GrantStation Insider: October 19, 2023

Application deadline: November 27, 2023
Description: ​The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries provides funds to the nation’s neediest schools so that they can extend, update, and diversify the book and print collections in their libraries with the goal of encouraging students to develop a love of reading and learning. Funds may be used for the purchase of print or Braille volumes, audio-books, e-books, or magazine/serial/e-magazine subscriptions. Eligible applicants include public schools, neighborhood schools, charter schools, and magnet schools that are Title 1 eligible, as well as private and parochial schools in which at least 50% of the student population qualify for financial aid. Schools must have a library or designated space on campus where books are accessible to all students to check out. Visit the George W. Bush Institute’s website to access the online application.

Application deadline: December 1, 2023
Geographic scope: United States and Canada
Grant amount: Up to $75,000 for project grants, up to $20,000 for in-person and hybrid conference or symposium grants, and up to $10,000 for virtual conference or symposium grants
Description: The Paralyzed Veterans of America Education Foundation funds innovative educational projects designed to benefit veterans and others living with spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) as well as their families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. Funding is provided in the following four categories: consumer and community education to improve the health, independence, and quality of life for individuals with SCI/D; professional development and education to improve the knowledge and competencies of health professionals who serve the SCI/D community; research translation, including projects that move research findings into practical application; and conferences and symposia that provide education and collaboration opportunities for members of the SCI/D community. Eligible applicants include nonprofit academic institutions, healthcare institutions, associations, and organizations in the United States or Canada.

Application deadline: None
Geographic scope: United States and Canada, with a focus on projects of national scope, projects near the company’s retail locations, and the Missouri Ozarks region
Description: Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's corporate giving program aims to positively shape the future of the outdoors in the United States and Canada. Support is provided for projects and events with a national scope; near a retail Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's, or Tracker Boat Center; and in the Missouri Ozarks region. Areas of interest include conserving wildlife and habitat, connecting new audiences to the outdoors, advocating for access and sportsmen’s rights, supporting military and veterans, and strengthening communities in the Missouri Ozarks.

Application deadline: Letters of inquiry are accepted year-round. (Invited proposals are reviewed quarterly.)
Geographic scope: Nationally throughout the U.S., as well as New York and Tompkins County, NY
Description: The Park Foundation is dedicated to advancing a more just, equitable, and sustainable society and environment, both nationally and in the Foundation’s local Ithaca, NY, community. The Foundation’s national grantmaking focuses on the following program areas: democracy, including a broad array of initiatives intended to strengthen the foundations of democracy and good governance; civic participation, with priority on state-based organizations that are educating and mobilizing voters, national and state groups protecting voters' rights and election integrity, and groups thwarting attempts to suppress participation in the democratic process; media, with a focus on public interest media that raises awareness of critical environmental, political, and social issues; the environment, with a focus on drinking water; and animal welfare, with a focus on nationally significant efforts to advance the protection and conservation of wildlife. (Additional areas of interest target New York state and Tompkins County, NY.)

Application deadline: The upcoming application deadlines are November 30, 2023, and February 8, 2024.
Geographic scope: Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin
Description: By investing in people, places, and opportunities, the Otto Bremer Trust seeks to support the continued growth of healthy, vibrant communities in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Trust provides general operating, program, and capital grants to nonprofit organizations and governmental entities to improve lives in the region. A wide range of programs are supported, including, but not limited to, those addressing housing, food security and hunger, wellness and healthcare, literacy, youth, and workforce training. Beneficiaries of funded organizations must be Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, or Wisconsin residents. 

Application deadline: January 15, annually
Geographic scope: AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, OR, and WY
Grant amount: $1,000
Description: The California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant provides support to public school sports programs impacted by reduced budgets. Grants of $1,000 are provided to public middle and high schools in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Oregon, and Wyoming whose athletics programs are in jeopardy and in great need of funding. Applications must be submitted by an active employee of the public school for which the grant is being requested. (Applicants must be a member of a participating education association.)

Application deadline: June 1 and December 1, annually, for letters of inquiry
Geographic scope: Oklahoma
Description: The Sarkeys Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life in Oklahoma. The Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations headquartered and providing services in Oklahoma. Major areas of support include education, social service and human service needs, and cultural and humanitarian programs of state-wide significance.

Application deadline: November 30, 2023
Geographic scope: North Carolina
Grant amount: $1,000
Description: Keep North Carolina Beautiful aims to support environmental awareness, education, and beautification efforts that affect the quality of life of North Carolinians. Keep North Carolina Beautiful’s Window of Opportunity Grant provides support to 501(c)(3) organizations in the state of North Carolina for beautification, replenishment, and recycling projects that educate the youth of North Carolina on the impacts of preserving and enhancing the state’s environmental sustainability.

