Grants Galore!

The Healthy Classrooms Foundation

The Healthy Classrooms Foundation is excited to announce that our 3rd annual Grant application cycle is now open. Here is your opportunity to bring a healthy initiative to a classroom and help improve the lives of children in communities throughout Wisconsin.Please visit www.hc-foundation.com and click on "Apply for Grant" to submit your application electronically. Applications are accepted now until May 31st, 2011.Questions? Please visit our Grant Application Q&A section on the HCF Forum: http://hc-foundation.forumotion.com/

Welch's Harvest Grant

Now in our second year partnership with Scholastic and the National Gardening Association, Welch's will support school garden programs through Welch's Harvest Grants. We are pleased to invite you to submit an application for your opportunity to win a valuable garden for your school.
Entries will be judged by experts at the National Gardening Association and two schools in every state will be selected to receive a Welch's Harvest Grant. Winning schools will receive a customized indoor or outdoor garden package filled with a variety of tools, seeds, educational materials, and more. Five (5) $1,000 gardens and ninety-five (95) $500 gardens will be awarded. Deadline for submission is February 11, 2011, so we encourage you to start working on your grant application today.

Visit the Welch's grant website at http://bit.ly/7pZDZj

Grant Opportunity: America the Beautiful Fund

America the Beautiful Fund Operation Green Plant is offering free seeds to community groups striving to better our world through gardening. These are the 2008 and 2009 seeds with germination rates of 92-95%. Grants of 100 to 6,000 seed packets are being offered.

America the Beautiful Fund is also offering The Green Earth Guide on CD-ROM, containing illustrated gardening instructions and ideas on involving the whole community in your project. They are also able to supply your group with gloves through a donation from Wells-Lamont.

This is an on-going grant. Application materials can be found at: http://www.america-the-beautiful.org/free_seeds/index.php.

Grant Opportunity: Annie's Grants for Gardens

Annie’s offers a limited number of small grants to community gardens, school gardens, and other educational programs that connect children directly to gardening. These funds can be used to buy gardening tools, seeds or other needed supplies.

The grant is on-going and application materials can be found at: http://www.annies.com/grants_for_gardens.

Grant: Bonnie Plants Cabbage Grant

Each year, Bonnie Plants distributes free cabbage plants to third graders across the country to foster an interest in gardening and the environment. Cabbages are delivered to students whose teachers have signed up to participate. Students in these third grade classrooms each get their very own cabbage to plant, take care of and harvest. The cabbages produce oversized heads, making the process even more exciting for kids.

As part of the program, Bonnie gives a $1,000 award to one student in each state.

For more information on receiving free cabbage plants, visit the Bonnie Plants website at http://www.bonnieplants.com/CabbageProgram/tabid/81/Default.aspx

Grant: Fiskars Project Orange Thumb

Fiskars will choose 11 recipients from this year’s applicants — 10 will receive $5,000 in cash and tools to help support their goals of neighborhood beautification and horticulture education, and one lucky applicant will receive a complete garden makeover!

Please note that everyone who applies will be considered for a grant, but only those that specify they are interested and meet Fiskars’ criteria will be considered for a complete garden makeover. Apply today and help Project Orange Thumb sow the seeds of community change!

Application deadline is December 31, 2010. Applications materials can be found at:
http://bit.ly/9VmI1s

Grant: People's Garden School Pilot Program

This is due Monday, November 8th! Sorry for the late notice!

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is announcing the opportunity for public and not-for-profit organizations to submit applications for a Peoples Garden School Pilot Program grant competition. FNS has set aside $1 million for this pilot program. One grantee will be selected to enter into a cooperative agreement for the purposes of developing and running community gardens at eligible high-poverty schools; teaching students involved in the gardens about agriculture production practices, diet, and nutrition; contributing produce to supplement food provided at eligible schools, student households, local food banks, or senior center nutrition programs; and conducting an evaluation of funded projects to learn more about the impacts of school gardens.

Interested parties must adhere to all the application material requirements in order to be considered for funding. FNS must receive completed grant applications on or before 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Nov. 8, 2010. Applications may be submitted by email to: FY2010Prop_PeoplesGarden@fns.usda.gov or www.grants.gov.

