Creative Funding SourcesFind funding without emptying your

pockets

Meggan JohnsonWittenbach/Wege Agriscience and Environmental Education Center

Think about who you are asking…

Grants• Amway One By One• Donors Choose• The Wege Foundation• Lowe’s Toolbox for

Education• Home Depot Youth

Gardening

Amway One By One Grant• Grants generally awarded to programs and

organizations that have a direct and lasting impact on children at risk.

• Favor programs that offer children the resources to LIVE (basic needs), LEARN (education), ACHIEVE (building potential)—and of course—PLAY (have fun).

• All applications must be submitted online, prior to November 1st.

Donors Choose• Online charity that makes it easy for

anyone to help students in need.

• Teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on their site.

• Donors can give any amount to the project that most inspires them.

The Wege Foundation• Mission is to enrich the lives of the people

in the greater Grand Rapids area by improving education, environment, arts & culture, health care and community.

• Requests should align with one of their five areas of interest. – Education– Environment– Arts & Culture– Health Care– Community Service

Lowe’s Toolbox for Education

• Provides the funds to expand student

opportunities and improve schools.

• $2,000 and $5,000 per school is available.

• Deadline for submitting applications for this grant cycle is October 15th; however if 1500 applications are received before the application deadline, the application process will close.

Home Depot Youth Gardening

• Five winners will receive gift cards valued at $1,000 and 95 winners will receive $500 gift cards to purchase gardening materials and supplies from their local Home Depot store.

• NGA awards Youth Garden Grants to schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs. Priority will be given to programs that emphasize one or more of these elements:– integration of content standards– nutrition connections– environmental awareness– entrepreneurship– social aspects of gardening such as leadership development,

team building, community support, or service-learning

• Deadline December 2013

Other Grant Opportunities• Mantis Tiller Award

– receive a Mantis Tiller/Cultivator

• Kids in Need Foundation– funded by retail and education credit union sponsors

• Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation Literacy and Education

– support for children in literacy and education programs

• Target Field Trip Grants Program – school field trips that connects teacher’s curriculum to out-of school experiences

• The Humane Society Humane Education – teaching of kindness and respect for animals and their natural habitats

• The Donald Samull Classroom Herb Garden Grant– herb garden grants for teachers in grades 3 through 6

• School Garden Grant Program (Whole Kids Foundation, Whole Foods and Food Corps)

– school garden project that will help children engage with fresh fruits and vegetables

Think Outside the Box

Who can I partner with?

Cross curricular?

Is it sustainable?

Cancer prevention grant = $3,135 for bee hives and supplies

Cancer prevention grant = $740 for snowshoes

Cancer prevention grant = $2,144 for gardening supplies

No Time (or Desire) to Write a Grant?

• Planet Green• TerraCycle• Office Max • Meijer Community

Rewards

Planet Green• Raise funds while helping the environment by recycling empty printer cartridges, old cell phones and

small electronics.

• Pack 20 or more accepted items into a used box and download and attach a free pre-paid shipping label. Average payback per shipment is $40-75!

TerraCycle • Collect difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurpose

the material into affordable, innovative products.

• Points earned can be redeemed for a variety of charitable gifts or for a payment of $0.01 per point to the non-profit organization or school of your choice.

Office Max

• Recycle used ink and toner cartridges.

• Qualified ink cartridges earn customers a $2 reward in their MaxPerks account ($20 max per calendar month).

Meijer Community Rewards• Enrolled members shop Meijer, simply paying with cash, PIN-based debit card or linked Meijer credit card.

• Purchases made with a linked Meijer credit card earn 1%. Purchases made with cash or PIN-based debit card and a swiped Meijer 1 CardSM earn 0.5%.

Can’t Find Any Money?• If you can’t find any money, look for

labor, supplies, printing resources, discounts, etc. that business could donate to offset your costs.

+ =

Questions?