic improvement and historical restoration, community and social services, culture and the arts, education, environmental planning and preservation, rehabilitation and health service, transportation and planning, and youth and elderly. The Foundation directors may also, from time to time, identify areas for special emphasis when emerging needs require extraordinary attention. The grant period is usually one year, and the application periods are January – February, and July – August.

Funds: $3,000 – $5,000

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Pacific Southwest Region Schoolyard Habitat Program

The Schoolyard Habitat Program helps teachers and students create wildlife habitat at their own schools.

Many projects are planned through multiple phases and change over time as children from various classes build upon the existing work of past students. We work with your school to provide:

• technical assistance and project guidance
• teacher training,
• develop written materials

Our goal is to provide technical and organizational assistance to school, so they can create outdoor classrooms that are effective as educational tools in addition to being a sustainable habitat for many years to come.

Up to $8,000 per school is available for projects that meet funding requirements. Preference will be given to schools that have a team of teachers and school community members who have a clear vision for the project and have taken schoolyard habitat training.

Funds: Up to $8,000
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Whole Kids Foundation

The Whole Kids Foundation (WHF) School Garden Grant program provides a $2,000 monetary grant to a primary or secondary school, or a nonprofit working in partnership with a primary or secondary school, to support a new or existing edible garden on school grounds.

Funds: $2,000

Braitmayer Foundation

The Foundation is interested in proposals using innovative practices in K-12 education throughout the United States. Particular interests are:

• Curricular and school reform initiatives.
• Preparation of and professional development opportunities for teachers, particularly those which encourage people of high ability and diverse background to enter and remain in K-12 teaching.

The Foundation is pleased to have its grants used anywhere in the United States as seed money, challenge grants, or to match other grants to the recipient organizations. The Foundation does not make grants to individuals, multi-year grants, nor grants for general operating, endowment purposes or building programs. Normally the Foundation does not make grants for childcare, pre-kindergarten, or after school programs nor for equipment including hardware, software, and books.

Funds:  Up to $35,000
Contact: Sabina Taj, (410) 480-2799

Source:  Information excerpted or summarized from The Braitmayer Foundation website.

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Mccarthey Dressman Education Foundation

Academic Enrichment

The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation offers Academic Enrichment Grants designed to develop in-class and extra-curricular programs that improve student learning. The Foundation considers proposals that foster understanding, deepen students’ knowledge, and provide opportunities to expand awareness of the world around them.

The Academic Enrichment Grants provide funding for programs that nurture the intellectual, artistic and creative abilities of children from low-income households. The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation awards grants to individuals in amounts up to $10,000 per year for a maximum of $30,000 over three years, provided the eligibility requirements continue to be met.

Each type of project may have one to many participants involved in its planning and implementation.

Eligibility Requirements: Educators who have direct and regular contact with students in grades pre-k to 12 and work with students from low-income households

Funds: $10,000 to 30,000
Contact: Visit the website for contact information

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Teacher Development

The McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation believes that continuous, insightful and innovative professional training and growth is crucial to the effectiveness of educators. It is the Foundation’s goal to promote best practices through cooperative and sustained commitment to increased efficacy, improved teaching and active learning. As such, the Foundation values proposals aimed at concurrently boosting student understanding and proficiency and instilling a passion for lifelong learning.

The Teacher Development Grants support small teams of teachers in the formation and implementation of groundbreaking k-12 classroom instruction. The grants provide opportunities for teachers to integrate fresh strategies that encourage critical inquiry and to observe their effects on students. Teachers have the opportunity to reflect and write about their projects, as well as to share their results with other teachers. The Foundation awards grants to individuals in amounts up to $10,000 per year for a maximum of $30,000 over three years, provided the eligibility requirements continue to be met.

Eligibility Requirements: Licensed k-12 teachers employed in public or private schools
Funds: $10,000 to 30,000
Contact: Visit the website for contact information

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National Education Association Foundation

Funds: Up to $2,000 for individuals and up to $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study.
Contact: The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education, 1201 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036; (202) 822-7840; Email: NEAFoundation@nea.org

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Prudential Foundation

To promote sustainable communities and improve social outcomes for community residents, the Prudential Foundation focuses its grant-making strategy on the areas of education, economic development, and arts and civic infrastructure.

Education:

Funds: Varies.
Application Deadline: Online applications accepted year-round
Contact: Administrative Headquarters 5724 W. Las Positas Blvd. Pleasanton, CA 94588, or email ClientServices@PruRealty.com – Client Services at (888) 971-4636.

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The Stuart Foundation

The Stuart Foundation will invest in the most promising opportunities to increase the capacity of the public education system to provide support to teachers and to create supportive learning environments.  They have two primary objectives:

1. To develop systems and innovative practice within districts and schools that create an effective teaching workforce and foster systemic connections between teaching and learning.
2. To support the development of practices and policies at the district level to ensure the equitable distribution of qualified teachers for students who need them most.

Funding Range: $25,000 to $350,000
Application Deadline: Accepts letters of inquiry year-round. Full proposals submitted upon invitation.
Contact: Stuart Foundation, 500 Washington Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 393-1551.