Grant Opportunity: 'I Can Grow' Youth Garden Award

Youth and community garden programs across the U.S. can benefit from the new Burpee Home Gardens "I Can Grow" Youth Garden Award. Applications are being considered now, and the award will sponsor and support urban school and community gardens in cities across the country in 2011.

Who should apply?
Schools and youth educators
Community centers or organizations
Youth groups

What the Youth Garden Award includes:
Up to 500 vegetable and herb plants*
$2,500 for program supplies
On-site assistance for initial garden layout and installation
Installation day event publicity coordination
Five gallons of Daniels® Plant Food (a sustainable fertilizer)
Flip® video camera to document garden progress* Quantity of plants is dependent upon size of garden and need

Applications must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 3, 2010. Award status will be determined in January 2011, and plant material will be delivered based on installation timing in Spring.
http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/ICanGrow/_YouthGardenAward.aspx

Grant Opportunity: Welch's "Win a School Garden" Grant

Welch’s and Scholastic will award two schools in every state with a customized indoor or outdoor garden package.

The packages are filled with a variety of tools, seeds, educational materials, and more. The top 5 winners will receive a package valued at $1,000 and 95 winners will receive a package valued at $500.

Deadline for submission is February 11, 2011. Application materials can be found at http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752777.

Grant Opportunity: Safe Routes to School

The National Center for Safe Routes to School is now accepting applications for 25 mini-grants of $1,000 each. These mini-grants support the goal of the federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, which is to enable and encourage children to safely walk and bicycle to school. They will fund activities that range from foundational efforts to help start or sustain a program to new ideas that explore the range of benefits of safe walking and bicycling to school.

The National Center’s SRTS mini-grant program, now in its third award cycle, seeks creative ideas that match a school’s needs and interests together with ways to help improve safety and/or increase the number of students walking and rolling to school. Schools’ needs and interests could encompass a variety of different focus areas, including: addressing distracted driving and personal safety; engaging children with disabilities; emphasizing physical activity and health; exploring environmental concerns; contributing to a positive learning environment; or participating in civic discussion. Specific guidelines for fundable activities are available at www.saferoutesinfo.org/minigrants/eligibleactivities.

Applications are available now at www.saferoutesinfo.org/minigrants.

Funded activities must occur at an elementary or middle school between January 2011 and the end of the spring 2011 semester. Applications are due Friday,Nov. 19, 2010, by 8 p.m. EST and recipients will be announced January 2011.

Grant Opportunity: Lowe's Toolbox for Education

Though the grant application process for the 2010 is now closed, the 2011 grant program will be back up and running October 25, 2010 through February 18, 2011.

Any individual non-profit K-12 school is eligible for the grant valued between $2,000 and $5,000. Lowe’s is donating $5 million to schools and school parent teacher groups at more than 1,000 different schools.

Application materials can be found at: http://www.toolboxforeducation.com/index.html.

Grant Opportunity: NCR-SARE Youth & Youth Educator Grants

The NCR-SARE grants purpose is to provide opportunities for youth and youth educators in the North Central Region (that’s us Wisconsinites!) to learn more about sustainable agriculture.

Youth grants are for on-farm research, demonstration, or education projects by youth ages 8-18 and is a $400 maximum grant. Youth educator grants are for educators to provide programming on sustainable agriculture for youth and is a $2,000 maximum grant.

The deadline for the grants is Friday, January 14, 2011. Application materials can be found at http://www.sare.org/ncrsare/youth.htm

100th Post & Photos of Sand Lake Elementary's Garden

This entry marks GotDirtWi's 100th blog post!  What better way to celebrate than with pictures of a school garden!

Fourth grade students from Sand Lake Elementary, in Holmen, Wisconsin, created an in-ground garden with their Got Dirt? grant.  They started some plants indoors and then transplanted them into the new garden.  Check out all of their hard work!

(Starting plants in the classroom)

(Measuring out the garden)

(Getting ready to transplant)

(Working hard!)

