A number of organizations provide funding for schoolyard gardens. Read below for the specific requirements of the grants. Deadlines are often annual, so if you miss a deadline, please note it for future possibilities! Many of these organizations also have email lists you can sign up for to learn when their grant period opens again. Please check their websites for the most current information on deadlines, application rules, qualifications, and regional restrictions.
Garden Grants for Educators
American Public Gardens Association
- Provides a list of grants for non-profit gardens that may apply to your needs for the creation of a public garden.
- Many of the grants on the list have restrictions, such as location or type of garden, so be sure to ensure that you are eligible for the grant before applying.
Captain Planet Project Learning Garden Grant
- Captain Planet Foundation’s (CPF) Project Learning Garden Program supports inquiry-based, immersive learning experiences in STEAM education.
- Please visit their website to learn more and see if your city qualifies (only a limited number of eligible areas).
Charlotte Martin Foundation Grant
- The Charlotte Martin Foundation provides grants for Youth projects and Wildlife/Habitat projects. Visit their website to learn more about the attributes of the types of projects they fund.
- Only available to urban, rural, and tribal communities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
GreenWorks! Grants
- Provided by Project Learning Tree: Empowering Educators, Inspiring Youth
- Schools and youth organizations are eligible to apply for grants to help fund “environmental service-learning projects that link classroom learning to the real world”.
- “To be eligible to apply for a grant, applicants must have attended a PLT workshop, either in-person or online, that provides training, lesson plans, and other resources to help integrate these projects and environmental education into your curriculum or youth programs.”
Kids Gardening Grant Opportunities
- Provided by Scotts Miracle-Gro and KidsGardening.
- Multiple grants available including Youth Garden Grant, Budding Botanist Grant, GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant, and Lots of Compassion Grant.
- Non-profits (including schools) that are creating or expanding youth garden programs are eligible to apply.
- Instructions and applications are available in Spanish.
Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program
- Provided by Wild Ones.
- Provides small monetary grants to schools, nature centers, or other non-profit educational organizations for the purpose of establishing outdoor learning centers.
- The grant recipient learning centers are those which most successfully reflect the Wild Ones mission to educate and share information about the benefits of using native plants in our landscape and to promote biodiversity and environmentally sound practices.
- Applications for the 2024 planting season must be submitted online during the application period, which is from July 14th – November 15th, 2023. Awards will be communicated to recipients by February 15th 2024.
Missouri Prairie Foundation Prairie Garden Grant
- Provided by the Missouri Prairie Foundation.
- The awarded grants are for the establishment of public gardens and plantings, and must include native prairie species.
- “Gardening and other conservation groups, parks, schools, and other entities are invited to submit proposals to MPF’s Prairie Garden Grants Program.”
- Grants will not exceed $800 each.
- Deadline for submission is January 15, 2024 with funding dispersed in February.
Roots and Shoots: Get Funded
- These grants are provided by the Roots and Shoots, a Jane Goodall Institute initiative.
- “Anyone who is interested in starting (or continuing) a community-action project to positively impact people, other animals, and/or the environment” is eligible to apply for this mini-grant ($200).
- R&S grants are typically awarded twice a year – in the Spring and Fall.
Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant Program
- Provided by the Whole Kids Foundation.
- To qualify, applicants must be a public, charter, non-profit private, or Bureau of Indian Education school OR a non-profit organization or tribal entity that serves children in the K-12 age range. Government entities are also eligible.
- Those located within the US or Canada are eligible to apply.
- The chosen applicants will be awarded $3000.
GroMoreGood Garden Grants
From National Head Start Association
Any Head Start program that is a current NHSA member. Applicants must have the plot of land in their possession at the time of the application with at least a two-year commitment for the garden to be on that property.
Grant awards will vary from $2,500-$5,000
FFA Living to Serve Grants
- This grant provides middle/high school FFA chapters with up to $3,000 to support a service-learning project that spans an entire school year.
- This grant is not specific to gardens, but it would be an option.
- Application deadline is in June with award notification happening in August.
Jeffers Foundation
While the Jeffers Foundation does not give gardening grants, they offer a video and information library to support the start of school gardens.
Jeffers is in the business of finding best practices in the field of Environmental/Outdoor Education – and sharing them. Our incomparable collection of school garden videos does exactly that.