Application deadline: November 30, 2023
Description: The purpose of the National Rural Health Policy, Community, and Collaboration Program is to identify, engage, educate, and collaborate with rural stakeholders on national rural health policy issues and promising practices to improve healthcare in rural areas nationwide. Program objectives include: 1) identifying and educating rural stakeholders about national policy issues and promising practices for rural health; 2) maintaining projects that will help support engagement of rural communities in a broad range of activities; 3) facilitating collaborations at the local, regional, state, and national levels to improve the exchange of information and promising practices that support rural health; and 4) identifying and providing information to rural stakeholders about existing federal funding opportunities or other programs relating to healthcare in rural areas.

Application deadline: December 4, 2023
Description: The Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) seeks to facilitate and encourage innovative homeownership opportunities on a national, geographically diverse basis. SHOP units must be decent, safe, and sanitary non-luxury dwellings that comply with state and local codes, ordinances, and zoning requirements. The SHOP units must be sold to homebuyers at prices below the prevailing market price. Homebuyers must be low-income and must contribute a significant amount of sweat equity towards the development of the SHOP units. Funds must be used for land acquisition, infrastructure improvements, and reasonable and necessary planning and administration costs.

Are you interested in incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into your nonprofit’s operations, but unsure how to start? The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s new publication titled A Primer on AI: Terms and Concepts Nonprofits Need to Know is an explainer to help readers break through the buzzwords and find new ways to harness AI. It includes definitions and nonprofit use cases for machine learning, chatbots, large language models, and predictive analytics. 

Webinar date: October 23, 2023, 2:00 to 2:45 PM Eastern Time
Description: If you're like most nonprofit organizations, when asked if your organization is grant ready, you answer with a resounding, "Yes—we are ready to get grant money to support the important work of our organization!" However, while your organization may be ready to reap the benefits of grant awards, many nonprofits have not developed the infrastructure necessary to be competitive in the application process. During this TargetED, GrantStation President Alice Ruhnke will guide you through a process which can help you assess your organization's grant readiness.

Webinar date: October 25, 2023, 2:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: Does your organization struggle to find the capacity to apply for funding opportunities and track all the content and tasks associated with writing grant proposals? AI tools can help overcome many proposal writing obstacles and save you huge amounts of time, but many organizations are still unsure how to best incorporate these tools into their process. If you’re curious how your organization can take the next step in enhancing your grant proposal writing process, then join Philip Deng, CEO of Grantable, to discover ways you can create synergy between your own grantwriting techniques and processes and the cutting-edge power of Grantable's AI grantwriting software.

Webinar date: October 31, 2023, 2:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: If you have been in the grantseeking space for a while, you’ve probably had stakeholders approach you with a grant application and say, “We need to apply for this…” However, it’s important that you don’t apply to every opportunity simply because it might be a good fit. In order to take your grant strategy to the next level, you need to identify and prioritize the opportunities that have the highest return on investment. During this webinar, Cynthia Adams, GrantStation’s Founder and Corporate Advisor, and Alice Ruhnke, GrantStation’s President, will show you how to create a customized Decision Making Matrix that can help your nonprofit determine the best funding opportunities to pursue.

Does your organization struggle with the grant application process? Do you spend too much time writing proposals that do not get funded? Do you want to take your grantwriting to the next level? If so, then GrantStation’s new online course, Turbocharge Your Grantwriting Skills, is right for you! GrantStation’s President Alice Ruhnke will introduce the proposal writing framework that will help save you time, write better proposals, and get funded more frequently. Alice will guide you through the entire grant proposal process, step-by-step. You’ll learn how to craft an organizational background, a compelling statement of need, a process and outcome evaluation, an approach, and a budget—while learning from detailed videos, downloads, examples, and other resources. 

There are two ways to take Turbocharge Your Grantwriting Skills: an individual, self-paced learning track and a collaborative learning track. You’ll have access to:

• seven complete units with over four hours of short, detailed video lessons breaking down every section you’ll find in a typical grant proposal;
• downloads, examples, and other resources you can use to streamline your proposal writing process based on best practices; and, 
• facilitated small-group sessions where you can ask questions, work with other nonprofit professionals, and reinforce what you’ve learned (collaborative learning track only).

The upcoming collaborative learning session begins on November 10, 2023; the individual, self-paced track is always available. All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion and five CFRE credits. 

Questions? Contact David.Gates@GrantStation.com

I started working at GrantStation in March 2021 as the Online Education Specialist. I’ve always had a passion for teaching so I knew this was a great opportunity to apply my experience in a new domain. I stepped into the role of Director of Online Education in July of this year.

I’ve been working in online education in various capacities since 2015. I’ve helped others develop online curricula, trained teachers, and done a lot of teaching myself. Most recently, I worked with business professionals across the world on their data storytelling skills. 

Here at GrantStation, I assist in all of our online education programs. I work directly with our world-class presenters to develop programming to help nonprofits acquire the skills they need to succeed. I also host many of our webinars. 

Make sure to say “hi” next time you see me in one of our webinars, and please reach out if you have questions regarding our educational offerings or have a suggestion for a topic you’d love to learn more about!

GrantStation shares database profiles of local, national, Canadian, and international grantmakers with upcoming deadlines each week. Check out the current Funding Spotlights for more grant opportunities!