Two School Garden Grant Opportunities

The gardening season is finally here in Wisconsin.  And with that comes the cost of implementing your gardening dreams.

Here are a couple of grant opportunities to help make those dreams reality...

Learn and Serve America Grant (Grant deadline: June 15, 2010)

Wisconsin Department of Instruction (DPI) is offering grants to fund service learning projects for the 2010-2011 school year.  As DPI explains, the grant "supports service-learning in K-12 school to support the implementation and institutionalization of service-learning as a key instructional methodology for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills across the curriculum."

School garden programs offer a perfect service learning opportunity as students plan, organize, and create their garden project.  Plus, there are countless curriculum connections possible.
Check out DPI's website for a grant application and additional details.  While the application and guidelines are quite lengthy, it is worth checking out!


AMA Healthy Living Grant Program (Grant deadline: July 15, 2010)

The AMA Foundation created this grant to address our nation's major health issues, including obesity, tobacco, and alcohol.  "These grants provide critical funding that can jumpstart a project, affect change quickly, increase visibility for a project/organization, encourage collaboration and make a lasting difference in a community."

An estimated 15-25 grants, valued up $5,000 each, will be distributed to nonprofit organizations that address issues of nutrition/physical fitness; alcohol, substance abuse and smoking prevention; and violence prevention.

A school garden program is a natural fit for the Nutrition/Physical Fitness category.  Applicants in this category must include at least one nutrition objective and one physical activity objective.  School gardens encourage healthy eating by increasing children's knowledge and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.   Plus, gardening is a great form of physical activity.  The learning possibilities and objectives are endless!

For additional information, requirements and an application, click here!

Garden Crusader Award

Do you know someone who is making a difference by gardening?  Nominate them for a Garden Crusader Award!

I know that there are fabulous teachers/educators/community members making a difference in the lives of their students by starting a school garden.  Here's a chance to be recognized for all of your great efforts or to nominate a stellar gardener in your community. 

Details...

Awards will be given in four categories: Education, Feeding the Hungry, Urban Renewal, and Restoration. 

• Grand Prize winners receive $2,500 in cash and a $2,500 gardening gift certificate
• First place winners receive a $1,000 gardening gift certificate
• Second place winners receive a $750 gardening gift certificate
• Third place winners receive a $500 gardening gift certificate
• (2) Honorable mentions receive a $200 gift certificate
• *All prizes are awarded to the winner's organization in his/her name.

Applications are due June 1 so make sure to apply today!

Click here for details and nomination form.

Grant: 2010 Subaru Healthy Sprouts Awards

Subaru, in conjunction with The National Gardening Association, is now accepting applications for the 2010 Subaru Healthy Sprouts Awards.

Awards will be given to 30 schools and organizations planning to start a garden in 2011.  A minimum of 15 students ages 3-18 must participate in the garden.  Applications must demonstrate the "relationship between the garden program and education related to environmental, nutrition and hunger issues in the United States."

As stated on its website, grant recipients will receive,

• "a $500 gift certificate to the Gardening with Kids catalog and online store for basic youth gardening supplies and supporting educational material.
• NGA's Eat a Rainbow Kit, chock full of engaging taste education and nutrition lessons
• a literature package from NGA"

For more information, click here, and to receive an application, click here. 

Applications are due by Oct. 1, 2010.

Apply today to make that school garden dream a reality!

Grant: NEA's Green Across America

NEA Member Benefits and Target have joined forces to offer $50,000 worth of grants to help K-12 schools go green.

As their website explains, "NEA’s Green Across America grants of up to $1,000 are available to help you implement your innovative education program, activity, lesson or event to excite students about going green, caring for the earth and creating a sustainable future."

This is the perfect opportunity to secure funding for your school garden project!  To further help your school become green and sustainable, you can even incorporate a compost pile into your garden.

The formal grant applications will be available May 1st but the NEA Member Benefit's website features a sample worksheet to help you plan your program in the meantime.

So put on those thinking caps and start planning your project today!