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S.H. Cowell Foundation’s Place-Based Grant Program

The Foundation’s primary grantmaking strategy is place-based. This means that they seek opportunities to make clusters of grants in the same communities, supporting organizations that serve essentially the same children, youth and families. Proposed grant projects must benefit public elementary and secondary schools (K-12) that serve a significant number or portion of students in a given community. Within these bounds, there are two general types of grants:

• grants directly to schools or school districts; and
• grants to education resource organizations that are working with schools and school districts.

The majority of Cowell Foundation grants support the in-service professional development for teachers.  In general, grants are made to provide the time, tools, facilitation and other resources that enable teachers to identify and address problems of learning for their students.  While grants may include support for training activities and partnerships with consultants or resource organizations, Cowell is less likely to support “training to implement a program” than it is to invest in a process – perhaps including training, but not limited to that – for teachers and school leaders to develop effective, adaptive communities of practice.

Proposed grant projects are evaluated for the clarity of their rationale and intentions, the quality of the resources they would provide and the commitment demonstrated by involved participants.  It is vital that the plan for the grant project provide sufficient time and expert support for teachers to master new teaching and assessment methods, subject knowledge and ways of working together to improve student learning.

Cowell does not fund direct services to students, such as tutoring or technological interventions; instead, their focus is on the quality of interactions between students and their teachers.

Funding Range: $1,000 and $300,000
Application Deadline: Accepts Letters of Inquiry year-round
Contact: The S.H. Cowell Foundation, 595 Market Street, Suite 950, San Francisco, CA 94105; (415) 397-0285

Actuarial Foundation Advancing Student Achievement Grants

ASA grants support innovative math programs that open your students’ minds to the practical power of math! The purpose of an ASA grant is to support innovative math enhancement programs that bridge the gap between classroom and real world mathematics. Visit their website for specific guidelines.

fCalifornia Teachers Association Grants

CTA has multiple grant and scholarship opportunities for teachers that will pay for conferences, programs to support LGBTQ+ students and staff, enhancing high quality teaching projects, etc. Check the website for more information about which grant/scholarship program will work best for your needs.

Action for Healthy Kids

School Grants for Healthy Kids can help achieve our goal to make every student healthy and ready to learn.

School Breakfast

Schools may apply for grant funds ranging from $500 to $5,000 to support increased breakfast participation.  Eligible schools may apply to pilot or expand their School Breakfast Programs.

Game On

Schools may also apply for Game On grants for physical activity and nutrition initiatives that support schools to become nationally recognized as a health-promoting school. Grants range from $500 to $2,500.

Visit their website for additional information.

Funds: $500 – $5,000
Contact: Submit your questions online by visiting their website.

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Highmark Foundation

Highmark Foundation is a recognized leader in providing grants for schools and community-based organizations to address critical health issues affecting children. The overarching goal of our School Grants and Awards program is to provide support and resources that empower schools to take greater strides in improving child health and wellness.

Funds: Up to $7,500
Contact: Jane Brooks; jane.brooks@highmark.com
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The California Dental Association Foundation Grant Program

The CDA (California Dental Association) Foundation works with experts in the dental profession, private business, academic institutions and government to produce programs that increase access to care, promote prevention education and intervention, advance health policy research and build a sustainable oral health workforce.

Funds: Up to $25,000
Contact: CDA Foundation, 1201 K Street, Suite 1511, Sacramento, CA 95814. (800) 232-7645 Ext. 4916; Email: marissa.allen@cda.org

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The Rite Aid Foundation

The Rite Aid Foundation, founded in July 2001, supports organizations helping improve the lives of people in the communities Rite Aid serves. The foundation is specifically interested in projects that address health wellness in the communities in which Rite Aid operates.

Funds: Varies
Application Deadline: Year-round; online submission only.
Contact: riteaidfoundation@riteaid.com

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The Safeway and Vons Foundations

Grant Application Process for Northern California
Grant Funding Guidelines for Northern California
FAQs for Northern California

The Safeway and Vons Foundations fund organizations that strengthen the neighborhoods they serve. They support nonprofit organizations whose mission is aligned with our priority areas:

• Health and Human Services
• Hunger
• Youth and Education
• Veterans
• Supporting Diversity and Inclusion of All Abilities

Employee sponsors are required. On the online application, you will be asked if you have a sponsor and then offered the opportunity to provide their name. We will contact that employee to learn more about your work before the application is considered.  Typically, an employee sponsor is a volunteer, board member or someone who has been helped by your organization. If you cannot identify an employee in your ranks, we recommend you speak to your local Store Manager to see if they would be willing to sponsor.

Requests to support events and requests for food donations are also considered.  Visit the website for details and timelines.

Funding Range: Between $2,500 and $10,000
Contact: Visit your local store or visit http://safewayfoundation.org/contact/

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Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation / Community Giving

The Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation is dedicated to improving outcomes for children, pre-K – 12th
grade, by advancing youth educational attainment initiatives. We’re passionate about breaking the cycle
of poverty through education and making real change happen for kids. We also recognize the strong
connection between educational attainment and economic opportunity and know the future health of our
communities depends on investments made today.

Review the Community Giving grant guidelines and, if you want to apply, contact the Grants Office for our unique application link. Do not use the application link provided in the guidelines.

Funding Range: $3,000 – $10,000; average $5,000