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General Guidelines
F2E2 does not make grants to environmental education organizations, nor do we offer specific advice to grantseekers. We offer here a few general grantseeking guidelines as well as a few resources to get you started.
Types of Funders
There are many foundations in North America, each having specific goals or guidelines for their programs. In general, there are four types of foundations:
- community
- private/and or family
- corporate
- governmental
Community foundations are generally bound by the geography of a specific city and its surrounding areas. Community foundations have budgets that cover their specific interests, as well as donor-advised funds that professional staff run for individual donors.
Private or family foundations have a corpus of funding for which a board of trustees decides on general goals and areas of interest. Professional staff (usually called program officers) work with non-governmental organizations to find a way to fund programs that will advance the areas that the foundation has deemed central to its mission.
Similarly, corporations will often have foundations or giving programs that will advance areas of interest to the corporation and build community good will.
There are governmental or quasi-governmental foundations as well, such as the Ohio Environmental Education Foundation, which is connected to Ohio EPA. The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF) provides matching grants for programs.
Finding Funders
As you seek support for your organization or project, it is important to have researched the foundation of interest, before you approach them. They are usually quite specific about what they will and will not support, so you will save yourself time and effort to pinpoint the funding sources most closely related to your work. The on-line Foundation Center (http://fdncenter.org/for_individuals/) has resources that can help you do this research. There are directories of foundations sorted by geography, subjects of interest, types of grants made, and numerous other criteria. Additionally, there are guidebooks with lists of Environmental Grantmakers, Grantmakers in Health, Grantmakers in Education, and others.
Asking for Funding
Grants come in many sizes and shapes. General support grants can be used for organizational funding, whereas project grants must be used for specific expenditures. Different foundations will have varying allowances for overhead. Foundations will require documentation of tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, as well as project and organizational budgets.
Assistance in grant writing can also be procured through the Foundation Center. Many colleges and universities offer courses on grantwriting basics. This may help you sharpen your focus and understand the crafting of a good proposal.
Fundraising Links
The Foundation Center--look at the "finding funders" tab at www.foundationcenter.org
The North American Association for Environmental Education^s EE-link has a page for ee-specific grant sources eelink.net
Antioch New England^s Center for EE also has a page on its web-site with grants info http://search.schoolsgogreen.org/Resources/CEE_CurrentsArchives/0000783B-007EA7AB-00007FBA
The Public Education Network has a free weekly electronic bulletin that includes general education grants
info: http://www.PublicEducation.org to subscribe.
The George Lucas Educational Foundation also has info on their web-site: http://www.glef.org/grant.html
Pennsylvania Center for Environmental Education:
www.pcee.org
Last Updated September 30, 2003 | 