Grant: Yes to Carrots Garden Challenge

Yes To, Inc has just announced its Yes to Carrots Garden Challenge, which will help schools start a new garden or improve an existing school garden

Yes to Carrots "believes in finding fun and interactive ways to teach kids about the importance of healthy eating and connect with Mother Nature.  Creating school gardens brings this philosophy to kids in a very direct way--giving them the tools to grow their own delicious food and learn about leading healthier lifestyles!"

The winner of the challenge will receive a Seed Fund Grant for $5,000, one-year gift of gardening supplies from the Kellogg Foundation, and a dedicated message from the "Garden Ambassador" Emmanuelle Chriqui. 

To apply, applicants must submit a video or an essay explaining why their school should have a Yes to Carrots Garden.  For additional details, click here or here.

Applications must be submitted by May 20th, 2010.  The winner will be announced May 26th, 2010.

Good luck!

School Garden Grant Opportunities

Spring is almost here and so is a new crop of school garden grant opportunities. 

Bayer Advance: Forever Growing Garden Poster Contest

• Who: K-12 students
• What: Create a poster that represents how gardens have changed over time, and the positive impact that gardens have on individuals, communities and the planet.
• Deadline: April 15, 2010
• Prize: $1,500 grand prize and two $250 honorable mentions
• Details: Click here for a poster describing the contest and here for additional details, guidelines, etc.

Adopt-a-Plant for Your Classroom Project

• What: Include a plant in your classroom and have students come up with a creative name for it.  Sign an "adoption" certificate with the plant's name and take a picture of your class with your plant.
• Deadline: March 19, 2010 <--Put on those thinking caps! This deadline is coming up quickly
• Prize: $50 to start a classroom garden
• Details: Additional details, including the "adoption" certificate can be found here

The above grants are made possible through GEF, the Green Education Foundation.  Their website features lots of useful resources, lesson plans, and ideas.  Be sure to check it out!

Nature Hills Nursery Green America Award

• Who: Groups/organizations making a difference in the community by improving the environment.
• What: The project's goal is to help communities create an environmental oasis, such as a community or school garden.
• Deadline: April 1, 2010
• Prize: Grand Prize: $2,500 of plant materials (such as trees, shrubs, perennials, and vegetables seeds); First Place: $1,500 of plant materials; Second Place: $1,000 of plant materials
• Details: Check out the Nature Hills Nursery website for additional application information.

Got Dirt? Garden Initiative Evaluation Assistance Grant

• Who: Teachers and childcare providers who have attended a Got Dirt? training session. 
• What: Two classes will participate in the grant.  One class will participate in a school gardening project and the other class will act as a "control" group by not participating in any gardening.  Both groups will complete surveys.
• Deadline: Rolling application process
• Prize: $400 towards starting a new school garden
• Details: Additional details available on the Got Dirt? website

Resource: Free Seeds!

Are you looking for ways to save money for your school garden project?

The America the Beautiful Fund offers free seeds to community projects.  The application process couldn't be simpler!

Just go to the website and download the application.  The application requires you to

• Write a short letter describing your project
• Fill out the application form
• Enclose a check for shipping and handling
• Mail your letter and information to the address listed

You can request 100-1,000 packets of seeds to start your gardening project!

Send in an application today to make your garden a reality!

Grant: Healthy Classrooms Foundation

Healthy Classrooms Foundation, an organization with the mission to "make a positive difference in the health of the next generation by promoting and fostering long-lasting projects that increase public health practices in the classroom," has just announced that it will offer grants to Wisconsin schools. 

The grants will be awarded to projects that make a long-term impact on "physical health, nutrition, sexual education, global perspectives, minority disparities, environmental responsibility, and mental and emotional health."

This grant is the perfect opportunity to apply for funding for your school garden.  Gardens address students' physical health and nutrition while encouraging environmental responsibility.  The Got Dirt? program hopes that incorporating gardens into the curriculum will increase children's knowledge and consumption of fruits and vegetables and allow students to develop healthy eating habits at a young age.

Grant applications are due by May 25, 2010.  Grant funds will not exceed $2,000. 

Visit the Healthy Classroom Foundation website for additional information and an electronic application.