In the five-county Philadelphia region, innovative and effective educational institutions have proven that, given the right conditions and support, young people can succeed. As part of our grantmaking strategy, our goal is to support these exemplary schools, entrepreneurs and pioneers who are determined to find better ways to serve children, as well as the growing number of innovative, replicable models for schools and educational programs.

Specifically, we have two objectives in our goal to advance the region’s efforts to foster effective K-12 educational initiatives:

• Strengthen academic and enrichment programs in successful innovative schools serving children and adolescents from low-income families.
• Encourage the creation of innovative schools and enrichment programs that best serve students from low-income families.

Requests will be evaluated based on the extent to which they address these objectives and also our overall criteria for Project Grants, which are as follows:

• Demonstrate a novel way to approach emerging, current or persistent issues
• Will be more effective than existing or past solutions
• Will provide meaningful and measurable results
• Can demonstrate a reasonable plan for sustainability
• Have the potential to be widely adopted or to catalyze change in a particular field

Project Grants usually range from $50,000 to $150,000. Project Grants are not intended to provide funds for general operating support.  For more information about our grantmaking guidelines, please visit our FAQ page.